The tip.

Remember that couple I mentioned last week? The one that bought SPORTS NIGHT based entirely upon my recommendation? The one I met the same night that customer Rebecca invited me to the Vogue party?

Well, apparently I was on a roll that night.

Yesterday, when I got to the bookstore, Music Manager Matt gave me a letter sent to the store but written to "ATTN: BENJAMIN IN MUSIC." It was from the Liberty House Restaurant Corporation, which I'd not heard of.

Music Manager Matt said to me, "Polly was working this morning, and it just killed her that this was sitting around, and she wasn't able to open it. So please open it."

I opened it, took out the letter and a little, yellow folder with a gift card inside of it.

The letter said:

Dear Benjamin,

Thank you for imparting so much information during our visit this weekend. We've already watched one episode of SPORTS NIGHT and see why you like it so much.

Barnes & Noble is lucky to have you working there. It's people like you who make a chain feel like a neighborhood store and make people like us feel at home.

Enclosed is a gift card from one of our restaurants, The OK Cafe. You might want to use it after one of your movie-watching Sundays. We hope it lives up to your discerning taste. (If it doesn't, please let us know.)

See you again soon.

Sincerely,

Susan DeRose & Richard Lewis

So I opened the little, yellow folder, and the gift card for "BENJAMIN IN MUSIC SALES @ BARNES & NOBLE" was for $100.

Before getting to the bookstore yesterday, I'd been having a tedious day. Just another stuck-at-the-desk, unmotivated, ho-hum, not-great, not-bad days.

That letter, coming at that moment, really touched me. It was very, very flattering and generous. And it was completely unexpected and unnecessary and so nice of them. And I'm really glad they liked SPORTS NIGHT.

Music Manager Matt took the letter and put it on the store manager's desk so that she could see it. He was, I think, as excited as I was, for he kept showing all the managers in the store at the time the letter.

I love the bookstore, and I enjoy working there. I get enthusiastic about products I enjoy, and I don't even think of it, so much, as a job because I have a lot of fun there.

Yesterday was a high point, and I just wanted to share it.