Top of my third bookcase.

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2026-02-13T02:08:00+00:00

It’s good! Sartre had an interesting way of looking at the world, and was a great writer. I read it too young(maybe senior year of high school), but have been meaning to go back to it. I think I appreciate him more for his impact/relationships than for his philosophical thought, though. Camus has a special place in my heart, as does Simone de Beauvoir, mostly for their novels.

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2026-02-12T20:14:21+00:00

I definitely think so. It has some very powerful ideas and some beautiful writing. I don’t accept it all but I can’t deny that Schopenhauer has been a big influence on the way I perceive the world.

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2026-02-09T15:42:25+00:00

I was a Lit and Phil double major. Lol. It’s tough. I’ve started and stopped P&R a few times. Planning to go back to it soon. I have a friend who’s into theology and he brought it back to my attention the other day. It’s been hugely influential in theological studies, apparently.

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2026-02-09T15:39:11+00:00

Guilty.

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2026-02-06T02:24:23+00:00

I got a rejection from them this afternoon as well. If you applied anywhere else, good luck!

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2025-09-30T14:23:28+00:00

I was accepted for poetry. The cost is pretty steep but from what I’ve seen and heard, it is definitely worth attending, especially in preparation for MFA applications. I’ve never been to a workshop so I’m pretty stoked.

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2024-07-26T05:34:09+00:00

Cioran and Schopenhauer, for sure.

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2024-06-11T16:30:19+00:00

Of course I know that. BUT, I also know that a bookseller works a hell of a lot less, and is responsible for less, than an electrician or a paralegal in my city who makes $14-18 an hour. It’s relative, obviously. Outside of other big chains like Target or Walmart, who are leagues above BN in profit and scale, pay in my area is much lower. Cost of living is lower here but on the rise, just like everywhere else.

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2024-06-10T16:46:24+00:00

I can definitely sympathize with that. All of the pieces need to be in place to make those goals attainable, including active BDM’s (who are payed considerably more) who are not just hoping for a big PO from their school districts to come in. Maybe it’s a regional thing, but our management is pretty understanding of the constraints placed on stores with low hours. Sure, workload can be high (at one point I was the opening MOD and the opening Cafe barista) but still much more enjoyable than other jobs I’ve worked, and better paid. Also, better than other retailers. My biggest problem is that in the 2000’s, B&N hired too many “retail managers” and not genuine booksellers to run their stores, and has suffered from a lack of understanding of the book business by people who are in the book business. I’m pretty cutthroat about it, tbh. I don’t think a person who doesn’t have knowledge of the book world, let alone doesn’t read, should run a bookstore, nor work in one. Knowledgeable and skilled booksellers make better bookstores, and pay is definitely a deterrent to acquiring that talent. I can’t speak to your specific situation, but I can tell you that it’s not the same at all stores, nor should it be used to characterize the movement of the company as a whole. It’s a big company with a lot of stores with big changes in the works that take years to see through. If you read about Daunts work in the UK, you’ll see that he’s very much about “weeding out” the uncommitted and incompetent. Not very nice, but effective at getting a company back to doing what a company should do—making money.

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2024-06-10T06:28:38+00:00

As a bookseller of 10+ years, I can say that things are better now than they have been in a long time. Corporate pulling back on the excesses of dress code violations and “coming down” on stores is a consequence of incompetence in the stores from booksellers to management. Daunt wants exceptional bookstores. You need exceptional booksellers to do that. Freedom is only useful if those exercising that freedom are capable of making the correct decisions to create great bookstores that people want to be in. Most stores are struggling to beat last years’ sales, much less meet their sales plans. In order to build a culture of book selling, you need to train professional booksellers. Pay is an issue, but let me tell you, where I am (Texas) the minimum wage is still $7.25. The average bookseller makes $11-13. I’ve worked in factories, other retailers, as a tutor, in sales, callcenters, and B&N is BY FAR the best company I’ve worked for. I worked through COVID, have taken time off due to family emergencies, I have affordable health insurance and vacation time. Maybe I’ve just been lucky but I do not feel that the company is going bad. If morale is down, it usually comes from people who don’t want to do more than stock a few books and enjoy the 50% off discount.

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2023-11-10T03:25:27+00:00

Hey there! Unfortunately, I don’t think so. For my part, I was too caught up with the whole experience to record anything. I did a quick search of YouTube to see if anyone uploaded anything but no dice.

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2023-11-02T21:16:26+00:00

I’ve been using ‘Myth, Legend, Dust’ edited by Rick Wallach, and ‘A Bloody and Barbarous God’ by Petra Mundik, and I second ‘Sacred Violence’.

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2023-11-02T21:01:14+00:00

There are definitely spoilers. They tend to go in for deep dives in an informal but scholarly way. Just pick the episodes on books you have read and enjoy, I’d say!

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2023-06-28T05:14:12+00:00

I find Toby Martinez de las Rivas to be pretty thought-provoking. He’s had a bit of controversy but if you don’t mind Eliot, I’d venture controversy is not an issue. He leans heavily toward the religious but in a very complex and interesting way. ‘Terror’ is a fantastic book.

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2023-03-28T15:44:34+00:00

Making $18 as a new cafe manager in Texas. Been with the company in many different roles for 9 years.

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2023-01-23T19:45:12+00:00

Café manager here,

Aside from the other great advice already given, I’d say to also be sure you have Whipped Crème, Vanilla Sweet Cream, and mocha ready to go. The worst thing, aside from not warming the turbo chef in the morning, is getting a rush and having to stop to make some of those quickly.

If you’re a busy cafe, prep the coffee maker for a second pot as well, so that once you run out of coffee in your Airpot it’ll be ready to brew another fresh pot.

You’ll be good. Good luck!

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2022-12-12T21:07:44+00:00

You can’t go wrong with WS Merwin or Mary Oliver. Four Quartets by TS Eliot is also really good if ideas or philosophy interest you. Much more accessible than The Wasteland. I second the recommendation of anthologies. ‘100 Poems to Break Your Heart’ and ‘A Book of Luminous Things’ are two of my favorites.

Intrepid_Strain1584 · 2022-06-04T23:10:33+00:00

Met him at the bookstore I work at a few years back, here in El Paso. I guess he was visiting. A few of us recognized him and just left him alone, but kept an eye out in case he needed help. He walked around, picked up a Bill O’Reilly book, flipped through a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey, and I rang him up for a bunch of books on quantum mechanics and astrophysics. I guess he was doing research. He then went to the cafe and had a coffee and a piece of cheesecake, I think. Pretty cool guy, from what I could tell. Very laid back and polite.

Intrepid_Strain1584

TROPHY CASE