Stickers on books have been the bane of my existence for most of my life. My first impulse is to gently peel them off before time can cement them on. Sometimes that doesn't work, and I have to just leave the fucking thing. I hate that. So I saw a post on Twitter that made my skin crawl because booksellers do this all the time. The post was a plea for booksellers to stop motherfucking doing that shit.
So I'm going to tell you a scary story. It's short, but if you're anything like me, it will make you bristle. You will tear your hair and gnash your teeth.
A while back I was in a Half Price Books, haunting the horror section (naturally). I found a book by Charlee Jacob called SOMA. It wasn't just any edition, though. It was the signed lettered edition. Per the signature sheet, there were only 15 copies in the world. I had to have it, but there was no price on it. Hoping for the best, I took it to the counter and asked how much it was.
The clerk went through his database and didn't find a conclusive answer. He arbitrarily decided on twenty-five bucks, which was pretty sweet. I'll be that's not even half of the actual price. Maybe not even a quarter of it. I was very happy.
He turned his back, so I didn't see what he was doing. I was reaching for my wallet instead. When he turned back around . . .
. . . HE'D PUT A PRICE STICKER ON THE BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND THEN HE PUT THE BOOK BACK IN THE SLIPCASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's OK. I'll give you a moment. I certainly needed to, as I'm reliving this nightmare.
I paid up and rushed out to my car. It took all of my willpower to take the book out of the slipcase as gently as possible, and I showed even more restraint when I didn't tear the sticker off like a rabid dog. Thankfully I was able to remove it without leaving a trace of its existence, so there's a happy ending, but I shudder to think. I SHUDDER TO THINK!
Don't even talk to me about writing the price on the inside cover.
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