Goodbye, Borders

The Borders bookstore close to me has a sign stated 6 days remaining until they close for good. While I am not sorry to see this bookstore close as I rarely shopped there, I do feel bad for all the employees who will now be flooding the market looking for work. I know what they are going through as I worked for a national chain that closed down the store I was working in.

The worst part (besides the unemployment) is some of the customers who come in and want to talk about the stores closing.

"So what is the company going to do?"
"Well, sir (or madam) since I work at the store level, I am obviously privy to all the corporate decisions. Since you asked, I will tell you all the top secret decisions they have entrusted me with. Don't tell anyone else.".

or

"What are you going to do now that you don't have a job?"
"What? I'm going to be unemployed? No one told me that! How dare they let me go?" Yes, discussing impending unemployment with a complete and total stranger is just what people love to do. If you want to help, offer that person a job.  Most of these employees have enough stress without customers reminding them about the upcoming lack of a job.

Like many other I have been going to Borders and buying books as the discounts get steeper. I am not a fool. What I am is a hard core book lover and will go a little crazy in used bookstores. It is like putting a chocoholic next to a chocolate fountain. Seriously, put me in a used bookstore that has genres I read and money will be changing hands.

I do not have an e-reader since I prefer to hold the book in my hand and pull it out whenever I want. The physical book does not require electricity or if it accidentally falls down a flight of stairs, the book will still be in good condition. An e-reader might be the worse for wear.

Yes, people tell me I need to embrace technology. I refuse on grounds of some sort. I just haven't decided what those grounds are yet. While I have not been called a Luddite, I have been called a dinosaur.

Comments always welcome.