Help Wanted!

Joe put the advert for Saturday staff in the shop window and turned round to go to the spot where he always sat and waited for his customers. He had run the bookshop for over 45 years now. If his dad hadn’t helped him all those years ago, he would not have been able to own this shop.

He loved the bookshop and had tried to keep this dusty old place open and popular around the area. Well, he had managed quite well for years until the big malls started to offer huge discounts. He knew unless he did the same, he would not be able to keep up with them. So, he did for a while. He had those campaigns where it says, ‘Buy three! Get one free.’ His idea was to have as many customers come to the shop as possible.

Unfortunately, it was too expensive to give away so many free books, and also the customers always wanted to get the most expensive ones free. Now, he felt that he was too old to do anything new. But he also knew he had to do something soon. Otherwise, he would have to hand the shop over to his nephew who was thinking about getting rid of the books and opening a game centre in its place. He put his hand into his pocket and took out his dad’s old pocket watch.

It was almost 9:15. Just then a young boy came into the shop. He said, ‘Hello, sir, I am interested in the job advertised in your window.’ They spoke for an hour and Joe decided to give the young boy, Frank, a chance. In a few weeks, the bookshop became so popular that Joe had to employ more staff thanks to Frank’s great ideas. Frank opened an Instagram account for the bookshop and announced that whoever came and bought a book would get a free coffee.

Soon the bookshop was offering free wi-fi and every cup of coffee sold earned customers points to get free books. Joe was happy to have found the helping hand he had needed.