I shelve. A lot. All my shifts are shelving. Sometimes receiving as well. No bookselling. No cashiering. No café. I know the books in the store like few of the booksellers do. I've shelved pretty much every book in the store, and I'm sure I've looked at every book (if only briefly looking at the spine to see where to stick something else in).
Of course, customers frequently ask me to assist them, and I often volunteer
to assist them, as I shelve a lot in the high-shrink areas.
Last week, a young fella was looking for David McCullough's Truman. Couldn't find it in the store. Should have looked on the computer first, cause when I did we had none in stock and hadn't for some time. But I coulda sworn I'd seen it on the shelves somewhere. I was so sure that we had it that I hadn't bothered to look it up first. This bothered me a lot. I hate not being able to find a book for someone.
I just figured out why I was so sure we had it though.
I own it. It's on my shelf.