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Okay, so I'm gonna do it. I'm going to give the world a thread of what it was like to work at @strandbookstore.
Now, I would like to preface this by saying that I do believe that Strand could be a great place to work. It has so much potential, but unfortunately the owner cares more about digging into tourists' wallets than she does about books.
Also, a disclaimer that some of these stories are mine and some of them belong to friends. Some of those friends no longer work for Strand, and some are still employed there.
Let's start with working conditions, shall we? In late 2016 (or maybe early early 2017?) there was a floor in the basement. Or, as Strand likes to call it, the ~*underground*~. The basement was closed to customers and we salvaged what books we could.
Now, the basement is a disgusting place to begin with (I'll get to that in a sec), but unfortunately the flood brought mud along with it, turning the floor into a dusty, muddy, soupy mess. Guess who had to clean it up?
You'd think that a huge store owned by a multi-millionaire could maybe spring for a professional clean-up crew, but no. Employees were sent down in shifts to SWEEP (lmao) this muddy concoction up.
So to re-cap: we had to clean the flooded muddy mouldy basement and to top it all off, we had no protective gear like gloves or masks AND we all ruined our shoes.
If you've never been to the Strand's basement level, it's where most of the non-fic and records are. Unfortunately, it's also where the main employee breakroom is. We've already covered the fact that it's dirty as hell down there, but have we talked about the pests? No? Okay.
Roaches. Everywhere. Which, yes, it's New York. I know. But if we KNOW that pretty much every New York basement has roaches, why does Strand force employees to store their personal belongings and their FOOD in such a filthy place?
The roaches are everywhere. Under and INSIDE the employee lockers, in the sink, under the fridge, INSIDE THE UTENSIL DRAWER AND THE MICROWAVE. I'm pretty sure they secretly own the store and Nancy is just a human puppet.
As an employee, I definitely appreciated it when other employees would see a roach somewhere and then leave a sign that said "THERE WAS A ROACH HERE". Every now and then maintenance would spray for them, but they did it during business hours and the smell was toxic.
Now let's talk rodents! I didn't mind the mice so much, because they were kind of cute all things considered, but how about the rat that died on the heating pipe in the basement break room and rotted there? It was bloated and gross and a little bit exploded and a HEALTH HAZARD.
Guess who cleaned that one up? Union employees. I think a manager maybe helped them, but it was ages before anything was done about it and the entire basement reeked. It was like the one time our manager let us stow our things in the freight room instead. Thanks, man!
You would think, that with all of the gross health hazards in the basement, they would move the employee break room to a less awful location, especially considering the recent renovations and the fact that Nancy Bass Wyden owns the entire building and not just the Strand. But no.
What's next? How about labour. How about the fact that the ladders provided by management are not actually tall enough for most people to safely reach the top of the shelves?
All the times employees have been caught on tip-toe on the very top of a ladder (where you are not supposed to stand!) because they need to reach something for a customer. One friend was seen doing this by the store's general manager and he just shrugged it off and kept moving.
Could have been a chance to address the issue and start looking for a safer alternative to the uneven, bent ladders that are still in use. Oh well.
Or how about when the new stairs were being built to connect the second floor to the third floor Rare Book Room? We were originally told that construction would occur during off-hours. Not the case.
Instead, construction occurred during business hours, with few safety measures. The air was full of dust for weeks and then paint fumes for another few weeks. No dust cloths, no fans, no masks or goggles. Employees having asthma attacks were a regular sight.
And how about that manhole explosion in 2017? This one: https://gothamist.com/news/union-square-manhole-fires-trigger-giant-explosion-evacuations This explosion blew out the windows on the ground floor. Thankfully only one person was in the building at the time, and he was okay, but it caused a MESS. And guess who cleaned that one up too?
Us! The store was closed for the day, and closed to customers the next. But Strand's union employees were hard at work cleaning (and by cleaning: I mean inadvertently inhaling) the plaster dust (and hell, probs asbestos too) from the shelves, the books, the floor... everywhere.
And all of that with NO PROTECTIVE GEAR. We were dusting and sweeping up this mess with no masks or gloves. It wasn't until several employees made a fuss about it that management finally told us to drop the brooms and hired a cleaning crew to come in to finish the next day.
And you know what, I s2g that was the only time the store was ever remotely clean. If you've ever let your children crawl on the floor in the kids section, you might want to have them tested. lmao
Let's talk about the outdoor off-site locations. By that I mean those cutesy little booths at the holiday markets, Times Square, and Central Park.
Did you guys know that our shop stewards (union reps) had to fight with management to get proper space heaters so that employees didn't freeze? I guess we shouldn't have been surprised, since it was a struggle just to get AC in the store.
And speaking of the HVAC system! How about when it broke and the store was like 40 degrees inside? It was totally fine for customers who came in wearing their outdoor coats, but I'm not sure the popsicles selling them books were super helpful that day. Our bad!
On to management. Every store gets shitty customers. It happens. Humans are terrible. Including the guy who cursed at me at the top of his lungs for about 10 minutes (in the children's department!) bc I told him we weren't taking cash at the register. But where was the manager?
Good question! They never seemed to be there when you needed them. Lucky for me, a coworker called another desk and requested one. Unfortunately for me, the manager placated the customer and behaved as though he'd done nothing wrong.
Managers should be there to protect employees in those situations. Had I been a manager, I would have called security and had that man escorted out. There are a few really great managers at Strand, but most of them are either utterly useless or openly hostile to employees.
And speaking of hostile managers, let's chat about the manager who called a trans employee transphobic because she (the employee) voiced a concern about feeling unsafe in the restrooms?
This was after Strand suddenly decided to make its public restrooms gender neutral (which we are all for!!!) without doing any work to make them function as gender neutral restrooms.
The stalls have gaps about a foot tall between the bottom of the wall and the floor, and gaps between the doors. You walk into the old ladies' room and you can just...see things without even trying to. It's not pretty.
Anyway, this employee went to management and stated that she felt unsafe in the restrooms because there were now men in a space that had been previously reserved for women, and which had until then been somewhat of a safe haven for employees who identified as such.
And this manager called her, a trans woman, transphobic for being uncomfortable with this particular gender neutral restroom. Again, it's not all gn bathrooms. Just the ones where you can easily see into the locked stalls.
If Strand had bothered renovated or even just change out the stall walls and doors, we all would have been totally fine with the change. But instead, management just barreled ahead with the change, without considering the structure of the restrooms, for brownie points.
btw speaking of brownie points, all of the left-leaning merch that Strand sells...Nancy is laughing her way to the bank. Did you know her parents lived in Tr*mp Tower until her father died in 2018? All that anti-Trump merch, but they were paying him rent. smh
I'm starting to get tired, so let's move on to some of @strandbookstore more recent BS, shall we? Let's talk FRAUD!
Earlier this year, Strand received $1-2 Million in pandemic relief in the form of Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loans. The application claims that Strand needed the money to be able to pay for the 212 employees kept on during the pandemic.
In reality, almost all of those employees were laid off and only a few non-union employees were kept on. There was no one to pay. So where did that money go? https://labornotes.org/blogs/2020/08/new-york-bookstore-workers-blast-their-boss-layoffs-while-taking-ppp-loan
Oh wait. Nancy Bass Wyden used it to buy personal stock, including Amazon stock. :)
Wasn't she just saying during last summer's landmarking kerfuffle that Amazon was just the worst?
Wasn't she just saying during last summer's landmarking kerfuffle that Amazon was just the worst?
So Nancy bought stock while her employees were left out of work. On top of that, she could also afford to open, stock, staff (which new and non-union employees!) a brand new store (what's up, UWS?)
Don't forget that when a few managers were rehired, most of the POC managers weren't. And on top of that, Nancy had the in-house designers/the merch buyer slap together some Strand masks to sell. Nothing like profiting off the pandemic when your staff can't pay their rent!
Moving on to when the store reopened and a handful of employees were actually rehired. A safety plan was given to staff, but was not adhered to by management. For more info: https://www.thecity.nyc/2020/7/28/21345981/covid-workplace-safety-issues-are-growing-story
It took FIVE WEEKS for safety measures to be brought up to scratch.
Yet more info on the lack of PPE provided to protect the employees who make Strand what it is. Also touches on some of Nancy's union-busting tactics. https://thebaffler.com/capital-offenses/hanging-by-a-strand-oconnor
SO in June or July, Strand rehired 30-some union employees. Great. But then 12 of them were laid off again, and I don't think anyone has been rehired since then. So who exactly were these 212 employees that Nancy was supposed to have kept on? Must be ghosts.
Because her actual employees were all furloughed and busy protesting the opening of the new store. https://www.westsiderag.com/2020/07/15/angry-ex-workers-disrupt-the-opening-of-the-strand-whose-strand-our-strand?fbclid=IwAR1PmvWjcBPWM4oxJHb5YGMdLoaPlz-BO70nWmtgoj_yn22afJxx9YupJz4
Whoops, here's another one about the second round of layoffs: https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/strand-lays-some-recently-rehired-employees-it-prepares-open-uws-location
So not only has the owner of Strand defrauded the governement, she has profited from the pandemic and disregarded the health and safety of her remaining employees.
And you know what, I haven't even touched on the sad wages that your favourite booksellers are paid. This is more of an industry-wide concern, but Strand is in the unique position of being a high-earning bookstore and could easily be paying its employees a living wage.
Booksellers at independent bookstores like Strand are usually doing work more comparable to that of a librarian than another retail position. So why are booksellers being paid the bare minimum?
Look, I know that Strand employees are known for being a bit surly. We got plently of negative yelp reviews (in fact, here's my fave about me & my friend: https://www.yelp.com/biz/strand-bookstore-new-york?hrid=C74b7ppqHFUsJedq8PTkpw&utm_campaign=www_review_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct) but there's a reason.
The staff at Strand are underpaid and overworked, disrespected and disregarded. They are constantly harassed by terrible customers. Lorded over by bad upper management. Pitted against the non-union managers. It's a mess and it's disappointing.
Both the employees and the customers deserve better. Hold Nancy accountable. I would be totally stoked if Strand became be the bookish paradise that it could be. I would love to see my friends back at work in a place that values them.
But that won't happen until Strand is held accountable. Employees must be paid a living wage. Working conditions must improve. Demand a public plan of action before giving your money to Strand!
I'm exhausted, so I'm finished for now. I guarantee some new, deeply buried, horrible Strand story will unearth itself in my brain, so I may add more later. If you've worked at Strand, please feel free to RT and jump in with your own terrible Strand memories.
Wait, I lied. I have another note to add. Strand also makes differently abled employees jump through hoops to get verified doctor's notes in order to be allowed to sit on a stool when they're stationed at a desk. This is likely a retail-wide problem, but still.
Good morning, friends! I have more! Can't believe I forgot to mention that time a male employee threatened a female employee with sexual violence and instead of firing him, management just moved him to a different floor so that he could be creepy to new people. :)
Or we could talk about the gas leaks! For months, the basement would periodically smell like natural gas and every time anyone noticed it, we said something to management.
The store had to be evacuated several times. But rather than closing to figure out the problem, we all continued to work. Mind you, these most of the evacs occurred in January...
and since we couldn't keep our coats and bags on the floors where we worked, we all stood outside in 20 degree weather every time. Those lucky basement folks got the worst of the gas, but at least they could get their coats from that nasty break room!
Oh, and that other time a coworker and I were repeatedly followed around and then harassed by a regular, and the only reason he finally got kicked out of the store is because a badass female manager happened to see it going on. None of the male managers cared.
Ah, actual queen @modpoge has reminded me of a few of the times that there was filming happening at Strand. When we played host to @TheRomanoffs (not bad, btw) the store was closed to customers for a day while they filmed on the main floor. Instead of having us stay home...
management just trapped us all on the second floor. We were supposed to keep working, but weren't allowed to make any noise. If you needed to go downstairs or out of the store for any reason, you had to take the freight elevator, which required a maintenance worker's help.
So aaaaall of the employees, one elevator to get in or out. Sounds like a safety hazard to me. But then factor in the gajillion extras that were also hanging out in the store. You wouldn't believe the mess they left behind. Food wrappers, water bottles...and we got to clean up!
