How to own a used bookstore
It made me 
"After working in a used bookstore for 2 years, I have decided that this is not what I want to do. "
How I did it: I got a job at a used bookstore that was a public company. As much as they didn't try to force feed the image of a big box corporation, they were a big box corporation.
People tried to sell us books that were obviously moldy or smelled an awful lot like animal piss and tell us that they were perfectly fine.
Also, having worked in a public library for years, I was saddened at peoples' selfishness at times when we didn't have a book. We couldn't order anything because we were used and people would throw fits because, "Barnes and Noble can order that for me." It would have been rude of me to tell the to go to B&N.
The company didn't like to keep records of our inventory because it would take too long, despite the obvious financial reward whenever we would do inventory, we would know how much was stolen.
Often there were customers who would try and bargain the price of the book further because of how old the book was. For example, a woman wanted to buy a book that was originally priced at $39.95, we had it priced at $6.98, the standard price. But she wanted it even lower because it was originally published in 1997. I told her no.
Lessons & tips: Carry an inventory on databases.
Encourage people to use the library.
Some customers are not worth the money.
Resources: I worked at Suburban Bookstore for two years.
