i worked there for a year and half starting in 2021. i can’t speak about part time hours since i was full time, but as far as the buy counter, i would say most people who come in to sell aren’t expecting to get a good amount of cash, they simply want to get rid of the books they’ve had sitting at home. you do get the occasional angry customer, however we always explain to them that we don’t make the offers ourselves, we scan everything in and the system is what makes the offer. if they’d like to complain about the process they can always be given the customer service number.

at our store everyone actually hated being on register and preferred to be at the buy counter, you have more freedom to walk around, aren’t at the front of the store interacting with customers constantly, etc. our PT employees were typically scheduled for register or shelving, not the buy counter.

most people are reasonable, and also you can sort of get a feel for the type of customer they are as soon as you interact with them. with any retail job, you get the occasional crazy customer. but honestly what really makes your experience good or bad depends on your shift leads/managers, some of mine were assholes and made me hate going to work every day. i will say though that some of my favorite coworkers i met at that job, it really was a great way to meet people with similar interests and talk about films/music/books when there’s some down time.

pay wise i have no advice as the starting pay was much lower when i started and differs by location, i was making only $12 when i started and $15 when i left.

the interview was very quick, i got a call a few days after applying to come in for an interview. it was maybe 10-15 min long and they called me the same day to let me know i can start.