In college, spent a long summer as a bookseller at Barnes and Noble. When high school students came in with their summer reading lists, I would try to direct them towards the most entertaining books if they were given options, but there was that one time. This girl came in with the instruction to read any representative of classic American literature. As she left me to examine her list, she returned with a romance novel and asked me if that would count. The girl's father came up as I responded, "Yes, if you want to FAIL out of high school and impede yourself from getting into a good college." "What should she read?" he asked me, and I suggested Grapes of Wrath, which he purchased for her then and there. She deserved it.
I actually didn't mind selling books, though I imagine that it's the only retail job I would ever be able to handle. Here's a Culture Vulture entry from an independent bookseller, giving advice on how to handle the types of customers he has come across.
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