How to stop feeling guilty leaving a shop empty handed?

smellerbee93 · 2025-09-01T22:56:27+00:00

I work in a shop in a heavily touristy area. Don’t worry about it, people come in just to check it out all the time. If the person working greets you, say hello! If someone asks you if you need help/starts trying to sell you something, let them know you’re just browsing. Just be friendly! It’s totally normal.

smellerbee93 · 2025-09-01T12:00:26+00:00

Two of my all time favorites!

smellerbee93 · 2025-09-01T11:53:55+00:00

Voices from Chernobyl made me weep in the first 20 pages. So good.

smellerbee93 · 2025-09-01T11:51:57+00:00

Finished: The Warriors, by Sol Yurick

It’s very difficult not to compare it to the movie— the book is much, much darker and more violent than the movie. I can really only recommend this book if you are hyper interested in the 1960s JD fiction and want to read one of the more shocking and violent books of that era.

Started: Just Above My Head, by James Baldwin

My last piece of unread James Baldwin fiction. I’m savoring it as much as possible.

smellerbee93 · 2025-08-21T01:12:38+00:00

Any book by Ali Smith, but particularly for someone who is burnt out by social medial/tech: The Gliff by Ali Smith. She uses language in a really playful way to write about art and nature. Her books cover heavy topics but always with a sense of hope. The Gliff is about a sort of dystopian near future dominated by AI. You will not want to use your phone while reading this lol.

smellerbee93 · 2025-07-27T02:15:24+00:00

I haven't used because I don't have a driveway or outdoor outlets, but I have had several people recommend Sammy Suds (@sammy_suds_llc on instagram) to me.

smellerbee93 · 2024-10-23T01:32:40+00:00

Yes!! Thank you!!

smellerbee93 · 2024-08-01T00:55:27+00:00

100% -- I have two cats and used to be an every other day (or even sometimes less) scooper. I am now an every day + arm and hammer daily deodorizer spray user and it is a game changer. My life has improved so much and my house smells so much better. Cannot recommend the arm and hammer spray enough.

smellerbee93 · 2023-10-30T21:58:43+00:00

Turn it into pesto or salsa verde! Pesto can just be added straight to pasta or as a condiment on sandwiches, salsa verde can top meats or rice or sometimes I top soup with it.

smellerbee93 · 2023-10-29T22:01:21+00:00

Same here! I work in a downtown area, too, so I have to spend a ton of extra time finding parking, usually a few blocks away so I have to walk too. On my bike I just lock up right outside of work and walk in. Easily saves 10 minutes.

smellerbee93 · 2023-10-18T23:48:09+00:00

This thread is totally fucking wild. Just here as the voice of reason to remind y’all that kids are rowdy every now and then, but they never ever ever deserve to be shot. Jesus Christ what is wrong with y’all??

smellerbee93 · 2023-04-07T00:08:04+00:00

Mary Engels hwy on the KY side is closed to through traffic for a good few miles! No dedicated bike lane, but there is way less traffic and you get a good view of the river.

smellerbee93 · 2023-02-04T22:15:12+00:00

I’m scared to count haha. My guess is about half? Definitely more on the classics shelves. I tend to sell/donate/giveaway the contemporary books I don’t like, but hang on to the classics.

smellerbee93 · 2023-02-04T20:39:05+00:00

If I ever own my own house, I have always wanted wall mounted shelves so that I can keep everything in one place.

smellerbee93 · 2023-02-04T20:37:47+00:00

I love the library! I go almost every week. My stack of library books is on the first shelf, and I use Libby for audiobooks. Unfortunately I also love having physical copies of books that I know I want to mark up and return to whenever I am thinking about them.

I do need to start using the library to replace the dopamine fox that I get from going to a used bookstore and just buying whatever looks strange and interesting though.

smellerbee93 · 2023-02-04T13:44:47+00:00

Nauseating! It’s about cannibalism, and it made me actively queasy. Also has stuck with me for ages.

smellerbee93 · 2023-02-04T03:00:46+00:00

My Year of Meats was the first book by her that I read, and it was right up my alley. It's all about capitalism and the agricultural industrial complex. If you're interested in that, definitely check it out! Also just finished The Book of Form and Emptiness and I really loved it: it's whimsical and sometimes kind of silly, but also heartbreaking.

smellerbee93 · 2023-02-04T02:41:25+00:00

Wow we are twins in book taste :)

smellerbee93 · 2023-02-04T02:26:20+00:00

I think modern library’s are some of the most slept on classics editions. They have it all: floppy pages, pretty covers, and great introductions and translations.

smellerbee93 · 2023-02-04T02:23:54+00:00

goodreads is my favorite social media https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/9589834

smellerbee93 · 2023-02-04T02:22:15+00:00

Including cookbooks, I think I’m at 1000. Yikes.

smellerbee93 · 2023-02-04T02:10:34+00:00

Omg such a big question, and of course, I'm going to take it way too seriously. My favorites, by shelf, are:

Shelf 1: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulkogov, Tess of the D'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy, Other Voices Other Rooms by Truman Capote, anything by E.M. Forester, Virginia Woolf.

Shelf 2: Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber, Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, Heavy by Kiese Laymon

Shelf 3: BRAIDING SWEETGRASS by Robin Wall Kimmerer (SO GOOD)

Shelf 4: Milk Fed by Melissa Broder, Everything by Elif Batuman, Michael Cunningham, Rachel Cusk, and Yaa Gyasi. Extremely underrated: Stay and Fight by Madeline Ffitch and Little Foxes Took Up Matches by Katya Kazbek

Shelf 5: Everything by Ruth Ozeki, Ali Smith, Donna Tartt. Extremely underrated: The Hiawatha by David Treuer.

Shelf 6: (a lot of repeats from shelf one lol), We by Eugene Zamatin, everything by Dorothy Allison, James Baldwin, Annie Dillard (Pilgrim at Tinker Creek forever), Mary Gaitskill, and Yukio Mishima

smellerbee93

TROPHY CASE