Today at Logos

Passing on the food prompt for today so I can go back to "Today at Logos", since people tell me they like that weekly feature so much.

So ... when I got to Logos today, there was a man and his ~3 year old son looking at bargain books and blocking the front door.  The man eventually moved, but the son did not and I had to step over him to get into the store.  The pair finally came into the store and while the man wandered the stacks, the kid kept shouting over and over again for dad in a language I did not recognize.

A guy in one of those big brimmed hats with a flap at the back came in and was checking sci fi books.  I got distracted and didn't see when he left.

The next guy was wearing a shirt that said "I'm a Senior Citizen--gimme my damn discount."  He was there to ask about selling or donating a bunch of sci fi books.  Was happy to hear his donation would go to charity, so says he will be back with about 250 books.

A woman brought in some book in a Whole Foods bag to donate, but she wanted the bag back.  I unloaded the bag and set it aside for her.  She found some books by Larry Watson, who was a new author to her and she got so busy talking to me about her favorite authors that she forgot her bag after all.

A couple looked around for a long time, all the while having interesting book discussions at each section.  He was wearing a Iron Maiden World Tour 2008 t-shirt.  They never did buy anything.

A bald guy strides purposefully through the front door to the history section.  It wasn't until he had moved over to Literature that I noticed he had a red wine stain on the upper part of half of is face.  I hadn't seen one like that since a friend's daughter was born with one many, many years ago.  He bought two history books and a literature book.

Eliza came in!  I've missed the "regulars" like Eliza, Bruce and the antiquarian.  I called her Eliza last year because she always looked like the Covent Garden Eliza Doolittle, with layers and layers of ankle length clothes, a big hat, scarves, and bare feet.  (I have since found out her real name is "Ran").  Last week she brought in her 4-1/2 month daughter, who played on the reading table in front.  Today the baby was all bundled up (it was >80 degrees) and in a front pack, close to Eliza's chest, so the little girl was sound asleep.  Mom bought 2 bargain books and a book on Astrology.

A guy bought Plato's Republic last week and brought it back today, saying he couldn't use that translation.  He wanted a refund and I gave it to him, but while I was halfway through doing that, I remembered we had a sign on the cash register that says "all sales final."  But I gave him the refund anyway.  Soon after he left, another guy came in with a Dostoyevsky novel to return, saying it was the wrong translation.  He found another copy of a different translation so I let him exchange one for the other, and he paid the 50 cent difference in price.

A woman in VERY short sorts and a tight top got a bargain book (Seabiscuit) and a book on Japanese history.  The price was $4.26 and she gave me $10 and told me to keep the change.

A woman was looking for non "Outlander" Gabaldon books and didn't find any, but we talked about "Outlander," the book and the TV series and what we think about the upcoming new season.

A couple came in.  He had a Brooklyn Brewery t-shirt.  They must have looked at every book in the store, chatting all the while.  Ultimately they bought one bargain book.

A very soft spoken older man in an aloha shirt was looking for books on feminism and women's studies "and stuff like that" but he didn't find what he was looking for.

My friend came in at 5:15 but didn't find anything that took his fancy this time.

My last customer of the day was Walt, who bought a coffee table type book on O'ahu when he found a 2 page spread showing the view out the back window of their house in Hawaii.