As most of our regular customers know, we offer complimentary gift wrapping for purchases of $20 and above as a special service at Woods in the Books.
Whilst we can usually be found wrapping books of all sizes, we do also wrap toys of all sizes, who have been a-quiver with anticipation of going home to a new friend. For toys of odd-sized shapes, we fold our custom wrapping paper into bags and pop what are usually soft toys inside. Gifts with multiple items of different shape also receive the same treatment.
Sometimes, when our elves have the time, we pre-fold the gift wrapping bags, which makes the wrapping process a little faster when we have many customers waiting for their gifts. This is especially helpful around Christmas time.
One fine day, our Chief Elf handled a purchase of a box set of books and some other items of irregular shape, which were handed off to one of our wrapping elves to be wrapped as one BIG present.
The wrapping elf eyed the pile of gifts and reached for one of the pre-folded bags. She measured the bag against the pile. With great confidence, she heaved up the box set and set it carefully inside the bag. She placed the odd-shaped objects on top of it. With a practiced air, she folded down the lip of bag and sealed it. And then, in order to bring it to the customer at the front of the shop, she lifted the bag up by its corners...
...whereupon the weight of the combined box set and other items proved to be too much for the integrity of the bag as it ripped its way out through the bottom (to land in the wrapping paper bin).
Everyone froze for a tense second, before the Chief Elf burst into laughter and asked us to please take note of this for the blog.
The present was wrapped up again and delivered safely into the customers' hands.
And we all learned not to put heavy box sets at the bottom of a gift bag.
(No books or other items were harmed during this incident.)