Bit Of A Hoo Har

Blimey. What would they have been like with JK? Full body armour and weapons, probably.

I notice that someone (perhaps the brutally posh woman) has tried to make out in the comments that your complaint is unjustified. I hereby wish violence upon this person. ~ I'll Show You Tyrants * Fuselit * The Prowl Log * Woe's Woe

Well, surely it's to guard against the legions of book-merchant wankers you get at the Hay Festival, who bring armfuls of books, demand without a smile that they're signed, then flog them on ebay. It was horrible and I would have liked to see a degree of control exercised. This way, traders can't bring their bulk-bought wares to a rival's shop, insist an author sign them all, and thus deny genuine fans the opportunity to meet their idol. The restriction on whose name you can have the book signed to makes sense for the same reason. I'm playing Devil's Ad, of course - you can impose reasonable rules without being nasty, of course, but Fish isn't exactly sanguine at the best of times and seems to have been in a piss from the get-go just because she had to fork out five quid.

I suppose if they have legions of kiddies converging on the event then they have to organise with an iron fist -so to speak- or it would disolve into chaos. But turning a child away for having bought her book at the wrong store is the nastiest sort of officiouness (and of dubious legality). I'll bet there was no official policy on that and the person in charge was just a little tipsy on power.

To be fair, Fish recognised the 3 book limit was sensible. As for ebay-ers and the like - they wouldn't want them signed *to* anyone. It was reducing a little kid to tears for the sake of a single sale that took the biscuit. Jees - what a Jobsworth. I'm sure JW would've been appalled. ~ www.fabulousmother.com

I think Rokkit makes a good point but I think it's reasonable to expect the Waterstone's staff team to do their best to distiguish between a book merchant and a small child. That said, doing public service jobs in stressful situations can be quite difficult.

I think it's amazing that the manager of the shop replied at all - even though his reply was pretty poor. The real gripe is about the little girl being made to buy a new book. That is outrageous. Buying a ticket, queueing, only getting three books signed - these are reasonable (although I thought that the price was rather high). But I like all the little additional bits as they make it truly fishlike - and that's why she's a great writer. Shame the Waterstone's staff don't recognise it!

I think this is the sort of problem that arises when people understand the rules they're working to in a literal sense but don't really understand what the rules are designed to achieve. Unfortunately, this is a symptom of massive corporate structures and Waterstones is a massive corporate structure. Let's bring back all those good old-fashioned indie bookshops that mistreated their customers out of misanthropy and hatred of capitalism.

It's amazing how the inner Nazi can emerge so easily in some people. If Britain ever succumbed to a fascist takeover, there'd be a small minority who'd fit into the new way of doing things effortlessly.

Emma! Threre are people donning veils in our society. Work hours are increasing. Authors are demanding more protection (because they're richer). Don't you realise that we all hate each other and we will utilise whatever legal, or workplace, rights we have to keep the 'common muck' as far away from our mouths and clothes as possible. The two themes feed of each other perfectly. In fact, they are identical in their theme! Don't you realise that. Don't people realise the theme? I'm amazed and a-ghast at the hyperreality that some members of our society live in. Oh! I have visions of women picking at their nails and guys applying moisturiser and shaving their pubic hair. Agh! We used to revere magicians, kings and revolutionairies. Now we bow to capitalist junk. A consumerist illusion! A materialist, ever-repeating temporary FIx! A sickness my dear.... There's nothing more mind-teasing than the incomprehensible eagerly avowed - Dennett

"We used to revere magicians, kings and revolutionairies. Now we bow to capitalist junk." So, let's get this clear, you're saying that we now live in a society that prefers shopping to Paul Daniels, Stalin and the principle of people getting a job because their dad had it before them. Clearly it's all gone to the dogs. I'm going to retreat to my bedroom and whack myself over my head with my Daily Mail until I either feel better or die.

I'm sorry, I don't remember writing that. I was very, very drunk at the time. What is that all about? naymind...whacking myself over the head with a newspaper sounds fun. There's nothing more mind-teasing than the incomprehensible eagerly avowed - Dennett

It blows off the cobwebs. Or something.

Paul Daniels is my hero! Well he used to be. I'm all for revering magicians, me... ~PEPS~ You can’t finish a man till he’s finished his Texan Bar