Here are two funny things about my new(ish) job. The bookshop is located in a typical Parisian covered passage. It is also next to the dumping-off place of tourist buses. This means we often have groups of tours going through the passage. I am always amazed by:
1)The Umbrella Guide stopping in front of the store to tell a group something. If only I could speak Italian or Russian, I would know what he/she was saying. How great it would be if it turned out to be absolute bullshit: "This store was built in 1802 by the famous De La Rose family..." It is always a little unsettling to have 15-20 people standing in a circle around your front door, but I'm getting used to it.
2) the independent tourists who want to look into the store. They could open the door, sure, but why not cup their hands around their eyes and press their noses against the glass? That makes me sense to me. Especially when we make eye contact, and they just keep on breathing heavily on our window pane. Weirdos. I have a special soft spot in my heart for the two grown women today who called over yet a third so that all three of them could stare into our windows. Because that doesn't make me uncomfortable. Not at all.
COMPLETELY UNRELATED:
If anybody saw Reza Aslan on "The Colbert Report" and liked him, buy his book. It's good - I read it three weeks ago and have been meaning to "review" it on Odessa Books (alongside at least 20 others). Aslan's overview of the history and practice of Islam is very readable, something I have had a bit of an issue with in my studies over the past year. I was happy to find a book that was interesting at the same time as informative, and I think a book like this is really needed for non-Muslims who have little to no understanding of the faith. Now I just have to read like, six more books, and I think I'll be ready for my exam (in four weeks). Plus, Aslan has a nice smile and a goofy laugh. I tend to like to spread the love for those kinds of people.
Yeah, Aslan is cute, and articulate. Gotta love that combo!