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I have been resisting getting up on my soap box about this as I fear it will be taken as a criticism of other businesses, in particular other book shops, and I can't stress enough that it really, really isn't.
This year has been, and continues to be, extremely challenging and we are all trying to get through it as best we can. How businesses are operating is dependent not just on sometimes ambiguous govt. guidelines but on so many other factors like location, staff, product, priorities
I wrote about it a little when I took over Motherfocloir a couple of weeks ago.
It hurts every time I hear of someone being turned away from a bookshop. We had someone arrive at our door yesterday who had been turned away earlier in the week because they hadn't "clicked". This person doesn't own a computer, they may not even own a mobile phone.
They have had a significant impact on the history of this country, as did their father and grandfather, yet they were made to feel 'less' because they have never had the need or desire to become tech savvy.
The argument that "it's the way of the future" is bullshit. It is *only* if we want/allow it to be. If you live in an online bubble, you may not be aware that there are a lot of people out their living rich and fulfilling lives without having anything to do with the internet.
During the first lockdown I received a handwritten note from someone in Cork looking for a borderline-academic history book - the myth that not being computer literate equates to somehow being stupid boils my blood.
I have no suggestions as to how to address this - as I said, we are all doing the best we can.
