Surely not?
I know we can all get things wrong sometimes and even have moments
when our brains seem to have gone on strike, but I've recently
heard two examples that really made me wonder. In each case, they
highlighted the lack of knowledge of someone who might reasonably
be assumed to have that knowledge.
The first incident was in our local library. The woman ahead of me in the queue for the librarian's desk asked the librarian what I thought was a perfectly straightforward question.
Woman: Do you have a CD of Faure's Requiem?
Librarian: You're looking for Requiem by Four A?
Woman: No! It's called Faure's Requiem.
Librarian: Which category does it belong to? Pop?
Woman: No, it's a piece of classical music.
Librarian: Who's it by?
Woman (slightly incredulously): Faure!
Librarian (huffily): How do you spell it?
Woman: F-A-U-R-E.
Librarian (looking at the computer for a millisecond): We haven't got it.
The second incident was in our local Waterstones.
Customer: I'm looking for some books by Christopher Isherwood. Do you have any?
Member of staff: What's the surname?
Customer (speaking very slowly): Isherwood.
Member of staff: Isterwid? Can you spell that?
Customer: I-S-H-E-R-W-O-O-D.
Member of staff: What's the first name?
Customer (wonderingly): Christopher.
[By now I was biting my tongue in a superhuman effort not to shout at the shop assistant and ask her what she was doing working in Waterstones if she'd never heard of Christopher bloody Isherwood.]
Member of staff: What does he write? Is it novels?
Customer (astonished but relieved to be making headway): Short stories and memoirs.
Member of staff (still tapping away on the computer but more confident now): We have some on the shelves. We have something called Goodbye to Berlin. And [uncertain again] something called Mr Norris Changes Trains?
At this point, I leapt over the counter and clubbed the member of staff to death with the Moleskine display cabinet. My case comes up next week.
The first incident was in our local library. The woman ahead of me in the queue for the librarian's desk asked the librarian what I thought was a perfectly straightforward question.
Woman: Do you have a CD of Faure's Requiem?
Librarian: You're looking for Requiem by Four A?
Woman: No! It's called Faure's Requiem.
Librarian: Which category does it belong to? Pop?
Woman: No, it's a piece of classical music.
Librarian: Who's it by?
Woman (slightly incredulously): Faure!
Librarian (huffily): How do you spell it?
Woman: F-A-U-R-E.
Librarian (looking at the computer for a millisecond): We haven't got it.
The second incident was in our local Waterstones.
Customer: I'm looking for some books by Christopher Isherwood. Do you have any?
Member of staff: What's the surname?
Customer (speaking very slowly): Isherwood.
Member of staff: Isterwid? Can you spell that?
Customer: I-S-H-E-R-W-O-O-D.
Member of staff: What's the first name?
Customer (wonderingly): Christopher.
[By now I was biting my tongue in a superhuman effort not to shout at the shop assistant and ask her what she was doing working in Waterstones if she'd never heard of Christopher bloody Isherwood.]
Member of staff: What does he write? Is it novels?
Customer (astonished but relieved to be making headway): Short stories and memoirs.
Member of staff (still tapping away on the computer but more confident now): We have some on the shelves. We have something called Goodbye to Berlin. And [uncertain again] something called Mr Norris Changes Trains?
At this point, I leapt over the counter and clubbed the member of staff to death with the Moleskine display cabinet. My case comes up next week.
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13 Comments
That or they'll throw the book at you.....
Tony's story reminds me of my aunt's experiences when she worked at a big bookshop in California. Apparently a woman went in one day and asked for a copy of Shakespeare's plays. When my aunt showed it to her, the woman said 'Say, is that a first edition?'
Poor little rodenty things.
The moleskine notebook does actually have an 'e', presumably so they could trademark the name, because you can't trademark a normal vocabulary word. (c.f. krispy kreme not crispy cream)
It reminds me of the time my best mate had a few problems with his name. He was on the phone to a supplier and was asked for his name. He replied 'Davison, Mick Davison. The parcel duly arrived addressed to a Mr Davison McDavison!
The other occasion, again over the phone. When asked for his name he replied Davison with no 'd' (meaning not Davidson which often happens to him) The letter arrived addressed to a Mr Avison.
Where do they find these people!!
Mac
Mac, those are great stories! I agree, where do they find these people? My husband once had a similar experience in John Lewis. He ordered something and when asked to give his name, he said 'It's, er, William Spangles'. When the package arrived, it was addressed to Sir William Spangles. It took us ages to work out what had happened!
People don't seem to be interested in literature in the way that previous generations were - even my own.
It is the same thing with music, However, people have he most prolific knowledge about the most obscure pop-groups and might well get upset when I ask them how do you spell the name of such and such group ?
Suppose i could not spell the "Beetles?" Flloyd might be a problem too. What about "Hashram Bashem and the nasel note pickers?' Can you spell the name of the author of 'The Traveller's Wife and how many L's do you put in traveler? It is not so easy when you do know the name!
However, The literary culture represented by Christopher Isherwood has nearly disappeared; it is only kept alive by companies like the 'Folio Society' and BBC 4 who, recently, made a rather dismal production out of his books. I wonder if - as happened in the Victorian times - books become luxury items? However, cinema was supposed to take over from the theatre. This has not happened. Neither has TV taken over from the cinema.
Classics etc are quite well borrowed in the library where i work. A favourite author of mine, H.G.Wells is quite popular as is the front-runner for the Booker prize 'Pigeon something.' You see, i cannot remember the name, or the spelling of the book!
I applied at my local Waterstones for a job and did not get it. i also applied at Smiths and did not get a job there either. I seem to recall applying for John Lewis too. I cannot remember. My life has been a waste of time, i can assure you! I didn't make it as a novelist or historian either and I tried harder than my application for Smiths. Off for a walk now and a pint of beer at Waterstones - a luxury today. I had a pint of beer in 'The Fox and Hounds; in Brasted. It is now a restaurant and a pint of bitter cost £3,70. I remember the pub when it was run by a refugee from 'Fawlty Towers' and you approached the pub in muddy boots after walking the Greensand Way. Now you go by car and park at Emmetts Wood. Times change. I didn't. Tough. I've gone right off the subject too!
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