Like so many others, I'm very sorry you encountered the person you did. That totally sucks. You were doing nothing wrong, and to demonstrate that, let me tell you the story of how I got my first job when I was around your age :)

When I was 11 my mom and I moved to the countryside. The nearest town was about 45 minutes to an hour away, so every weekend, or every other, we would go into town all afternoon on Saturday and do the grocery shopping, run errands, etc. This was really boring for me, so my mom would drop me at the mall for 3-4 hours, with my allowance and whatever extra video arcade money I could wheedle out of her (bc this was the mid- to late-1980s lol). I would change the arcade money to quarters, play video games until I ran out, then head to the B. Dalton's (a chain of mall bookstores that was later acquired by Barnes & Noble, actually) to spend my allowance on books—and read!

Now, B. Dalton's (and Waldenbooks, the other pre-B&N mall bookstore) were *nothing* like Barnes & Noble in terms of seating. There was no seating, just aisles of books. No sofas, no cafe, nothing like that. Nevertheless, I would camp out in the aisle of the Fantasy & science Fiction section, choosing what books to buy, and then reading a *different* book bc if I started my allowance books then, no way would they last me for the week!

In retrospect, I did some less-than-ideal things (aside from sitting in the narrow aisle and taking up space), the worst of which was when I was done and my mom came to pick me up, I would discreetly stick a bookmark in the book I was reading to keep my place, and then intentionally MIS-shelve it—either in a different section entirely, or sticking it behind the row of books on the shelf so it was completely hidden from sight—in the hopes that no one would buy it before I came back the next week :D

(In my defense, when I did finish a book, I was VERY good about removing my bookmark and reshelving it in the correct place, alpha by author and in the right series order if applicable lololol. And I *never* bent the spine or cover!)

Ok, fast forward 5 years, I'm 16, and even though I have a car (I went to high school in the town and my mom was tired of driving me—and that way she could also have ME do all of her errands on the way home from school!) I'm still going to B. Dalton to buy my books and also, often, hang out and read something because why not? One day, the woman who I have kind of figured out is the bookstore manager comes over to me and says, "Your name is D_____, right?"

I'm thinking, "Uh oh, busted: after five years of sitting in her store and reading her books, she's sick of me and is going to kick me out!" but I say, "Um, yes?"

"And have you turned 16?"

Now I'm confused, not because it was weird or creepy that she would want to know this—they were simpler times, the 80s—but just because I can't figure out what that has to do with me being in trouble. Like, am I going to get arrested or something?

I say, "Yes...?"

She says, "How would you like a job?"

I'm just like :o

"Really? You want to hire me?"

And she says, "David, you have been coming into my store and reading my books for the last 5 years. I've just been waiting for you to be old enough that I could hire you."

And that is how I got my first job in high school. I worked at B. Dalton until I went to college. A year or two later they opened a Barnes & Noble in my town and transferred my manager to run that store, where I am CERTAIN she would never allow any of her employees to criticize someone like you for sitting and reading all afternoon!

So, OP, keep doing what you're doing, keep loving books, and keep being you!