Between the long lines and frantic searching for used textbooks, it's easy to overlook the poor employee ringing you up at the ASU Bookstore.
This week, SPM chats up Tony Garcia, a veteran teller at the bookstore who has donned the golden worker's shirt for more than two years. Garcia has seen and heard it all, from the repeated joke of, "If it doesn't scan then it must be free!" to angered students complaining about the price of textbooks. Sadly, he's still never seen a bookstore brawl.
SPM: Don't I know you?
Garcia: Yeah, you probably know me from my working at the bookstore.
SPM: What's your favorite part about working at the bookstore?
Garcia: You get to meet everybody that goes to school here.
SPM: Do you have any favorite majors or groups?
Garcia: Well, since I studied art, I always like to talk to people that do the different arts. Other than that, I don't really know all the different aspects of different people. It's interesting to talk to everybody so that way you can learn a little bit of what everybody has to say.
SPM: Does that mean you don't have a least favorite group then?
Garcia: Um, no. I shouldn't say it because it'll probably get read. There's a certain group that always gives me a problem but I don't want to mention it. (Laughs) Now everyone's going to think it's them.
SPM: OK, moving on, where's the best place to hook up in the bookstore?
Garcia: If it was an employee, the best place would probably be in the back halls. But if it's during the year, anytime past rush, anywhere in Texts is good. There's nobody back in there.
SPM: What's the weirdest thing to happen at the bookstore?
Garcia: Well, you probably know there are a lot of weird people who work at the bookstore. You may go into the break room and find someone standing watching TV two inches away from it. Or we've had student workers who've asked if it was OK if they wore their light saber to work. It's always strange.
SPM: What's the ugliest item you sell?
Garcia: We do have an item that says "Poperty," not "Property," and people still buy it. I don't know if it's because they don't notice, but they should be paying attention to what they're putting on themselves.
SPM: Does anyone fight over textbooks?
Garcia: No, I'm surprised that's never happened. At some point there's only one book left on the shelf, and I guess two people haven't come in at the same time.
SPM: It would've been a good story though, a bookstore brawl.
