I used to have a part time job as a bookseller at Borders. It was the worst paying job I ever had (in real, pay-per-hour terms, worse than babysitting when I was in high school), yet I loved it. The readers, the families, the books, the fellow staff who loved books or music as much as I did. And then came the layoffs. J
ust as now with B&N, they were “streamlining” for success, building a “tighter more efficient” team. Just as with B&N, they laid off some of the longest term, hardest working staff with the most experience–and they weren’t earning much more than babysitter wages even at their higher levels. Three years later, the company collapsed into bankruptcy–in a matter of days as it seemed then–never to rise again.