As some of you know, one of my 'hobbies' is finding books for people. I make a pittance over and above expenses, I certainly don't make any living off of it. Still, I've had great success in using my long and carefully sought resources to find that troublesome book for someone who just can't find it themself. My biggest 'payout' is the challenge and the satisfaction of coming through. But THIS particular search gives me the most satisfaction of ANY that I have done to date:Someone had asked me to find a book and provided a decent budget price for it, saying he wanted it quite badly and was willing to pay well for this hard-to-find item. And it was not easy to find, indeed, but find it I did, and it came within his budget so I was able to charge a couple bucks commission for my efforts. Today, Tuesday August 16 2011 I met him downtown to deliver the book. He was so happy to get it he was almost in tears. I was quite surprised and had to ask why:
He and his best friend since childhood had read this book together; it was a bio of a young teen who had escaped gang life in the tough side of town, made something of himself and went back to the old neighbourhood and helped other youths escape the gangs. Whenever the two chums saw a movie about gang life and such they'd compare it to the book "it was like the book because..." "No it was different because..."
His lifelong friend passed away last year and his copy of the book was missing when he went to read it. It had such sentimental value for him that he HAD to find a copy, he could NOT do without it. So he searched and searched and came up empty and in despair until we crossed paths.
So now he has his copy. He's going to photocopy a few well-loved pages and put them in the fireplace to send a smoke signal to his chum that he was still in his thoughts. And he's going to re-read the book. He says when it wears out he might ask me to find another. If he does I'll get it for him at cost, no commission. Just because...
And THIS is the best reason why I love hunting down books for people.
