conuly | B&N just sent me the stupidest email.

B&N just sent me the stupidest email.

Dear Reader,

We’re living through turbulent times together. Our booksellers are your neighbors, your friends and family. Your stories are our stories, and we know how resilient our communities are.

Sincerely,

The Booksellers of Barnes & Noble

Every other store waxed rhapsodic about their cleaning regimen and told me how to order stuff online. All the museums and the NYPL shut down. My mother's mortgage company assured me that their list of tips isn't just a reminder to wash my hands.

B&N, you gotta step it up. If you want to assure us you're taking this All Very Seriously, cancel your events and put your ebooks on sale. Don't waste our time with this inanity.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah, I got that one. Nearest B&N is about 90 miles away . . .

Got a much more detailed "Here's what we're doing" from our bank and from, of all things, a tire company that has us on their customer list from a previous car.

I suspect that most brick and mortar book stores left are so close to going under that they really can't encourage you to not come paw their books and generally stay home. Yes, B&N has a significant on-line presence, but that doesn't help the local stores. (I've been a member of B&N for many years, always buy my books in store and have consistently refused to give them my email address!)

I found it funny to get a rash of emails yesterday from businesses I had to give my email address to when I was moving last year. Yes, everyone is trying to show they are concerned, but it rings a bit hollow when all of those come the same day as if a light switch were flipped and all businesses suddenly realized it would be good to say something the same day.

I also received that email from B&N, didn't open it until now to confirm its stupidity.

Yup. Pretty stupid.

I've gotten email from Best Buy, AMC, Target, etc. B&N blew it.

The best I've received was from Viking River Cruises. "As you are aware, COVID-19 has made travel complicated for all of us, but this does not mean we cannot spend time traveling the world together, virtually." It goes on to have a recipe from Austria, two videos for Austria, and a book recommendation, a bio for Mozart.

Considering the big cruise lines are offering ridiculous incentives to try to get people not to cancel, like up to $300 credit in on-ship charges and flat-out lying about the risks of COVID, it's nice to see a more sane approach from a cruise line.

Even the woman who sold me my first baby carrier lo these many years ago sent out an email, and it was more professional than this - and it started out joking that "all" her employees (ie, her) are working from home "like always"!