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“Malled is a bargain, even at full price. Kelly is a first-rate
researcher and storyteller.” —USA Today
978-1-59184-543-0 • U.S. $16.00 / $17.00 CAN.
Memoir
5 1/2” x 8 7/16” • 240 pages
Rights: W00
Pub History: Portfolio/Penguin HC,
978-1-59184-380-1
Also available as an e-book
On Sale: 7/31/12
■■updated with a new afterword
suGGesteD oRDeR
Photo © Jose Lopez
caitlin kelly
malled
my unintentional career in Retail
after losing her job as a journalist and the security of a good salary, caitlin kelly
was hard up for cash. so she got a job at the mall. suddenly she found herself,
middle-aged and midcareer, thrown headfirst into the bizarre alternate reality
of american retail: a world of low-wage workers selling overpriced goods.
at first, kelly found her part-time job at the north face fun and reaffirming,
a way to maintain her sanity and sense of self-worth. she thought it would be
simple—after all, how hard could it be to hang up jackets and operate a cash
register? but the unexpected physical pressures, the unreasonable dictates of
a remote corporate bureaucracy, and the dead-end career path eventually
took their toll. as she struggled through more than two years at the mall,
despite surgeries, customer abuse, and corporate inanity, kelly gained a deeper
understanding of the plight of the retail worker.
Her interviews with other retail veterans gave her even more insight into the
hidden dysfunction of the nation’s third largest industry, which treats its best
brand ambassadors like disposable drones.
“An excellent memoir.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Insightful.” —Forbes
■■National Publicity
caitlin kellY has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal,
USA Today, The Washington Post, Seventeen, The Daily News, Glamour, New
York, and Sports Illustrated, among others. she lives in tarrytown, new york.
a u G u s t • P o R t f o l i o