r/Barnesandnoble

just out of curiosity, how many specialties are y’all responsible for? i’m a senior and have 4 that i’ve been juggling and am so exhausted lol

So, I've sold plenty of trading cards before. I know our store's customer limits for Pokémon, One Piece, etc etc. And I know that we sell those little bitty Magic the Gathering booster packs.

But oh my god this was the first time I'd ever encountered this issue and I feel so dumb plus a little frustrated that I had never been informed about this particular thing about certain Magic the Gathering card packs.

So we got the new Lord of the Rings cards in. A guy asks for some of the booster packs. I noticed the box it was in hadn't been opened yet, so I opened it to grab a few boosters out for him.

Turns out, the single booster packs weren't for sale, but rather the entire box of packs was. The customer declined the purchase since I couldn't sell him the single packs. I apologized profusely to my manager about not knowing but I was told it was okay and that I could just tape the box closed. So sorry to whoever wanted a brand new untouched box of LOTR Magic booster packs 😭

It was just so confusing since there's other booster packs that scan individually...

I loved my store and I loved my co-workers. It was the first place that I ever worked that felt right for me.

Then this guy comes in who is a regular at the store. He comes to the Cafe and I'm taught how to make his drink order by the Lead. It's not on the menu, but he's a generous tipper so they make exceptions.

He kept coming back to the cafe to see me. He was my co-worker's favorite customer and he seemed sweet. I didn't mind.

Then one day he hands me a gift. It was some random antique photos, flower seeds, an antique key, and a USB drive with some music, art, and a letter saying hello.

When you look through the world in ruby glasses, all red flags just look like flags.

It was weird. Definitely not threatening. And nice. So I wrote him back.

2 years later....

This has been the most toxic relationship of my life. Christmas's ruined. Birthdays ruined. Valentine's day was traumatically awful.

He's not nice and he's not sweet.

And when I think back to how it all started, it's like I'm imagining someone else's life.

I'm not at the store anymore. But I miss it.

And if I could, I would go back to that moment before I wrote back to that "nice" customer.

do yall say “BOE-pis” or “BOP-is”

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Have you guys seen that her book was a part of book haul, and then after her passing they put it back to the original price? This company is horrible and I’m glad they’re getting called out for it. As an employee, I am genuinely ASHAMED. And I’m sure they do this pretty often. So sad. May she Rest in Peace.

hi all! i worked at b&n for about a year and a half and lovedddd the job so so much. i even miss cash wrap during peak holiday szn 🥲 i unfortunately had to quit out of the blue bc my dads cancer made an aggressive comeback (he did not want treatment again so we spent our last month and a half together doing all the things we loved!!) i didn’t put in a two weeks notice (sue me, i was going through all the emotions and then some), i just had a chat with my store manager and she took me off the schedule. i’m curious if not putting in a two weeks notice might have put me on a do not hire again list or if it’s worth a shot??

As someone who usually does not get easily annoyed or does not go above supervisors' heads, I thought I would ask opinions before I make a decision. Here is the situation. I am the person who handles ETG and SHC. I habe not.been able to complete Phase 4 or 5, and now Phase 6 is starting. I have asked and asked for time. Part of the problem is that neither my SM or Asst SM run cash wrap unless they are the only people in the store. They also rarely shelve anything. Tbh I don't know what they do all day! I came in today after 3 days off. Boxes of etg/shc are stacked unopened, and area where we keep items to be shelved is overflowing. Like most other stores we have a skeleton crew. Nothing gets completed and we are running ourselves to death. The store is a mess. Now when area manager comes to visit, SM and Asst will go to cash. It's to the point that my blood pressure goes up walking into the store. So, would it do me any good to speak to my area Mgr about what is going on? Or would it just create a hostile work environment for me? I am not looking forward to the holiday season when we can't even handle the summer!

My cafe's situation is kinda strange, so bear with me here. I was a senior barista until about 2 months ago when I was promoted to lead, and at the time my CTE had been on thin ice for a while due to a myriad of issues. Maybe 2 days after my promotion, she put in her 2 weeks. I was given a crash course on ordering and my cluster support came down for an inventory to teach me how to do it. That has been pretty much it for training besides "Look on inside for training resources" which, during the busy summer months, not really helpful.

Do any CTEs or lead baristas on here have any advice on how to not feel like I'm drowning? I feel like I'm failing my amazing baristas (no seniors, btw. I am the only cafe management) and the new hire that we got because I quite literally can't keep up and my SM is getting frustrated with me. Please Help 🥲

I’m pretty new still, but not exactly new enough to ask my managers this question without sounding incompetent—but how does one transfer a phone call with our mobile phones?

I had been applying to Barnes and Noble for 6 years, because as a reader, who doesn't want to work at a cozy bookstore and chat about books?

But then I got the job and realized, it was just a job. They don't even care about the books, just the business aspects. You want to bring in money? Cool, but there are better ways to do it. But because you're forcing us to sell books no one cares about and trying to get people to buy a $40 membership no one wants, we’re not getting any of the sales the company wants, so hours have to be cut. Hours get cut and stores become understaffed, managers get flacked because receiving isn't done or the store looks like ass. What is the point in all of this?

And it's crazy because he's opening new stores when he could be using that money to fix the website or make Bookmaster more accessible, so booksellers don't have to walk all over the store to get to a computer.

AND PLEASE TURN THOSE DAMN LIGHTS DOWN. EVERYONE IS GETTING A HEADACHE.

I'm just complaining, idk.

Do B&N cafes have a dress code that's any different than the rest of the store? If so, where on earth can you find that information? No one in my store seems to have an answer.

The extent of the information I was given was "tie your hair back". But most other food industry workplaces have rules like no jewelry, no nails, blue band aids that must be secured (some even say no pimple patches?), no dresses, no tank tops, etc.

We have a single page printout from BN Inside titled "professional guidelines for dressing" or something like that and it's a full page that says little to nothing and is only focused on the store.

Oh, we also heard from another store that baristas have their own name tags and we don't know what those are, what they look like, or where to get them.

Funny how there is like, absolutely zero oversight of this stuff. I don't know how on earth B&N is allowed to keep their Starbucks contract, when I worked at Starbucks they were insanely strict.

I understand we are trying to sell down on product before we order up for the holiday. But should we not be trying to sell down on the product that isn’t selling that well? Why the hell am I running out of Sarah J. Maas books? Rebbeca Yarros, Frieda McFadden, Dungeon Crawler books? I straight up had to completely take down my Elle Kennedy display today because we ran out of half of her books and not enough were on order to justify keeping the table up. About to have to take down a Kristin Hannah display as well. Like what are we doing? We know that these are books we’ll sell through holiday so why am I running out of them? Make it make sense! I literally do not have enough books to fill many of my displays right now and when I run out of them, I feel like I have no new display that I can replace them with because we have no stock. Someone help me understand.

EDIT: Any ICSs that may be lurking, I would LOVE to hear your insight on this because I am just confused

I’m really struggling with this one!

1. Any one liners that have worked?
2. When a customer comes up to the register, what books are you seeing in their hand that indicate that they would be interested in our NF OMP this month?

Also, any one liners that you guys might have for the other OMPs would be great! Thank you!! 📚

is anyone else getting scheduled outside of their availability? I’m a student and school starts in like two weeks and the schedule for that week is out and I am scheduled during a time I’m unavailable due to being in
class.🙃

My OMP count is being tracked since we got a new SM and I don’t know what to do to improve. They say to make it a natural conversation based on what people are buying, but our store’s heavy on customers just buying vinyls and manga so that’s not helpful. They say to work on my pitch for those kinds of customers but no one’s telling me what the hell to actually say. The only person I see getting good numbers sounds like a traveling salesman and I just can’t put on that kind of vibe. I’ve been a bookseller for a decade and I feel like these stupid OMPs are gonna ruin my job security, genuinely all of my managers have been checking on my numbers every shift now. Help? :’)

Maybe someone remembers this...I am a former employee :)

Does anyone who worked at B&N in the early 2000s recall having to watch a training video (possibly for the holiday season)? I *think* this was my first year, so this would have been 2002. I remember staff gathering around a small TV wheeled into the cafe after closing to watch it, but nothing specific about it--just that we cracked up through most of it.

Was this a fever dream or did this really exist? 😅

anyone else having one of the worst possible times at work?

I have been with this company for 3+ years (still no promotion btw tysm shit ass company) and it feels like year after year we get less people, less hours, more expectations. been sitting at my spot for 3 fucking years but dw theyre piling on responsibilities and expectations and whenever I say something its just "opportunities" and "experience". sometimes our weekdays, genuinely 6 people the whole day, 5 has happened too. not to mention the expectations from corporate are overbearing and im just tired of this place. the discount isnt enough anymore, we havent been replacing people that we lose. a guy just left a week or so ago and we are apparently not looking for replacements???

i started applying elsewhere. i made a friend or two (besides my management team being fake asf towards everyone that isnt management (esp my asm) lol) and generally likes my time the first year or so. this is what I get for not going to college i guess!!! not to mention creepy old men run rampant so maybe leaving will do me some good.

if anyone else has shitty times id like to hear about them to make myself feel better lol ty