CLINTON BOOK FILED UNDER "FICTION" AT B. DALTON'S

I keep forgetting to report an incident at B. Dalton Booksellers on Christmas Eve. I had run in to buy America: The Book by The Daily Show gang when Bill Clinton's autobiography caught my eye -- it was displayed under "Fiction." Boy that made my blood boil, and I didn't want my blood to boil on Christmas Eve. So I walked over to a clerk and politely registered a protest. He explained that ALL the big-print books were displayed there because it was the only place they had room and showed me a sticker about one-half inch tall and perhaps (at most) two inches wide underneath the Clinton shelf that said "Big print" -- I'd have never been able to find it if he hadn't removed a couple of books so it became (slightly) visible (if you were deliberately looking for it). I pointed to the two-foot-wide, six-inch-high sign blaring out "FICTION" at the top of the shelf and asked how anyone could be so naive as to escape the obvious implication about the Clinton book or so gullible as to accept the tiny sticker below as anything more than a CYA gimmick. He backed away, being "busy" and I went to check out. I repeated my protest to the lady at the cash register and she, also, told me that there was a sticker under the book indicating that all big print books were displayed there (I think I failed to mention that there was only one "big print" book displayed there, and that was Clinton's).

Now these kinds of things tend to make me nuts, so I have to do something about them. I've already written B. Dalton's parent company, Barnes & Noble, to protest, and if you're so inclined, here is the contact info:

Mary Ellen Keating
Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications
& Public Affairs
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Telephone: 212-633-3323
E-mail: mkeating@bn.com

Barnes & Noble.com

Carolyn Brown
Director of Corporate Communications
Barnes & Noble.com
Telephone: 212-633-4062
E-Mail: cbrown@bn.com