Stupidity Reigns...

Urgh. Just when you think people can't get any stupider, they do.

Went out shopping today. Mostly to the thrift store, cuz we is brok and cheap. I got a few books while I was out, on various subjects that interest me. The Tao of Pooh, Hannibal, and a collection of Shakespeare's Comedies including A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night. Good stuffs.

However, I wanted to go to the bookstore and get Howl's Moving Castle. So my mom and I go into Walden's, and after I look around, I go ask one of the sales people if they have the book. The novel, not the manga. I've already read the manga. The salesgirl proceeds to tell me that the book is different from the manga and the movie (no shit!), and that it goes by a different name. She then takes me over to look at the mangas. Of course, I picked up the first volume of the manga and showed her that on the cover it clearly stated: "Howl's Moving Castle by H. Miyazaki. Based on the novel Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones." From here the salesgirl tells me that that's not the book I'm looking for, and I won't like it anyway.

So, after my mom picked up the copy of Spiderwick for my sister, I trudged all the way across the mall to the other bookstore. Walk right up to the lady and ask: "Do you have Howl's Moving Castle? By Diana Wynne Jones?" And, lo and behold, she looks it up on the computer, and goes and gets the book.

Which brings me to my point: (Most) People are blessed with some semblance of intellect. When someone walks into, say, a bookstore, looking for a particular book, by a particular author, and clearly have some knowledge of what they are looking for, don't immediately write them off as stupid. I've seen the movie Howl's Moving Castle, I've read the manga. Now I wanted to read the novel the manga and movie was based on. I knew the title, knew the author, all I needed was a yay or nay on whether the store had the book I was looking for. Not someone telling me I don't know what I'm talking about.

People are stupid.