Monday, July 26, 2010

A conversation in a bookshop....

The following exchange took place in June of 2010 in Beazley Books. It is, as far as I can remember, word-for-word true (God have mercy on my shrivelled soul)

Normal Looking Customer: Do you have any books on Egypt?
Me: Modern or ancient?
NLC: Ancient.
Me : Yes, I have several... here they are.
NLC: Oh, but I’m looking for old books.
Me : I have that. ... here they are.
NLC: Well, I’m really looking for old French books.
Me : I have that.....here it is. A three volume history of Egypt published in Paris in 1940. Not so old that the French is any different than today’s (ha ha)
NLC: Well, I don’t read French but I intend to learn one day. I’m in these books you know.
Me : I didn’t know, actually.
NLC: Well I am. In a previous life, I was an Egyptian Queen so I’m certainly in those books.
Me : Which one?
NLC: I don’t know. Volume one I expect.
Me : No, I mean which Queen were you.
NLC: Oh, well, one of them. I must have been an important one because otherwise I wouldn’t remember it, would I.
Me : Hmm, I see your point. Well, these books are $120. A real steal. They’re worth $300.
NLC: Oh, I don’t have any money. I was just curious about what books you had. Maybe I’ll have some money if I can find a job. You wouldn’t by any chance be hiring would you?

3 comments:

  1. What a prize! I love it. Imagine having NLC on the books? Ha ha.

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  2. How did you keep a straight face?! Ah...the perks of working in a used book store. At least it keeps things more than the usual interesting.

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  3. Hah. Great post.

    I was in yesterday, with the gaggle of people - I bought 1984, Catch-22 and In Cold Blood. And I recommended your store to my Twitter followers!

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