Day Two

So, onto the second day of bankruptcy for Borders.

Since being reduced to 1 shipment a week, and of that, its mostly bargain, I've been able (with help) to get most of our sections back in order (though the damn sex section is messed up again, damn dirty old men and tweens who think its cute). It's getting easier, as some sections are loose and shrinking.

Still, it amazes me how our customers hate us. I mean, really, how difficult is it to put the book you just picked up, breezed through for 10 seconds and put it back in the same place? What makes you just pick up an item, walk around the store with it, and then randomly shove it some other place?

Anyways, it seems all the stores that are closing, they need to close their Seattle Best Cafe's like by tomorrow. I'm sure there is a reason for this, but no one has said what that is. So, our GM was over at Mira Loma today grabing all sorts of food, cups, straws, lids, sugar and everything else associated with the cafe.

I'm told what cannot be taken, will be thrown away. It will be a good dumpster diving for the folks that do that.

Beyond that, not much more has come out, with the exception of a hiring and transfer freeze that came into effect. It seems Borders is forcing the laid off people to re-apply when the ban is lifted. So it forces these staff members -if they want to come back - to go through the whole hiring process again. Which also means they could start at a lower wage than what they were getting before being terminated.

That, if I may add, sort of blows. But that's corporate America for you. And I'm sure all the republicans who want to cut unemployeement for the people, will probably claim it was Borders employees fault that the company had to lay off so many people and close so many stores. Well, at least the frontline workers anyways.

My only thought tonight is when we'll see a return of shipments. Publishers are still not sending us stuff, and despite what happened yesterday, does not mean they will right away.

How thin will our stores get before we see new products?