Algonquin Books asked 13 booksellers and Shelf Awareness for Readers editor Marilyn Dahl to share their first or worst jobs:
- Emily Adams, Third Place Books: fish processing in Valdez, Alaska
- Cindy Dach, Changing Hands Bookstore: designer, wholesale handbag company in New York City
- Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, Greenlight Bookstore: Sno Shack in Bakersfield, Calif.
- Tom Campbell, the Regulator Bookshop: paperboy in Malvern, Pa.
- Jill Owens, Powell's Books: temporary secretary at a chicken-slaughtering plant in Athens, Ga.
- Rachel Cass, Harvard Bookstore: projectionist at a movie theater in Peterborough, N.H.
- Wendy Hudson, Nantucket Bookworks: field hand in Nantucket
- Julie Wernersbach, BookPeople: receptionist/security guard for the Nassau Inter-County Express bus system office on Long Island, N.Y.
- Marilyn Dahl, Shelf Awareness: dining room server at the Hearthstone retirement condominium in Seattle
- Dan Chartrand, Water Street Bookstore: 4 a.m.–12 p.m. shift at Pearson's Candy factory in St. Paul, Minn.
- Adrian Newell, Warwick's: family ministry across the U.S.
- Emily Crowe, the Odyssey Bookshop: lab assistant at Georgia Pacific in New Augusta, Miss.
- Kelly Evert, Village Books: Toys "R" Us in Phoenix
- Jessilyn Norcross, McLean & Eakin Booksellers: stagehand for Cirque du Soleil (not true, as it turns out.)