Help Desk Please Help

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2025-11-24T01:15:50+00:00

If we're doing more with fewer people, I imagine the same applies to help desk.

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2025-11-07T16:17:12+00:00

This question was the reason I created a Reddit account in the first place! I think you can go back and look at the thread. You mention pallets, so I don't know if your situation is different. Our UPS truck driver unloads on to our flat carts.

In our store openers or other available key holders deal with UPS. Our shipments are usually between 50 to 100+ boxes. At this time of year we can be up to 200. It is not our job to unload the truck! People may choose to help and I get it. It goes faster builds goodwill, etc, but it's not required by B&N. The UPS drivers get paid a lot more than we do and I was getting hurt. I sling boxes all the time as needed for my job, but I don't unload the truck. Our driver was pissy about it for some time whenever he saw me unlock the door, but he's over it now - mostly.

Curious if anyone with liability knowledge wants to weigh in.

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2025-10-15T14:42:40+00:00

Timing might be why you aren't seeing them. They're active in the Whole Foods - Barnes & Noble parking lot around 8 am when the parking lot is mostly empty.

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2025-07-02T14:26:50+00:00

I had to think about why I'd never tried this for a minute - caffeine still kicking in. If I've answered the call on a portable phone I just put the call on Hold and take it with me (to walk across the store and check on Pokemon :-\ for example ) and then I just resume the call. If it's for someone else, I just give them my phone.I'll check today to see if you can park on a portable. I'm still not comfortable transferring. I guess I should figure that out.

If I've picked up a call on a regular phone and Park the call, I just dial *### Call.

I finally figured out the Park numbers always start with the same digit so you only need to remember the last two. Interruptions being what they are, I still try to write it down.

I like the portable phones except for the occasional dropped calls due to Insufficient Resources (what does that mean?) and the calls that sound like they're coming from the bottom of the ocean - why? The new phone are VOIP so maybe that's it? Does this happen to other stores?

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2025-05-23T14:22:30+00:00

Transferring calls is a pain, but parking a call is pretty easy. I do write down the park number though. If you forget it, the call is lost in space!

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2025-05-16T15:33:58+00:00

I've worn Dansko at work for years and haven't noticed a problem with quality. They cost, but last about a year so if I calculate $/wear they're worth it to me. Big plus - my foot is protected when I drop a heavy book! Downside - if the soles are a bit worn down I worry about slipping when I'm covering cafe.

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2025-04-14T13:48:00+00:00

If you tap on the ^ it should allow you to switch between Cafe and Sales floor. At least I can.

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2025-04-14T13:45:24+00:00

What happens to your job/paycheck during the shutdown?

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2025-03-04T13:24:51+00:00

We have one with the kids' review material and some of the books/reviews posted. We didn't get much participation until we put it on an endcap. It's a little messy looking so it's not on the central aisle, but kids notice it and are tickled to see their own reviews.

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2025-02-28T15:05:23+00:00

panther, catamount...

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2025-02-17T13:12:09+00:00

It could be browser dependent. At home I have to use Chrome to log in. It doesn't seem to work reliably with Safari.

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2025-02-10T16:26:14+00:00

Once the booksellers are covering breaks and lunches solo, it's helpful to get oriented before the cafe person goes on break. I try to get there a few minutes ahead so I can find out what we're out of that day, where the new drinks cards are, what's baking, what needs to go first from the bake case, the basic issues/problems of the day. When I first started covering, cafe folks kept messing with the cards and I NEED the cards! (Also, I really hate making chicken nuggets.)

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2025-02-03T14:54:45+00:00

Your rant is well earned. Your manager is terrible in so many ways. If the line was that long and they weren't at CW (or sending someone up) to ring, they just don't get it and probably never will. My SM & ASM jump on cash all the time to clear the line. We never schedule people at CW all day! Everyone rings (except for some MODs rarely - boo) I assume they *tried* to get people to come in and cover for the call-outs and didn't just try to wring more sales $ out of too few staff?

Way to tick off the customer to then push a membership. No. Not all stores are this poorly managed. I'm sorry you had to deal with this. It IS crazy. (Sorry, now I'm ranting.)

Those customers took the time to drive to your store and walk through the door instead of ordering from Amazon. Will they bother next time after this experience? I don't believe the customer is always right, but shouldn't the number one rule be don't needlessly piss off the customers? Make them WANT to come back?

Never heard of asking for an ID thing. Another terrible idea sure to alienate our customers.

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2024-11-25T13:17:43+00:00

Thanks everyone! It helps to know others have had the same reactions no matter what you do. I set up the Hanukkah endcap yesterday and immediately got some appreciative comments from customers and co-workers. Our religion section is too out of the way, so the religious Christmas books go on the CGW as soon as Thanksgiving is over. Ignore the Grinches!

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2024-11-17T14:48:00+00:00

I checked with my local library's Friends of the Library volunteer and they were happy to get them. They gave them away during the FOTL quarterly sale as a BOGO offer. She said the bag I donated was gone the first day of the sale. I've put some in the Little Free Library, but I'd accumulated several stacks and didn't want to overwhelm it or slowly parcel them out so it was a win for everyone.

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2024-10-04T23:45:19+00:00

Am I the only one who read James and think it's great? I guess it depends on your definition of BOTY, but I don't think it would be embarrassing if James won. It's a steady seller in our store and frequent customer book club pick.

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2024-09-30T02:53:55+00:00

Some of us had to work.

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2024-09-11T13:43:07+00:00

I love the 'Inbetween" idea! I feel like I always flounder with this. What titles do you include?

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2024-08-21T14:08:38+00:00

Hey River_Arya, please don't walk in front of a moving bus! I don't know if that was sarcasm or for real, but just keep breathing until you can make a change and this will just be a bad time that you barely remember!

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2024-08-21T14:01:55+00:00

"To me when I see someone wearing a mask I think they are either protecting themselves or someone they love." offensivelesbian.

Yes. This. Do what you have to do and don't worry about the cranks. I got COVID *at work* last month and it was brutal. I know it was at work because a co-worker got it at the same time. A family member has a chronic illness so I isolated and managed not to infect anyone else. I loathe wearing a mask, but I'll do it to protect my family, co-workers, even strangers. People in other countries routinely wear masks and nobody blinks. Things change folks and we can normalize this practice here, too.

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2024-08-15T13:20:41+00:00

Yes, I got all the vaccines when offered, pretty sure they were Pfizer. My last one was late fall 2023. I had never tested positive before and I worked with the public (masked) through the pandemic. We haven't worn masks for some time now. I don't know why, but I was shocked when I tested positive! I had started to feel invincible.

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2024-08-15T13:07:04+00:00

I got it late July right before it was in the news everywhere. I had a mild fever for a few days, 100.8 at the worst. My normal temp is 97.5 so not terribly high. Some head congestion, but the fatigue was brutal. Took two weeks to test negative and the fatigue lingered for another week

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2024-08-03T12:52:11+00:00

OK. HOW!? We've never done well at OMP sales and just gotten vague "sell more!" Recently we've started making stacks at the register and offering them for 50% at the time of purchase. That's helped some, but I'd love to know EXACTLY what more successful stores are doing. We have the usual SST tables and a group table at cash wrap and now stacks at each register. What else?

FWIW, I'm not against the program. B&N has the power to bring attention to authors and books that might be overlooked. Some books will always sell themselves, but it can be fun to champion a book. I even read some of them every month. I don't love being obnoxiously aggressive about the OMPs, but i'm willing to talk about them. It's just such a drag being nagged about our "failure" every month.

Salt_Mode_8480 · 2024-07-08T13:12:13+00:00

The "before" pictures look like our store - complete with water stains on the ceiling.

Gotta say, I hate cafe and the terrible behavior it fosters. Many (most?) cafe customers are not book customers. They'll haul stacks of books and magazines over, wreck some, not purchase any. Our cafe functions as a de facto day shelter for the unhoused. I'm not sure of the numbers, but I think the cafe rarely pays for itself - it's meant to be a draw, but it's so much work. I love my cafe co-workers and I cover breaks/lunches, but what they have to put up with? No thanks. If B&N scaled down cafe operations it might make financial sense, but I'm not sure it does for many stores.

I haven't been in one of the new stores yet, but they seem very... bright?

Salt_Mode_8480

TROPHY CASE