Nithila Ganapathy participated in our Work Exposure program (WEP) 2019 and interned at Goobe’s Book Republic, a well-known book store. She shares her experience and learning at WEP.
I interned at Goobe’s Book Republic, which is a book store at Church Street. I had opted for this company specifically because I like reading books and I wanted to know how it would be to work at a bookstore.
On the first day, we started with getting to know the place and how things worked at the store. Then, we were asked to arrange books according to their genre in the respective shelves. It was to be arranged in ascending order of the author’s last name. We had to take each book out, dust them and then put them back in place in order.
At first, it was tiresome because none of us were really used to physical work. As the days went by, we got accustomed to the place and the nature of work. Along with stacking books in the racks, we were to keep the place clean and keep a record of books by creating an inventory based on genres. We did the inventory during the last few days of our work. We also took care of the store and duties such as; open the shop once we reached, set the store before it was officially open for the day and do some minimum cleaning.
After a few hours, customers would come in and buy/rent books. Communicating with people was a very different experience and fun, indeed. We would help people pick up books of their choice. We were also involved in sales. We billed the books and calculated the respective discounts. It was altogether a new experience as in our daily life, we usually wouldn’t be practicing selling.
We took regular breaks in between to refresh ourselves. During the small breaks, we bought some fresh juice or an extra bottle of water. Since it was summer, it was important to keep ourselves well hydrated. I learned how to take care of myself.
For transportation, I traveled by bus regularly, which was the easiest mode of commute. I learned how to travel by myself and be independent. Overall, it was an eventful experience, with a lot of learning such as; How to deal with people in public, how to be responsible, etc. Since communication wasn’t my best quality, I was a little nervous to talk to people, but I got over it after a few days of work.
This internship served as a great learning platform for me and I indeed learned things that I thought would not possible to learn within a span of just four weeks. I would like to thank WEP and my school for this wonderful opportunity. This program really taught me the kind of skills I would use later in my life.
