Easier Said Than Done: Picture Day

Hello, people. We, the shop dogs of Parnassus Books, need to tell you something that may surprise you: it turns out we’re not good at everything. Sometimes, we screw up. This has perhaps never been so true as during our recent attempt to take employee badge photos.

We thought it would be a snap to capture our pics, because (a) look how handsome we are after we’ve had baths! and (b) the photographer was none other than our amazingly talented artist-friend Heidi Ross (who usually takes photos of humans). But . . . well . . . it was harder than we thought. Have a look:

The shop-people say, “Here, come have a tasty snack,” but to get the snack you have to walk on paper, which is a strange sensation. Paper is slippery, it’s crinkly, and it covers up the normal smell of the floor. Overall, this experience is highly disorienting.

Our shop-people seemed really jazzed about the whole thing, though, and we like to make them happy, so we tried.

And tried.

And tried again.

The good news is that if you take 750 photos, you’ll eventually get six that work.

Hey, we can’t be good at everything. But we hope you’ll come say hello and have a snuggle. We excel at that. – The shop dogs

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A reading list for anyone who isn’t perfect but is trying:

The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed by Jessica Lahey – It’s a gift! We have a gift.

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant, Sheryl Sandberg (Foreword) – Non-conformists are the future, which means we shop dogs are going to run the world one day.

Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang – Maybe you’ll believe it when it comes from this book, but our shop-people sure didn’t believe it when we tried to convince them that one photo is enough and IT’S TIME TO REST NOW.

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth – Never give up. Or at least don’t give up until you’ve gotten a bunch of snacks.

Pit Bull: The Battle Over an American Icon by Bronwen Dickey – Sometimes dogs are misunderstood. Like pit bulls. Or shop dogs who have a vision for how a photo should go but no one will listen.