A Bible Society without Bibles? We need 11 Bibles for Sunday to present to our 3rd graders. My job: purchase same. Call Church Office and find that the ones we already have are Contemporary English Version (CEV) burgundy hard cover, published by Bible Society. Google Bible Society. Find a national website with no real contact details. Assume mail order only. Then remember this is a federal country. Add NSW to the Google search bar. Praise Be. An address near work appears. And open 'til 8pm on Thursday. Call them to confirm. Ask if they have CEV with Burgundy cover. Say I need 11. Confirm open until 8 pm Thursday.
Today finish selection by 6 pm and enjoy pleasant walk through Hyde Park and down to the right street. Find Bible shop. See the perfect version. Indicate these are just what I'm looking for to present to children in our congregation.
"So you want to place a bulk order?"
" Well only 11, I can presumably just purchase them now"
"You can't do that. We don't keep Bibles in stock"
"Isn't this a Bible shop?"
"Well yes we do have different kinds of Bibles but we don't have many in stock"
"When I called yesterday there seemed no problem with purchasing 11."
"Well the person must not have understood you. We do have 45 out the back but we are keeping them for another customer. We don't sell Bibles in bulk"
I realise I didn't ask specifically if they had 11 in stock, but I did start by saying I needed to purchase 11 copies of the CEV. And said I would be in tonight to purchase them. If they had only said they did not have them, I could have ordered from a more reliable supplier. Just that I naively thought the Bible Society would be the place to purchase Bibles.
Thank goodness for Koorong. Maybe with stock a bit to the right of the kind of thing I prefer to read. And a source of religious kitch for the days I need a book on how to be 'God's Little Princess' (who keeps a handbag full of lipstick and nail polish) or a massive toy car emblazoned with a Biblical injunction to 'race to win'. AND a good supply of Bibles, great customer service, and open on Saturdays. A timely solution!
5 comments:
How very strange. No Bibles . . . or concept of customer service. Glad you found an alternative.
Ah that little story gave me a giggle on all fronts .. a Bible Society without Bibles and your take on Koorong.
We have equivalents here in Canada. It is no small irony to me that over half the bibles we purchased for our home (we have maybe 12 or 13, about 10 different versions) were purchased in Hulls, which would be the central Canadian version of Koorong.
That said, our denomination has a book table at conferences and regional meetings, so, emergencies aside, we can find what we need without much difficulty there.
Good story!
Those 'Christian Book Stores' have a lot going for them - staffed by enthusiastic young people with a commitment to service. And where else could I have bought "Scripture Mints" - small pink fish-shaped candies in a tin with printed scripture verse.
Jesus keychains, Jesus pencils, Jesus ballpoint pens and markers, Jesus candles, Jesus diaries, Jesus shopping bags, possibly Jesus condoms--it's a little bit overkill, and somehow, corrupt. Marketing overcoming good sense (and certainly faith, in my view).
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