The song:
IF I WERE A RICH MAN.
The story:
I think I saw Fiddler on the Roof as a little kid;
my school put on a production of it.
All I remember was,
ironically,
the fiddler on the roof.
I was VERY impressed that someone got to be on the roof
and was not getting in trouble for it!
Because I remember that the most,
I must have been between the ages of 6-8.
I watched the movie at some point in my twenties.
I remember getting it out from the library
and LOVING the music.
But the song really became part of my weekly and sometimes daily routine
when I started to work at a used bookstore
in Johnson City, Tennessee.
I moved there in 2007 on a whim.
I got into a Master’s Program in Education
that was going to start in the fall of 2007,
and figured why did I need to stay in Massachusetts?
The job I had as a waitress I could get anywhere.
My sister and I shared an apartment,
but she was rarely home since her boyfriend
lived less than a mile away.
They were practically moved in already.
And I had a friend, Sean, living in Johnson City.
He had a spare bedroom and his TOTAL RENT was 495.
That was what I was paying
for just my share in Massachusetts.
Even if I couldn’t find a job right away,
I’d be fine for a while.
Except I don’t like not working.
I applied to many different places and heard NOTHING.
Undeterred, I decided to just ask at places I liked.
I liked this used bookstore, called Book Lover’s Warehouse.
It had books, but it also had
a collection of the weirdest things ever.
It was part bookstore, part music store, part thrift store.
You could walk in there and find something, guaranteed.
I walked up to the counter with a copy of
The Trumpet of the Swan,
the same cover I had when I had it as a kid,
and politely asked if they needed any part time help.
I knew kids books, I was a good worker, and a faster learner.
I left them my resume and they called back within a day,
offering me 20 hours.
By the end of the first week I was working full time.
My days were spent sorting books that came in,
re-organizing things,
and listing books online.
Most of the books that came in stayed in the store,
but if they had a high enough amazon ranking,
we’d put them online.
We had to describe the condition they were in,
a little about the book,
and create a listing.
I always liked doing that.
I revamped the kids section
and sorted out the titles into categories:
Mystery, Animals, Series, award winners, young adult, science fiction.
Soon I become the person
who took in the trades for kids books,
and I was strict.
I even got to help with promotions and decorations.
One of my favorite promotions? The luck of the Irish one in March, where you would pick out of a leprechaun’s pot and see if you would get a discount or not. I did lettering for the store windows to advertise for it too.
One of my favorite decorations? My idea to do a tape outline of a body in the mystery section. We used this older gentleman who worked there, Jim, as the body.
But the part that surprised me the most
was when they let me pick the music.
There was an old record player right by the cash register
and TONS of records in the music section.
I rotated between three records:
Footloose,
Elton John’s Greatest Hits,
and Fiddler on the Roof.
Whenever If I Were A Rich Man came on,
I would jump up from where I was
and start singing and dancing.
I’d let my voice get all gravelly,
and do the shimmy sort of dance that Tevye does.
It never ceased to make Angela,
the store manager and the owner’s daughter, laugh.
When I left that job (the summer of 2007)
and returned to Massachusetts
and then went off to French Camp,
I bought the soundtrack on Itunes.
I still listen to it quite often,
and it reminds me of working at the bookstore.
It was a time when I thought I had things all figured out,
a time when I was a contradancing fool,
a time where I would run across the parking lot
to get treats from Sonic.
Looking back, it was such a fun time,
and I really had nothing figured out.
By the time I got done that French Camp,
I did figure out that I didn’t want to go to Grad School.
I wanted to go to California and try something there,
as well as keep dating this California guy
I met at French Camp.
I love singing this song,
and I know I will sing it more once Baby Gratien comes.
That kid is going to think his or her Mama was in musicals.
And he or she will definitely hear all about the bookstore.
