I just
had the unfortunate opportunity to walk into Solidaridad book store, a book
shop owned by F. Sionil Jose. I was walking along Padre Faura St. with a friend
and we decided to just take a look at what the books were on sale. As we
entered, we were immediately told to leave our bags somewhere, not exactly
shown where but we have to leave our bags.
I was
carrying my 3ds, a huge wallet, a few valuables, cell phones, and other gadgets
that I had to carry a backpack to carry all of them and the idea that I had to
carry all of them by hand so I could look at what books they are selling, so I
could pull out a book from the shelf with my mouth wasn’t an appealing
prospect.
I told
one of the staff that I’m carrying a lot of gadgets, hence why I carried a bag
in the first place.
There
was an old gay man sitting by the door who said we have to leave our bags and
he said it like this. “It is the store’s policy to leave your bags if you want
to go in. Those are the rules. Just take your things with you.” To which I
replied “So you would rather inconvenience your customers?” I was carrying a
lot of valuables and carrying them to leave an empty bag, was a stupid idea for
me. I wasn’t dying to enter but I asked anyway. I asked if they would take
responsibility if my things were to be damaged or lost, they didn’t answer my
question but just said “It is not an inconvenience, it is the policy of the
store.” That answer my question and didn't make me comfortable leaving my belongings, ah but who cares about customer comfort??
I suppose they wouldn’t give a damn whether my stuff were damaged as
long as I leave it there and they wouldn’t have to think about someone
shoplifting a book, because who cares if a customer’s valuables were stolen or
damaged as long as they are keeping their store from book thieves? How horrible
is the idea of someone stealing a book, they might actually get rid of their
ignorance from reading, oh the horrors.
I didn’t
really feel like going in anymore because the way the old gay man was saying
the store rules sounded like they didn’t want customers. I wouldn’t mind my bag
to be checked before entering and checked before leaving but these guys have
some serious customer trust issues. The old gay man then said “If you don’t
want to leave your bags then WE DON’T WANT YOUR BUSINESS!!” he said it raising
his voice in a way, he should have just said “GO AWAY” and I just said “Okay”
because at the end of the day, it wasn’t our loss. My friend was checking out a
book and told me to wait a second. I told her “You still have your bag and they
don’t want your business.” So we went on ahead. They didn’t even bother to
welcome us into the bookstore anyway in the first place and immediately imposed
the bag policy. I wasn’t able to read the sign if there were any, about it.
I’d hate
to break it to the half-bald gay man by the door if he is the definition of
security in the store, but brick and mortar book shops like that NEED customers
and shooing them away is not going to help the book shop at all. If they want
security, they can hire a security guard or install CCTV cameras. Would they drop dead and compromise between the staff and customer were to happen?
I hope
they would treat their customers better in the future if they want
establishments that carry a good selection of Philippine Lit to survive long
enough and not just appear on some hipster blog saying how awesome it is.
They don’t
need to intimidate customers like they did with us and such treatment is not
deserved by any customer. That was the rudest and most offensive experience I’ve
had in a book shop. It’s not like they are the only book store in Manila or
that the books there can’t be seen anywhere else. I’ve taken to just buying
books from Amazon because they are cheaper and the million selections available
is amazing. Online book buying in the Philippines is also improving, people are
trading, selling, and buying books online from fellow book enthusiasts. Who
would want to traverse horrific Philippine Traffic and torturous for a book nowadays?
At the
age of Kindle and ebook reading, book enthusiasts have found very convenient
ways to get the books they want without ever having to leave their houses. Also,
the Philippines have a very small crowd of readers. A population of 100 million
only has a tiny percent of readers that if a writer here has sold 1000 copies,
it is considered a best-seller and would appear in papers already.
That the
bestselling Filipino book isn’t something that F. Sionil Jose has written, it
was a pocket book titled Kristine by Martha Cecilia, which is the block buster
hit of Philippine literature that managed to put a lot of books to shame by
selling hundred thousands of copies and probably passing the million mark
today.
I love
Philippine literature and have read a few of F. Sionil Jose’s saga and novels.
Reality is, not a lot of Filipinos care much about Philippine literature. It’s
a sad reality in our country where only handfuls are avid readers, and very few
are avid readers of Filipino written books exist.
So
today, I will be selling all my F. Sionil Jose books at a friendly price
online. It is high time to clean out the library at home anyway. It doesn't have to be hard to get his books.
And now, F. Sionil Jose would be writing his endless essays on why Filipinos don't read and don't buy Filipino literature... this is one of the reasons.
