Training Amy (2 page)

Chapter Two

            “Amy, you need to call someone named Brad back. It’s about a job at a bookstore,” her mother said. Amy’s mother and father were semi-retired and always home, or so it seemed. It made living at home that much more difficult.

            Amy pulled the backpack off her shoulders and dropped it on the kitchen counter. Could they make college textbooks any heavier? It was like carrying around a cement block. The realization of what her mother said slowly sunk in. “Brad from
By the Book
?”

            Her mother sat at the kitchen table reading a magazine. “I think that was it.”

            A swell of excitement rushed through her. “Right on! I think I have a job!” She hurried to the phone finding the message pad. Without hesitation she picked up the phone and dialed the number.

            “
By the Book
, this is Eric, can I help you?” came the voice on the other end of the line.

            “Hi Eric, this is Amy Myers, umm, Brad called earlier and I’m returning his call?” Oh God, why did she make everything sound like a question as if she was some brainless twit? She almost groaned aloud, but caught herself.

            “Amy, good. Brad’s actually not here now, but we’d like to offer you the job. It pays ten an hour and the hours are one in the afternoon to nine at night, Monday through Friday and Saturdays and Sundays from one to six. We can negotiate days off. Would that work for you?”

            She did some quick calculating in her head. That was at least forty hours a week. “Umm, yeah, that’s great.”

            “Good, can you come in this afternoon to fill out your paperwork?”

            “Okay,” she paused, “When will I start?”

            “That’s up to you. You can work to close tonight if you want, give you a jumpstart on your training.”

            She looked up at the clock. It was eleven thirty. She wanted to change and grab something to eat. “Yeah, I’ll work to close tonight. I can be there by one,” she said hopefully.

            “That’s fine, I’ll see you then.”

            They said their goodbyes and she hung up, jumping up and down. “I got the job!”

            Her mom gave her a smile. “I knew you’d find something. So do you have time to tell me about it?”

            Amy hurried to the fridge and pulled out a yogurt. “Not much to tell really. It’s a bookstore and I’m basically going to be stocking books and running the register. I might even be able to do homework if it’s slow. But,” she started; getting excited again, “It’s at least forty hours a week and it pays ten bucks an hour!”

            Then her mother asked, “Are there benefits?”

            Amy shrugged. “I don’t know.”

            “Amy,” her mother started, “You’re an adult now, and these are the kinds of questions you ask during an interview. Benefits are really important and once you’re out of school you’re off our medical insurance.”

            She rolled her eyes. Her mom meant well, but she was the kind of person who’d find a problem with winning the lottery. It was just like her to rain on Amy’s parade and make her feel like she was still sixteen. “I’ll ask when I go in today.”

            It didn’t take her long to clean herself up, change her clothes and get to the bookstore. This time she dressed more casually in a newer pair of jeans and a scoop neck green blouse that drew out the color of her eyes. She had her long brown hair pulled into a ponytail and wore just enough makeup to give her that awake and put-together look. Finally, she had chosen a pair of black flats to complete the outfit. She didn’t want to
overdo
the casual. She walked into the store realizing there were a lot more customers today. Eric was behind the counter, just like yesterday.

            When he saw her he pointed to Brad’s desk. “Paperwork in the white folder. Fill it out, Myers.”

            His voice was deep, commanding and intimidating. Stifling the urge to salute she gave him a shy smile and hurried behind the counter to the desk. It took her about an hour to fill out all the paperwork. She smiled when she got to the insurance information and application. After some consideration she signed up for the dental and vision, two things her parent’s insurance plan didn’t cover. “Eat your heart out, mom,” she whispered under her breath.

            “Pardon me?”

            She jumped, realizing Brad was standing there. She put her hand to her chest. “You scared me.”

            He laughed. He had a sexy laugh. “What were you saying?”

            She shook her head. “My mother. We had a conversation about benefits and insurance just this morning.”

            “Still living at home, huh?”

            She gave him a tight smile. “Uh huh. It’s another one of those unfortunate things about my life at the moment.”

            Brad sat back in his chair and looked her over. “You look more comfortable today.”

            “I hope this is okay,” she said quickly, wondering if she went too casual.

            “It’s good.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “Why don’t you put your bag here in the cupboard and let’s give you the tour.”

            She did as she was told and followed him first to the back.

            He took her through a door behind the small office - register area and into a short hallway. There was a door to the left, a door to the right and then the hallway that led to a bigger room in the back. That room was lined with shelves stuffed with boxes. There was a door that presumably led outside and another to the left.

            “So this is the store room. Books are organized by author back here. We only stock excess we don’t have room for on the shelves and books we know are going to sell well. We do a full inventory once a month on a Sunday night. This month it’s actually Sunday after next.”

            She looked around. “What’s in there?” she asked, pointing to the door on the left.

            He lifted an eyebrow. “That is a private stock room. No one except Eric and I are allowed in there. Same with the room to the left in the hallway. That’s a private stock showroom for select customers and collectors. The other door, the one on the right side as you enter the hallway, that’s a private employee only restroom. The public restroom entrance is in the store.”  

            She gave him a tight smile. “Okay.”

            He led her back into the main store, out from behind the counter and into the stacks. “Children’s books, magazines, calendars, journals, and datebooks are over there,” he said, pointing to the left.

            She looked around trying to note where things were.

            “Right in front of us here, these six rows are fiction. It’s sorted by genre and author.” He looked at her as if making sure she was paying attention. “Then here to the right in the back, these twelve rows are non-fiction. They’re sorted by topic and author. We’ve labeled the shelves. You’ll notice we usually only keep 1-2 copies of each book on the shelves unless it’s popular. We don’t have the space the bigger stores have and we specialize in certain topics. For example, we’ve found tattoo and piercing books are popular with you younger kids. We have a good sized section. We have a large Christian section and an even larger Atheism section. Notice those two sections are separated from each other for obvious reasons. We also have a large human sexuality section,” he said cautiously.

            She nodded. “Okay.”

            “And finally to the left of Nature and Gardening is the bathroom. Notice the mirror up there. You have to watch that because if someone’s going to steal, they start hanging out by the bathroom. Also, the bathroom has a key. People have to ask you for it. Make sure they don’t take books in.”

            She just nodded, taking it all in. It was a pretty good sized store, she realized. Noticing a piece of paper on the floor she leaned over to grab it. That’s when she realized how much cleavage her blouse was showing and that Brad was looking down her shirt.

            He gave her a sly grin. “What I want you to do today is just go around and look at the shelves. See where things are and familiarize yourself with the store. When you’re done, come back behind the counter and we’ll discuss the register and certain protocols and store policies. Okay?”

            She smiled. “Got it.”

            He turned and headed back toward the counter and she was left standing amidst the shelves of books. She decided to start in one corner and work her way around. Reading the labels on each shelf, she tried to make mental notes where each topic resided. When she got to human sexuality she marveled at how big the section was compared to others. He hadn’t been lying. There were sex manuals from the
Kama Sutra
to
Joy of Sex
.  Then something caught her eye. The label read
bdsm
. There were a lot of those books. There was also a section labeled
fetish
, probably about foot worship and stuff like that. The gay, lesbian, and transgendered section was also good sized. It took her about forty minutes to get through non-fiction. The fiction section was relatively typical. A lot of romance, fantasy, sci-fi and horror, but there was a huge erotica section and it was further broken down by type. Again there were books for those of different sexual orientation, those with fetishes, and bdsm, which she assumed was whips and chains. Finally, she made it over to the children’s books, magazines, journals, calendars, and so on. That was probably the smallest section of the store and it looked relatively unused. Either that or it had been recently cleaned up.

            “We usually don’t get the kids until the evening hours and weekends,” Eric said from the counter as if he’d read her mind.

            “Great.”

            He laughed. “You don’t like kids?”

            “Depends how obnoxious they are and whether or not they’re sticky and spreading it around,” she said with a smile. She thought she heard Brad chuckle. With that she came back around the counter. “Well, I think I’m familiar with the stock.”

            “Now for store policies.” Brad got up from behind his desk and joined her and Eric at the counter. “First things first – we do accept returns of merchandise in new condition with a receipt no matter the reason for return. Your panic button is here. Use this if you’re robbed. In case of fire, the alarm sounds automatically. Fire exits are labeled and there are fire extinguishers around the store. Try to get the customers out but don’t endanger your life. Next, any private collectors or customers are by appointment only. Eric and I are the only ones who deal with the private collectors. Again, the two rooms in the back are off limits to you and the entire back is off limits to customers unless Eric or I take them back. Clear?”

            “Yes, sir,” she said carefully. Damn. He and Eric sounded like drill sergeants. That clipped way they both gave orders was going to take some getting used to, she decided.

            “Good, we don’t have a time clock, but you’ll have a time card right here and you will log in and out. There will be time for breaks and if we’re slow you can work on your homework. I realize I might be pushing my luck with your schedule and I know college produces a lot of homework. For the next few weeks you’ll be in training until we know you’re going to make it and we can leave you on your own for short periods. Most of the time one of us will be here with you. Okay?”

            “Okay.” She bit her lip and looked around, taking it all in.

            Brad nodded to Eric. “You’ve got her until closing.”

            “Thank you,” Eric said.

            With that, Brad disappeared into the back and Eric showed her how to work the register. She watched him help customers. A lot of people seemed to be regulars and Eric knew many of them by name. When they were finally customer free and he was out of things to tell her she thought she’d ask him about the books.