I worked as a bookseller at Exclusive Books for many years & always found this job exciting & rewarding. While I understand the need to address marketing & service issues, particularly in the current economical climate & having the pressure of competing with online stores & eBooks, I feel in many ways the changes that have recently been instituted have had a negative impact on some of the stores and staff morale.
Having left the company earlier this year, I was appalled to find out about the security staff being retrenched. In many of the EB stores, the security guards aren't merely enforcers of the law, they are individuals who value books & customers as much as the staff themselves. I think that they are invaluable, adding to the safety & atmosphere of the store. Furthermore, I fail to understand how the company can expect reductions in (which in my experience is rather frequent), when there are fewer staff & no security guards on shift (particularly weekend and evening shifts).
To all my security guard friends & colleagues - All the best!
To EB - I hope that this decision helps our struggling industry, instead of shooting it in the foot...
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