Zine Reviews: The Book Bindery and Call Me Brenda: Dispatches from the World of Customer Service

Reviews by A. Iwasa

Do you have pictures you look at to distract yourself from a mind-numbing job? What do you think about when you're trying to not think about your work? Read on for two reviews of vocational zines about getting by in the world of customer service. 

​Call Me Brenda: Dispatches from the World of Customer Service

By: Mary Beth Vanderswan

Do you have pictures you look at to distract yourself from a mind-numbing job? What do you think about when you're trying to not think about your work? Have you ever made up a game just for dealing with a job? Vanderson shares all of this and more such as customer rants and formal feedback.

This is a solid vocational 'zine about working in a call center, then remotely as a customer service rep for a cell phone company. I hope there's a sequel, because I'd like to know more about the cult Vanderson brainstorms while on the clock. The only problem with the 'zine was a layout SNAFU, where page 28 is in place of page 22, and page 21 in place of page 27. 
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https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zines/7555

​The Book Bindery by Sarah Royal

By: Sarah Royal

At the end of Call Me Brenda, I noticed an ad for this vocational 'zine, and it would have been hard to be more amped! Printing was my vocation in high school, and I worked in the industry on and off from 1998-2022, and would still gladly fall back on it.

This 'zine was printed in 2010, and wasn't the first print run. Though I dig the 'zine about 95%, I do feel a short disclaimer is in order. I checked in with Royal about the 5% or so I was worried about, specifically some wording in regard to a non-gender conforming manager. Royal replied in part:
 
"I did write it many years ago when I wasn't quite as educated on some of the wording regarding various gender expressions; however, the manager was — at least at the time — identifying himself as either a transvestite or crossdresser with he/him pronouns, as opposed to referring to himself as transgender. If I were to write it today, I would have definitely clarified that a bit more in the writing, so it was clear this was from his perspective and not just mine." 

I felt this adequately addressed my concerns. The charm of the overwhelming bulk of this 'zine is how a person deals with a job that may be technically interesting, but a real drag overall.

Headings like "KILLING MY BODY" lead to stories about bicycling five miles half asleep in Chicago, crappy coffee, paper dust making the inside of the print shop feel like Newark, NJ, and so on. Following headlines up the ante: "KILLING MY SOUL," "KILLING THE ENVIRONMENT."

You get the sense that Royal is the good kind of champion complainer: someone who calls out the BS at work in witty ways that can make otherwise stressful situations something to laugh about, even if you're just laughing so you don't cry.

This 'zine is full of great one-liners, both the kind that set up overall great stories and the kind that clinch 'em. The best part is that Royal continues to write, so the 'zine is a great way to discover a contemporary writer if you're unfamiliar. ​

Photo courtesy of Microcosm Publishing

​www.sarahroyal.com
https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/2293
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