This feminist bookstore, which I support with my whole little womyn-loving being, sent email pleas for me to order coursebooks there and to urge students to shop there, not online, because feminist bookstore is part of community, does all kinds of events, etc.--unlike big online chain that threatens to eat it up!
So of course I ordered books for my seminar there and forced little dears to walk the extra blocks to shop there.
Yay feminism!
Then I went in today to pick up my "desk copies" (free copies that instructors get when they order the books--just one of our little scams) and...
Feminist Clerk: That will be $35.00
YSA: (having to stand on tip-toe to see over feminist counter) Not free?
Feminist Clerk: You have to say when you place the order whether you want desk copies. You did not say when you ordered that you wanted desk copies.
YSA: But why would I not want desk copies?
Feminist Clerk: You did not state that when you ordered the books.
YSA: ?? Fine. I will get them from the library.
I go to library--books not on shelf!--realize that that is because I placed them on course reserve, consider reading own books on course reserve in cage-like reserve reading room, realize that own students will see this and shreds of dignity will be stripped away, resolve to try to borrow books from grad student friends.
The moral: community, feminism--it's all out the window if you don't explicitly state, in writing, that you want desk copies.
8 comments:
Man, it's all just one big hoax, isn't it?
If you email the publisher and tell them you want desk copies, you may be able to get it that way.
You should write the feminist bookstore a letter. Or at least call and tell a manager/owner what you did for them and suggest that their policy in this matter is a wee bit retarded.
Do you guys think I am too angry? I think I might be too angry.
Actually I don't think you are too angry. I think that the femi-bookstore really screwed this one up.
Their whole pitch is that they're nicer and more wholesome than the big book stores. And that niceness and wholesomeness outweighs the fact that they are not as convenient nor as cheap as the big stores.
So if it turns out that they aren't all the nice or wholesome after all, why would anyone want to do business with them at all?
If you're not angry and you think everything is just fine...doesn't that make you not a feminist? I mean really, how can you be a feminist without a desire to live in a world where you don't get screwed over? While I admit that getting screwed by a feminist is hot in some contexts...when the context involves your gender non conforming version of a pocketbook it is decidedly not hot. I'm with Tom, write a letter and let your voice be heard!
I don't know. If I was playing devil's advocate, I would ask, does the feminist bookstore, just because it is all community and feministy, have a responsibility to wipe your ass? I could argue that it's your responsibility to make sure you get what you want/need, not theirs.
CBAM is right. You always have to tell them in advance. Just because they're feminists and wave crystals around doesn't mean they're mind readers. Fax something to the publisher on letterhead. Or buy them used on amazon...that way it will look like you've actually read the books you assigned.
In a weird perversion of both feminism and anti-corporation-ism, I borrowed one from VGIRL and bought the other on amazon.
That'll show them!!
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