Jeff MartinCritiques

There's no point in reading this. Not a single story is as entertaining as anything you'd find on customers_suck. The writing itself is at best trying-too-hard and at worst pretentious. Each and every one of the authors comes across as a precious would-be David Sedaris.
In fifty pages, I didn't even crack a smile.

Waiter Rant for the retail trade.... Many of the stories have nothing to do with customers or customer service....they seem to be first hand accounts of each author's time spent in a retail job (more or less).

Collection of essays on retail. Some great, some so-so.

Really very meh. I was not entertained by a large percentage of the essays. I think that there were only two that I really enjoyed and they did make the book almost worth it. Sears, Sbarro's Sayonara and The Bad Call were highly entertaining, but most of the stories just were very meh...

ugh. only a few essays shine here, the rest is wannabe DFW, forced-cleverness and irony that masks their inability to say anything of consequence about the future of the book.

Saw this mentioned by the editor here: http://www.themillions.com/2011/01/late-american-novel-fans.htmlLoved this book. A collection of essays from various writers about the future of writing, reading, and the hallowed book itself. Some were funny, some were moody, some were fantasy and nostalgia combined. I enjoyed something from each of them, and found a lot to think about, as well as breadcrumb trails into other books that are now added to my "to read" list. I also enjoyed the irony of reading this book (that compares paper novels to iPad equivalents) as an ebook in the Kindle app on my iPad, while hoping to get a paper copy to "keep" someday. The last essay had some images with the text that would probably have worked better on paper. I would love to read these essays again a year from now to see how these musings on a present future sound by then.

Documents the propeller processor chip. Includes extensive information on programming

A collection of 21 stories and essays about working in retail, The Customer Is Always Wrong is a humorous look at life and times of the retail associate. Having worked for 11ish years in retail myself, I can relate to quite a few of these stories. While some are better than others, overall the book was fun to read. More later. Maybe.

I've been in retail more years than I care to remember, so I received this book from a fellow Paperback Swap member with a great deal of interest. How many essays in this book about retail experiences would strike a chord in me? The answer is: about a third.

Granted, retail is one of those occupations that can stretch credulity some days. Hospital emergency rooms, policemen, firemen and other emergency services pros don't own the monopoly on strange encounters of the human kind. Anyone who deals with the public knows the perils of full moons and the first of the month. Opportunities are ripe for looking at a co-worker and saying, "We should write a book." It's that very thing that editor Jeff Martin tries to cover with his selection of essays in The Customer Is Always Wrong, and the results are rather uneven.

The low point of the book for me was Anita Liberty's essay entitled "No Good Deed...." For the life of me I don't know if the piece was honestly supposed to be funny and completely missed the boat, or if there was a layer of irony and sarcasm woven through the lines and I'm the one left standing at the pier.

The high points of the book were the essays written by James Wagner ("Other Things in Mind") and Elaine Viets ("Minimum-Wage Drama"). For me, those two essays spoke the truth of my own experience. Wagner brings up the phrase "the customer is always right," correctly pointing out that this is

"...a theory drummed up by an owner who didn't have to deal with the day-to-day public, who only had to take in their money and then spend it on cars, stocks, and vacations, the likes of which the people who did deal with the public would never see."

For anyone not familiar with Elaine Viets, she is the author of the Dead End Job mystery series. She's gone out and worked each of the jobs covered in her series, so she's been on more than one front line. Some of her observations are short and to the point: "The first rule of retail is that everyone wants to check out at once" and "Working retail is like going to the theater-- except you get paid to watch the show. Also, your feet hurt."

Although the choice of essays in the book is uneven, the book is more than worth reading for Wagner and Viets alone. If you've ever been on the other side of the counter, the book will have you reliving some of your own "glory days". If you've never worked on the other side of the counter, you should read this book. Unless you're totally self-absorbed, you'll learn a thing or two.

Working retail is often thankless, and you can be subject to tremendous mood swings. But in amongst the days that make you worry about your sanity are the ones that make you smile, make you laugh, and make you put on your comfy shoes and head in to another day with the Public. Because....Steinbeck rules! (Right, Elaine?)½

I've worked my share of retail and was actually disappointed while reading this book. There were a couple stories that were funny, but I found the rest boring. I didn't really want to know how or why these people were working retail, for most, working retail is temporary until the next "big" break happens.

I was looking for more customer interaction.. the things that make working retail nuts. Maybe I was expecting too much and the reason why I wasn't too drawn into. Probably why it took me two weeks to read through it, and even then I really didn't finish reading the last two stories.½

As tends to happen with collections, some of the pieces in The Customer is Always Wrong are better than others. For the most part, the essays are funny, insightful, and thoroughly enjoyable, particularly if you’ve ever worked retail or wondered what it’s like.

Read my full review at The Book Lady's Blog. ½

Well this seems like an appropriate time to post this review. The countdown is on ...only twelve shopping days left until Christmas......

The Customer is Always Wrong, from Soft Skull Press, is an eclectic collection of essays penned by writers who have done time in the retail jungle. I think most of us have "served the public" in a retail capacity at some point in our lives - your first job, putting yourself through university or an extra part time job to make ends meet. For some people it's a fantastic fit, for others - well, it's not. As Jeff Martin says in his introduction, "If this book can help shed a little more light on the often-disregarded retail experience, then we have done our job and done it well."

I was hooked from the first story - a college age student's summer job in a large department store chain, the descriptions of the rah rah manager and the attitudes and antics of the staff had me laughing out loud. The tales cover the gamut - from an upscale spa, a video store, home improvement, coffee shop, porn warehouse plus more. One of the best was Wendy Spero's tale of door to door knife sales, preying on friends and family. The saddest was the porn store, though not for the reasons you might think. The most fascinating was Elaine Viets. She writes a series called The Dead-End Job Mysteries. She actually takes on retail jobs to research her characters.

Having worked in a large retail chain for many years myself, I could appreciate many of the crazy, imperious and downright odd demands made by customers. I often said to the staff that we could write a book based on the almost daily occurrences. However there was good as well, but there aren't that many of those kind of stories in The Customer is Always Wrong. My only complaint - it wasn't long enough! I devoured it in one sitting. Martin himself works in a bookstore - I'm sure that that's a book waiting to be written.......

This is a short little book that's a fun read for anyone who's worked retail. Most of the stories are very funny, although some are a bit disturbing. All in all, an enjoyable quick read.

About: Collection of short essays penned by various writers on their experiences working retail.

Pros: Quick, easy read. Varied essays, none super-horrible. Wendy Spero's tale about selling knives door to door is a highlight.

Cons: No super great essays. I had not heard of any of the writers½

Originally serialized online at rentathugcomics.com