please empty your brain below
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I'd be up for that challenge.
ellie | Homepage | 18.04.09 - 8:59 a.m. | #
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Britain's greatest concentration of these people can be found at the posh end of the Westfield shopping centre.
Graham | 18.04.09 - 9:15 a.m. | #
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Actually thats a very narrow view. There are lots of small, specialist shops in the UK (for which we should all give thanks) - I used to work in what appeared to be a dusty, battered old bookshop on a side street that seemed to sell nothing but dusty, battered old books. Customers rarely came through the door. But the owner was charming, intensely knowledgable about her particular field and a terrific businesswoman. Orders for rare, out of print or specialist books came in by post, email and telephone constantly from every corner of the world - and what I thought would be an quiet, easy job for a few hours a week turned out to be an exhausting marathon of daily trips to the post office and a complete deluge of work. There were few people through the door, but by god was that place a hive of activity behind the scenes. And in these days of corporate, conglomerate, mass produced crap and lousy "service", its the small, independent "quiet" shops where the expertise and the personal service can still be found.
Exit, pursued by a bear | Homepage | 18.04.09 - 9:21 a.m. | #
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I know someone who worked at the reception desk at the sort of office where there can be hours of inactivity. However, she was not allowed to do anything by her employer - as she was visible from the pavement, she was not permitted to have a book or anything else that would show she wasn't busy. She could use the computer, but not for anything not work-related, and she only had work to do occasionally. She said it was mind-destroying.
Z | Homepage | 18.04.09 - 9:59 a.m. | #
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Oh there are plenty of 'jobs' like that - the worse ones are where there is not the faintest chance of contact with the 'outside' world. Shop keepers live on hope!
Bina | Homepage | 18.04.09 - 11:41 a.m. | #
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Z - I thought you were talking about prostitutes until you mentioned the computer - prostitutes have it pretty tough - and lively - too. (That IS a guess.)
zed | Homepage | 18.04.09 - 1:52 p.m. | #
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@ Exit, pursued by a bear - please tell the name and location of the bookshops, it sounds wonderful and most deserving of a visit!
Marc | 18.04.09 - 3:14 p.m. | #
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Exit - If it weren't for corporate, conglomerate, mass produced computers or corporate, conglomerate, mass produced telephones, you wouldn't have any customers from all over the planet to "serve"! Funny that.
Why are corporations and mass production seen as necessarily evil?
K | 18.04.09 - 3:20 p.m. | #
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I work in a small museum shop in London. I engage old people in long conversations about furniture, gardening or whatever they want to talk about, make sure school kids on trips don't nick anything and try to be polite to foreign visitors. Usually the shop is empty and much of my time is filled with willing people through the door and finding interesting books to read. Its fantastic. Who else who works in London can say that they are often too relaxed at work? (except during school holidays when its the noisiest place on the planet). The other great think about working in a small shop is that I may not be the manager, but I am the senior supervisor, assistant buyer and assistant manager all rolled into one. I have one person to answer to rather than a string of corporate bosses who are going to treat me like another drone employee. I think everyone should step off the noisy London streets into a quiet independent shop and enjoy the peace, the interesting stuff for sale and maybe have a chat with someone so desperate for conversation that they will engage you in any topic.
Annabella | 18.04.09 - 4:16 p.m. | #
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"Exit - If it weren't for corporate, conglomerate, mass produced computers or corporate, conglomerate, mass produced telephones, you wouldn't have any customers from all over the planet to "serve"! Funny that"
This comment has, of course, completely missed my point - almost wilfully so!
And personally, I'd rather take the time and effort to search out a good, independent, specialist bookshop where I know I can get good unbiased help from people who know what they're talking about than go into Borders or Ottakars or Waterstones or their lousy souless ilk. Thank every deity that's going for the small, independent shops of the UK! Death to chainstores!
Exit, pursued by a bear | Homepage | 18.04.09 - 4:54 p.m. | #
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I often wonder how these small shops survive. Indeed, many have gone out of business over the past few years, particularly due to the recession and competition from the 'big four' supermarkets.
It does seem that the shops which survive are specialists in their field, or provide a service which aren't provided by larger retailers e.g. hairdressers or antiquarian booksellers, are the ones which seem to be the most resiliant and therefore the most likely to survive.
Andrewh | 18.04.09 - 7:14 p.m. | #
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What were you doing in Ewell?
dg writes: Ending a walk. Catching a bus. And looking in very-quiet-shop windows.
Anonymous | 18.04.09 - 7:48 p.m. | #
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I always read a book
Mother of the bride | Homepage | 18.04.09 - 8:06 p.m. | #
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Reigate has numerous 'posh' clothing shops and beauty salons, where I have not set foot in. They never seem to have any customers when I look in the window, but manage to stay open somehow.
Perhaps it hots up on a Saturday when I'm not around.(I only work there, not live there).
SurreyGirl | 18.04.09 - 8:55 p.m. | #
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As a student, I worked in a school book shop. It sold books for schools which, in Ireland, parents/pupils buy, rather than the school providing them.
As you can imagine around Christmas nobody wants school books. One day I had 1 customer.
I was lucky, though, as I could do my own study while there so I mainly did that.
Adrian | Homepage | 18.04.09 - 10:59 p.m. | #
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I can see how bookstores might hold some hidden charm. But even as a customer, I find places like that almost unbearable. And when I'm the only customer around, the ennui is contagious.
I'd think that those dusty little boutiques must require a special lifestyle to last out the endless hours of the week sitting and waiting.
I think the worst was a store I visted once selling drapery... with the walls covered in fake windows lit with flourescent lights to simulate daylight. The dusty drapery, the endless faux sunlight, the dreariness of curtains.... not the life for me.
Anonymous | 19.04.09 - 7:59 p.m. | #
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I think these shops should be cherished having lived in Brisbane for 12 years and all we have are huge shopping malls with the same chain shops everywhere. Very few individual privately owned shops. Miserable place.
Maz | 21.04.09 - 3:51 a.m. | #
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