Although I had been shopping at Chapters for years before I started working there, I had never actually noticed the Sexuality shelves before my first training shift (I suppose because it's part of the Self Help section, and I've never browsed the books there, either). When I saw it for the first time and various titillating titles jumped out at me, it took a split second for my mind to shift from mild shock to: Okay, people will be buying these books and that's no big deal. And of course it is no big deal, I just needed a fraction of a second to frame my response. (I'm not a total prude.)
Over the months that I've worked there, most of the people who browse the Sexuality shelf are young teenage girls, who flip through the pages of the more graphic books, screaming with giggles. That's understandable, but what has become boringly predictable is the way that these same girls will then take a book from this section and place it elsewhere in the store (Ooooooh, so naughty and original to put The Joy of Sex with the cookbooks). I was telling Dave and Lolo about finding a book called Anal Sex Basics in the Business section one day and how I had to reshelf it, and Lolo was like, "A whole book on anal sex?" I replied, "Yeah, it was pretty thick, too." And as I thought about that, I restressed, "And it was called Anal Sex Basics." Lolo then asked me what the inside of the book is like, and I was taken aback. As if I would have flipped through it. (Okay, I am a total prude.)
What's odd is that I had never actually seen anyone buy a book from the Sexuality section until recently, and now, it seems commonplace. The first time I noticed was when two chubby and frumpy looking older women each came up to the cash, making individual purchases of sex manuals from two different cashiers. I considered asking the other cashier if she had noticed that those women seemed to be together and making similar purchases, but it immediately seemed not even interesting enough to comment on, and I'm only mentioning it here because this transaction was the first of a string.
On Saturday evening, a couple (older than I am, holding hands) came up to the cash and the woman plunked down a Kama Sutra kit. I noted that neither of them were wearing wedding rings, and I thought to myself that this was an interesting transaction: they just might be a new couple, experienced but willing to try something new, with someone new. Good for them. I was totally nonchalant as I made these silent observations, and after the woman paid, I very nearly blurted out my routine farewell: Enjoy your evening! (The GM of the store always says this, "Enjoy the rest of your day" or "Enjoy your afternoon", and since I liked the sound of this better than "Have a nice day", it has become my parting comment, too). I had to bite my tongue to prevent myself from saying this, and then I was afraid I was about to smirk at myself for nearly implying that they should have fun with their new sex kit. Just as I was at the summit of inner turmoil, the man picked up an EOS lipbalm from the counter display and said to the woman, "They sell balls here". And she said smoothly, "There will be other balls". And I lost my inner smirk, thinking to myself, "I don't know what you have in mind, but no matter what that Kama Sutra kit tells you, please don't stick lip balm inside each other".
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| Please. No. |
And then today, I was on the floor and a woman asked me if we had any books on sex. Apparently, she was looking to buy something to give her daughter at her wedding shower. I found this an odd request but I casually led her over to the Sexuality section, telling her that although I wasn't familiar with any of the books there (As if I would have flipped through them), there was enough variety that I was certain she could find something appropriate. As we stood in front of the shelves, she said, "Well, I'm not looking for anything raunchy". And I said, "Oh, I'm sure you'll find everything here from the base mechanics to the very raunchy; it's just a matter of flipping through some". Before the woman could respond to me, she looked over my shoulder and said, "Oh, here are the girls now". And we were joined by the daughter (a young and lovely blonde) and her friend. The daughter said, "Mommmm", but took the book that her mother offered to her, and after flipping through a few pages, the girl said, "Ew, there's pictures". I said I'd leave them to it, and walked away with no idea what that was all about: Why was the Mom looking for a sex manual to present at a wedding shower? To be a shocking and "cool" Mom for a laugh? Then why let the daughter help choose the book? Was the daughter possibly a virgin (and just being blonde and lovely doesn't necessarily mean she isn't also religious or otherwise chaste) and the Mom was doing her best to give her good information? If that's the case, then why would the woman be giving the book to her daughter at a public event? I shall never know: I was then sent on my break and I never learned what, if anything, they may have chosen.
Nearing the end of the day (and I know this is only tangentially related), a woman came up to buy a book, and although it looked like any old romance to me, she must have been embarrassed to purchase it, because after we were done, she leaned forward and said, "This is for a book club". I replied that it looked like a nice, mindless summer read (still thinking it was any old romance book), and she said, "The woman who made this month's selection said that there would be bonus points for anyone who went into Chapters and asked an employee where the Erotica section was. Extra bonus points if the employee was a man." She laughed nervously, so eager to let me know that she wouldn't have chosen this book (that I didn't even recognise as Erotica; not that I would ever judge anyone for buying from that section anyway) and then she said, "In the end, I couldn't find anyone to ask, and had to get the book on my own". I laughed with her and said that unfortunately there were no men on the floor today, and if I hadn't been called to cash, I would have been the one to ask for help. I also told her that it was no big deal to be looking for the Erotica section, and as it was no fault of her own that she had no one to ask, I would be happy to write her a note confirming that she had, indeed, asked for the help. She thought that was hilarious and I wrote her such a note; she left happy and not the least bit embarrassed about her purchase.
These stories are mostly noteworthy because they happened so close together, and I imagine that the longer I work at a book store, the less noteworthy they will seem. The goal is, of course, to act like a professional and let everyone leave as that last woman did -- happy and not the least embarrassed -- and for the most part, that's the way it works; the staff really isn't judging you for the books you choose; only your behaviour around the books is (sometimes) interesting to us.