Quickies

I can't help it, the slobs still amaze me. They pull off the shrinkwrap from books that have it on for a reason, jog through the book, and leave the wrap and the book behind when they leave.

One of the booksellers spent an hour with a woman, pulled forty books for her, and the woman walked out without buying one.

While mom was perusing god knows what, her son brought in tracing paper and traced the continents from a huge atlas for his homework.

If you give people free treats, like little squares of cookies or whatevers, because it's Educators' Week and teachers are getting 25% off because they work their ass off and get paid shit, the people will eat the treats then leave the little plastic cups in which the treats were served on shelves everywhere in the store, even though the trash receptacles are not that hard to find.

Lemony Snicket's The End generated as many phone calls and requests as Woodward's State of Denial.

Non-book store related:

What do I do, if anything, about the mechanic that works on my truck, and happens to have a good-sized swastika tatoo on his upper arm?

I first noticed it the last time I had my truck worked on, about six or seven months ago. It's not the first time he's worked on it. We have that kind of realtionship where we've interacted enough that we would recognize each other outside of the shop where he works, and we can do that casual conversation thing when I bring in the truck. He 'seems' nice enough, and it's not like he wears a sleveless shirt and displays his beefy guns with the swastika for all to see. I noticied it because some of it was visible, extending below the sleeve of his T-shirt.

I'm like that -- I notice things about people. It's the writer and actor in me. In addition to the book project I've mentioned here before, I have several in various stages, one tentativley titled "Don't watch the pretty girl: (sub) watch the guy watching the pretty girl", the point being that if you're interested in trying to understand what makes people tick (even on the days when you think that's a hopeless endeavor), you've got to observe them in a way that's different than the way other people do. So, I tend to 'see' things that others miss.

Do I take the Buddhist path, and go with compassion, think that maybe the tatoo is the result of a misguided period in his life, or do I follow that with logic (dangerous), and follow with, "well, why hasn't he had it removed?"

Is it something I should ask him about? Is it my business? It's not so far up his arm that he meant to keep it hidden.

Do I pull a Google thing on him and the shop, and take my business elsewhere?

I don't think about it a lot, but it does cross my mind more often than not, because it's time to take the truck in. I'm leaning toward asking him. Really.

I'll let you know how it turns out.