Amy Lu's View

Chad recently forced, I mean, inspired, me to go through some boxes of our old clothes and I came across this gem:

I mean it when I say these boxes* and their contents were Old School. This particular artifact was procured when I worked at B. “Goddamn” Dalton’s (that’s how we, the employees, referred to it) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at the Lindale Mall in the mid-90’s. Thanks to Google, I even know now (and find it rather shocking) that Lindale Mall still exists! B. Dalton’s, of course, is long dead, R.I.P.

Obviously, I got this t-shirt to wear while I dispatched my duties as a “bookseller” during the Christmas retail season (and yes, in Cedar Rapids in the mid-90’s, it was almost 100 percent observance of Christmas).

My memories of this time are pretty blurry, as it was over 20 years ago. To set the stage: This was WAY before Amazon. “A Cup of Christmas Tea” and “Peef, The Christmas Bear” were the big holiday sellers of that era–but I guess for all I know, they still are.

I do have a distinct impression that it was rather stressful (comparatively speaking) working retail during Christmas. When my then 5 (or 6?) year-old-niece, Kate, compared me to Bob Cratchit because of the hours I was working, I thought it was pretty funny–and apt. I will always have at least some level of empathy for those working in harried retail environments.

It was also slightly exciting in a warped way–I did enjoy the “rush” of meeting the demands of frenzied consumers. I also loved my employee discount and getting books and book-related gifts for everyone for Christmas. It was even kind of fun working at mall at Christmastime, with the decorations and the music and all the holiday hoohah.

However, I never, ever, never ever, want to work retail again.

Working at B. Daltons was my full-time employment gig for about three years post-college. It was no surprise to me–or anyone–that, as the proud owner of B.A. in Comparative Religion, I was working retail full-time, but I wasn’t satisfied. While I mostly enjoyed my experience and made some marvelous friends, I knew I wasn’t cut out to do retail for my entire career. Eventually my B. Dalton’s experience inspired me to get my Master’s degree in Library Science–along with realizing I could get in-state tuition at a nearby college (The University of Iowa) and that I didn’t need any foreign language proficiency.

I didn’t end up keeping the B. Dalton’s t-shirt. Taking a photo and reminiscing a bit about those days was sufficient. But I will keep the memories (vague as they are) and the admiration for Young Amy and her endeavors to serve the gods of literary retail.

And I am SO thankful (at least as a consumer) for online shopping!

*(Some boxes of clothes even contained treasures from High School but that is a blog post or posts for another time).