I just finished up Retail Hell, the hilarious account of Freeman Hall’s life working the handbag (NOT purse!!) department at The Big Fancy (aka Nordstrom).  Working retail is hellish enough–I spent more than my fair share of time working the register and sales floor–but The Big Fancy ratchets up the horror in a variety of ways.  Customer Service is always a top priority, even if it means letting customers make shady returns, behave erratically, and even verbally assault the employees.

And how did dear Freeman get sucked into the dirty underworld of retail hell?  ”In a word: clothes.”

We all have our addictions.  Belgian chocolate.  QVC porcelain dolls.  Crack cocaine.  Mine just happens to involve shirts and pants.  Designer shirts and pants.  And trendy shoes that look hot with them.  No big surprise there.  Young gay guy lured to the dark side by fashion.  It’s not headline news…

Freeman goes on to describe that after scoring a fake ID, he needed some new threads to impress everyone at the clubs. He discovers the lure that hooks most retail slaves into the ‘fold’–The Employee Discount–and there’s no saving him. Freeman has a way with words and the actions of the customers he describes are almost too impossible to fathom–he had me laughing the whole time.  This is a great read for anyone looking to laugh or to have his or her feelings about working retail validated.

I was recently pitched I Suck At Girls, Justin Halpern’s (of Sh*t My Dad Says fame) new book.  I downloaded the sample to my iPad and was rolling with laughter from page one.  Needless to say, that review is on tap for June.

I’m also working on the memoir of an Indian girl who grew up in a very traditional Indian household.  The title of this book slays me: On the Outside Looking Indian. As an adult, Rupinder Gill decides to embark on a year of fulfillment–living out all of the childhood fantasies she was denied by her strict parents.  It’s shaping up to be another good read.

In addition to these three, I have the Steve Jobs book (I know, I know, it’s not a memoir), Jen Lancaster’s newest, and a few others that caught my eye.  I know that memoirs aren’t the most popular genre out there, but ever since reading Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods a bunch of years ago, I’ve been sold on them.  If you’re not a fan, maybe one of my upcoming reviews will sway you!

Okay, so now I want you to dish:  Have you ever worked retail?  If so, where, and more importantly, how was the discount???

*I also have to biographies in the stack!

May is for Memoirs is a post from: Book, Line, and Sinker

Title: 

Author: Kate Klise

Genre/Pages: Fiction/320

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

Publish Date: May 1, 2012

Rating: 3 bookmarks

Source: courtesy of the publisher

Natalie’s 1-Sentence Synopsis: An accidental jostle aboard a Paris-bound flight and a baggage claim mixup lead to romance for single mom Daisy Sprinkle and her 18-year-old daughter Coco.

Over the last 18 years, Chicago chef Daisy Sprinkle has made a name for herself on the restaurant circuit.  Her tenacity, perfectionism, and side of caprice have left her successful but lonely, with a bevy of notable restaurants in her wake.  After leaving her last job after a dispute over steak sauce, Daisy takes Coco on a week-long vacation to Paris to escape, but is called to duty when an old friend needs a pastry chef for a gallery exhibit.

As Coco attempts to reclaim her lost bag, a farce worthy of The Parent Trap ensues.  Daisy travels to Madrid to help her friend, and 17-year-old Webb is ditches his father Andrew, a crackerjack art installation guy, in Madrid and heads to Paris to rendezvous with Coco and his duffel bag.

In Madrid, Daisy meets and falls for Andrew but doesn’t remember he’s the man who jostled her on the plane, spilling a glass of red wine down her silk blouse and sneaking a corny mash note into her purse.  He’s already smitten but is torn about admitting his identity as the note’s author after Daisy disdains the note during one of their conversations.

When I originally accepted this book for review, I mistook it for a travel memoir, but was pleasantly surprised by the sweetness of the story. Told from the perspectives of all four characters, In the Bag is a jaunty read that heralds the start of summer and beach books.  An added bonus are the delightful travel collages with nods to plot lines at the start of each new day.

I enjoyed the Webb/Coco relationship and found the email repartee sweet and plausible.  I accepted the many coincidences and twists of ‘fate’ and ‘kismet’ and read it in a single sitting.  While a bit predictable with characters who felt, at times, a bit one-dimensional, this was still a whimsical book that  I’d recommend.  In the Bag is a charming summer read for those who looking for a bit of lighter reading set abroad.

Thanks to Mary at William Morrow for this one.

Review: In the Bag by Kate Klise is a post from: Book, Line, and Sinker

On Friday, I headed out to Kutztown, PA to Renningers Antique Extravaganza–think acres of tents, tables, and fields, piled with all types of vintage treasures.  I scored some great stuff for my Etsy shop–I just have to clean it all up, take some photos, and get them posted!  On the way home, I stopped by my parents’ house and went to dinner with my mom.

Saturday morning I was up and out early to a local flea market where I picked up some other treasures, including a set of vintage Pyrex bowls for my sister for Mother’s Day.  Our grandmother had this set and I have the fondest memories of family picnics with various foods in the bowls.  The yellow bowl was for potato salad and the green one either had baked beans or scalloped potatoes.

photo via blueflowervintage on Etsy

Saturday night, Anthony and I headed to a great old theater–Loew’s Jersey Theater in Jersey City–to catch a double feature of epic sea disaster flicks–A Night to Remember (1958) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972).

The theater is so majestic and the Wonder Morton Organ has such a rich sound! The organist entertained us between shows and there was a panel discussion on The Poseidon Adventure.

Sunday morning, I jumped BACK in my car and zoomed up the Turnpike to the Bronx to catch a Yankees game with some former students.  We arrived early enough for batting practice and the stadium was posting tweets from fans around the stadium.  I hurriedly dashed off a tweet to Derek Jeter–I was hoping for a good photo of him–and five seconds later it was up on the screens!

C'mon, Jeter! Smile for my camera.

I’d recognize that swagger anywhere!!  This was the best shot I got of Jeter during batting practice, when all ticket-holders are permitted to get about 40 feet from the players.

Next to Scott Brick, this guy is my favorite non-husband man!

Seating at the stadium is laughably expensive.  Along the baselines, Legends Seating offers comfy seats and waitress service for upwards up $800 per seat.  Behind that, the seats go for $250-$500.  Needless to say, our tickets were somewhere north of Canada in the upper deck.  For the last half hour of batting practice, we stood behind the Field MVP section which is shaded by an overhang and then decided to stay there for the duration–the vantage point was great!

About 40 minutes into the game, the guard posted in the section took pity on us–the last 6 rows of the section were empty–and he let us all sit in the MVP area!  Hello, princess seats!!  If we would have purchased the seats, we’d be looking at $261.00 each!

The lap of luxury--with waitress service and an awning to protect me from the blazing sun.

The Yankees went on to win the game and it was all unicorns and rainbows…until I skipped out of the stadium to Jerome Avenue where I’d parked my car (on the street).

I even ASKED a police officer before parking in the spot (where a million other cars were also parked) if it was legal.

Looks like I paid for that seat upgrade one way or another!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend.  What was on your agenda?

Three Days, Two Tanks of Gas is a post from: Book, Line, and Sinker

The little dots represent caches hidden near my house along the Jersey shore. This image covers an almost 85-mile radius of Asbury Park, NJ, stretching into PA, NY, CT, and Long Island. There are oodles of them just waiting to be discovered!

Over the weekend, I took my 5-year-old nephew hunting with me up near his house.  We started with an easy cache–they are rated for size and difficulty–and I didn’t know what to expect.  After an hour of traipsing through a field and some trees with the help of my iPhone, we were no closer to finding the box than when we started.  Feeling a bit let down, we vowed to come out again in the morning to find the cache.  As we headed back toward the car, my nephew spotted the cache by chance.

Our first cache--so exciting!

After we signed the log book, my nephew asked if we could go out again in the morning.  I spent some time that night looking for some easy caches in the neighborhood and came up with two.  We headed out pretty early, but after two hours of searching, we came up empty handed.  It dawned on me that it might be easier to work with the coordinates (latitude and longitude) on my phone’s GPS, so I downloaded an App*, and we tried again.  No dice.  Finding four-leaf clovers quickly took precedence.

Aunt Nat, I'm going find you a four-leaf clover...or maybe just a three-leaf one.

We returned home for lunch and convinced my sister to come out and hunt with us.  I guess she was our lucky charm (or at least daring enough to climb a rocky path) and found victory–a cache inside an old ammo box.

V for Victory!

After this cache, we headed a few miles away for another one which was found quickly.  We signed the log book, but my nephew reneged on his plan to swap a treasure with one of his own small toys (some caches have little items that can be swapped or carried to other caches).

On Saturday, Ant and I found two caches locally and it made for a nice day out.  Geocaching is a great way to get outside and sate your treasure hunting urges.

Is anyone else out there in book-land doing some Geocaching?  Have you ever hidden a cache?  If you’re interested in learning more about the hobby, check out the website.  It’s really a great adventure and perfect for weekends or summer days.

*I originally downloaded Motion GPS but later went with the free trial of the Geocaching App which was much better.  Just be sure to shut the program down when not hunting or it will drain your phone’s battery in a flash.

‘Cache’ Me If You Can is a post from: Book, Line, and Sinker