Friday 5 June 2009

Bastardstone's part deux

Something about an earlier post was bugging me so I've cut it back. Whereof one cannot speak without foaming at the mouth, therefore one must be silent. Anyone who hasn't been shouted at recently is welcome to email me on the subject. Earplugs will not be supplied.
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2 comments:

Steerforth said...

Don't be too circumspect about Waterstone's - there's a difference between negativity and righteous anger.

Waterstone's is a dreadful company to work for and the appalling way they've handled the recent redundancies is symptomatic of their management style.

My life improved dramatically after I left.

The main reason Waterstone's is here and Ottakar's isn't is because they're owned by HMV Media, who had the capital to buy Ottakar's.

June 17, 2009 10:53 pm
The Silver Eel said...

Thank you for the sentiment. Perhaps there should be a new social grouping: recovering ex-Waterstone's employee.

I simply had to edit my earlier post: too personal, too full of bile, too uncomfortable for other people to read, I think. Totally warranted, of course. I mean...but no. They are simply not worth any further discussion or consideration. All one can do is walk away from the train wreck.

I think it's possible to have quite a long discussion about the relative strengths and weaknesses of Waterstone's and Ottakar's. I mean, HMV/Waterstone's is the devil, granted, but my understanding is that Ottakar's wasn't run as well as it could be and left itself exposed, no matter how pleasant a place it was to work. However, that is a debate which I'm not fully equipped to have, and it's all over now anyway.

I was sorry about the demise of Ottakar's and thought it was not in the interests of either company, and certainly not of the public, literature or publishing.

June 18, 2009 6:44 pm

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