Spring Semester Story

“Yeah, we get some interesting people here,” says Jake. “You wouldn’t figure a bookstore would be that interesting. But it’s the beauty of Borders, man.”

Standing at the front of the store as several people walk by, Jake, a former member of the Loss Prevention team for six months, and recently changed into the Merchandise team, stares into a stack of books under his arm as he recounts his time working in Borders. “Dude, it’s so awesome working here just because of the amount of beautiful women who come in here. Gorgeous. People come from all over the world and shop here, so you get to see a lot of different people.”

Borders Bookstore, located on the second floor of the Colombus Circle Mall in between 58th St. and 60th St.,on 8th Ave, is a hub for diversity. “We really get a lot of tourists, you know? I mean, a lot of our customers are New Yorkers, but since we’re right next to Central Park, close to Times Square, and next to like, five trains and tons of buses, we get all kinds of tourists here,” Jake adds. “But we also get these weirdos sometimes too.”

And that’s where things get really interesting. “We call them our P.O.I.s,” says Frank, a current member of the Loss Prevention Team. “People of Interest. We get all kinds of people here,” he says, pulling out the L.P. P.O.I. binder. “We have a person we call Friday who has been coming every single Friday for the last two years. He comes in at the same time in the morning, goes to the magazine area, makes a huge stack of magazines that we have to put back when he’s done, then goes to Sports, Fiction, and finally leaves the store about twenty minutes later. He’s a little off, but he’s harmless.”

“He even asked me to tie his shoes once,” says Josh, another former L.P. member who’s been at the store for over a year.”

“Then there’s who we call the ‘Eye of Sauron’” Frank continues, “who always comes to the store late and never leaves when we close the store. And then she acts real bitchy when you try to ask her to leave. God I hate that woman.”

But besides the colorful characters who the employees have come to see as regulars over time, the store also has tons of Events that attract various kinds of stars and various kinds of customers. “We have Events regularly at every Borders store in New York,” says Bob, the head of the Events Management organization in the store. “We generally get a lot of authors. Just recently we had Roger Mudd (an author who wrote about CBS over the years). We also get celebrities. In this upcoming month we’re going to have Ricki Lake and Gene Hackman.”

When asked if they ever had anything to worry about when preparing for an event, the tall, lanky man pushes his glasses up his nose and chuckles lightly. “Just the other week, when we [had a medium] as a guest, we had to keep security on look out for a woman who seemed to follow our guest to every place she went. We don’t know if she was an avid fan, a skeptic, or what, but thankfully she just didn’t show up,” he says with a smile.

Generally Borders has a wide range of books, but often has trouble with keeping up with the amount of books needed. “We usually order a few dozens of books when preparing for our tables at the front,” says one merchandise employee about the Bestseller’s Tables at the front, “but corporate or the warehouse may only send us a third of what we ask for at a time. It’s very frustrating.”

Also, many have had issues with the Borders Rewards Program. “Well,” says one customer leaving the store, “it doesn’t compare to Barnes and Noble. Barnes and Noble’s discount lets you get a percentage of the books, all the time. This Borders program, you have to buy up to $150 of merchandise, and then when you reach that number, you get five bucks to take off of whatever purchase you make. But you have to use it in the month. They basically give you a small, cheap reward that you have no time to use.”

Another customer, a tourist, also had issues. “I travel a lot. I don’t come from here. It’s hard for me to want to sign up for this program knowing that it’s going to take me a long time to reach $150. And then what? I’ll only have $5.”

But Lewis, a Service Manager at the registers at Borders, had more to say. “There’s more to the program than what some people assume, and that’s what we really have trouble with,” he starts. “When you get a Borders Rewards Card, you not only get the Borders Bucks, but you also get emails with printable coupons that often give up to 40% discounts on all items. Those perks are unique to us.”

But one of the biggest questions any Borders employee is asked pertains to their biggest rival corporation. “What makes us different from Barnes and Noble?” starts Neuman, a Manager who has been with the company for many years, “Is definitely customer service. We try to instill in our employees the need to be as friendly and helpful as possible. Sure Barnes and Nobles is a bigger company. We may be smaller, but we have employees of all ages, all walks of life, all lifestyles. We represent the customers we’re serving.”