Q&A: Book Sale Weirdos - What was your weirdest booksale experience?
QUESTION: I was at a booksale today. It was about half dealers, and half book addicts (people who buy 50 to 100 books a week with no intention of ever reading them all, and no intention of ever getting rid of them).I was having a stellar day. My PDA pricing tool was flashing hot and heavy numbers to me all day. Then suddenly out of nowhere, a strange guy approaches me and says:
"If you're planning on selling any proofs you better be careful. The publishers are checking eBay and having people arrested who are selling proofs. Random House is putting people in jail."
Huh? I had two options. I could tell this guy to mind his own business or tell him thanks, I don't sell proofs (which I truly don't). As I didn't want to ruin my karma, I chose the latter.
"OK," he muttered and walked away. I continued to have a stellar day, but I have to admit this strange encounter has crossed my mind several times today.
What was your weirdest booksale experience?
ANSWER: I can't top your story, but here's one I can't erase from memory:
I was at a crowded library sale last summer. About 300 people were jammed into a small room, and it seemed like there was no air conditioning.
There was this lady, a rather rotund lady who obviously hadn't bathed for a long while. The air around her was very ripe.
And she was bare-footed. Everywhere I stepped, it seemed I was rubbing up against this lady's bare feet. Ugh. I shudder every time I think of it.
Any other weird experiences out there?
posted by Steve Weber at 9/26/2006
10 Comments:
The only slightly weird experience I can recall was being at a sardine packed booksale where I saw this guy almost jogging down the aisles, running his hands along the books like he was playing the piano. He seemed to know books and I realized that he was scanning for goodies at lightning speed...but it was almost comical to watch. He suddenly materialized near me as I was lifting up a stack of heavy books to get at some other books below, and quickly started to wiggle his sticky fingers underneath to grab the books. I gave him an unfriendly glare and almost dropped the books (about 15 pounds worth) on his hands, and he then scampered off to fondle more books. Thinking back, I figure he was either a book selling genius or an ex-librarian with a slight streak of perversion.
In any event, I learned something from him...and now I always keep both hands moving at book sales, which is useful for a quick book grab or dropping a heavy dictionary on someone who gets to close. :)
At the last library sale I went to, there were several people who were stuffing good-looking books into their bags as fast as they could. Then they'd go off into a corner, take out their phones, and start to check prices. The friends running the sale had to repeatedly remind them that "hoarding" was against the rules.
After a couple of hours, one woman started checking her prices, and putting books back, and a friend came over and explained the rules AGAIN. "OH, but I can't afford to buy all these books!" she wailed, meantime her stuffed bag busted a seam, and the books went everywhere. She put every one of those books back. Even after that event, one guy went off into a corner, a friend accosted him immediately, and sternly told him: "You have already purchased those books." This guy just sheepishly headed for the cashier. I found it interesting that every one of these "scouts" was asian with an accent. They certainly made the sale a lot less fun.
I have had many but usually the weirdest experiences are finding things IN books that the book sale people miss, from a dried cannabis leaf (pot) to a ten dollar bill or an old photo or very personal note. I always feel a bit perplexed by this. Sometimes I contact the family, as I did when I found some tax papers, recent ones (!) Other times, I just leave well enough alone.
Which brings up the point: PLEASE DO NOT USE COLLECTABLE BOOKS TO PRESS FLOWERS. It leaves an imprint on the pages. Flower substances do interact with paper.
This is Jcorn. I just can't remember my password :)
Some sales allow book hoarding and some don't. I am fine either way.
I've heard of sales that don't allow people to use PDAs or cellphones. At one sale they threatened to call the cops on a dealer I know if he used his cellphone at the sale. hmmmm.... I think I'll skip that one next year.
It seems every group has its own rules, but it's definitely a wacky wacky world at these sales.
I don't think the Asian stereotyping is fair. People with bad manners come in all shapes and sizes.
What stereotyping? All he said was that all the hoarding scouts he saw that day were Asian.
Are you people serios?
at one book sale (it was the last day), there was probably about 5 or 6 people who may have been a family or just a group of booksellers and they placed _sheets_ (yes, bed sheets) over whole areas of books. Supposedly it meant those books were taken. There were several complaints and the sheets were removed. The sheets were the size of king size bed sheets, so we're talking a _lot_ of books there.
I will also buy books for myself and occasionally I will get "Are you really interested in _that_?" (I happen to like old cookbooks) I usually say "yes" but I'm always tempted to say something funny.
In a thrift store I often visit, I sometimes run into this guy who is there to buy books to use as FIREWOOD!!! He gets the cheapest paperbacks (lots of chicken-soup-for-the-soul kinds), and he says that paperback make the best wood for the fireplace... I just hope he never has picked up something truly valuable!
One year at the AAUW sale in Ann Arbor, held indoors with dozens of browsers intently studying book spines, a man started to whistle. Loudly. And badly. And he kept it up. While others seemed to hope that he would give up eventually, no one actually had the nerve to tell him to stop. But I'm getting too old to suffer fools gladly, so when at last he popped up opposite me at one of the long tables, I gave him a sympathetic glance and suggested loudly that it must be hard work to do all all that whistling, and if he felt he needed to take a break, I was sure that someone else would be willing to assume the burden for awhile. That shut him up -- and soon another browser came over and thanked me for doing what no one else had the gumption to do, and putting an end to the maddening pain.
Well, as long as the people bringing the sheets don't bring pillows and their pajamas, I guess we're still safe.
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