We’re thrilled to welcome Theresa to the Book Hero team!
Whenever we bring a new Hero onto the team, we’re always looking for people who share our love of reading and play. So when we met Theresa, who attended at least half of this year’s Auckland Writers Festival events and, more recently, a speed puzzling competition – well, it certainly felt like we’d found just who we were looking for.
Theresa spends her days picking customer orders and helping Siobhan find homes on our shelves for the huge amount of new stock arriving every week. As a keen puzzler, she has exactly the kind of brain you need when you’re staring at a very full warehouse and somehow need to make room for another 5,000 books!
More importantly, Theresa is thoughtful, kind and genuinely cares about the customers she’s looking after, both in our bookshop and online. We’re honoured to have her as part of our growing team.
Read on to meet Theresa and discover her love of books, puzzles, classical music and one very clingy cat.
Describe your role! What will you be doing as a Warehouse Hero at Book Hero?
I work in our massive warehouse to locate and collect all the books, toys, games and puzzles that Book Hero customers have ordered from our website and bookshop. When it's not too busy, I shelve freshly arrived stock into locations that are easy to find for future orders.
A big part of your role is helping us get the warehouse organised and finding homes for all the new stock arriving. What do you enjoy about that kind of work?
It's a dream come true to be around brand-new books and puzzles all the time! I enjoy organising and arranging shelves in a way that I hope helps the Book Hero team to locate items faster, especially when the warehouse is busy and time is of the essence. It's a full-circle moment to shelve an item and then pick up that very same item again for a customer.
We think being a keen puzzler might actually be the perfect training for shelving thousands of books! Are you good at figuring out how to make everything fit?
It definitely helps! We constantly have an insane amount of new books arriving, but there is always room for more on our shelves; it just has to be found or created.
Why does keeping the warehouse organised make such a difference to getting customer orders out quickly?
Having a tidy and organised warehouse enables our team to find items easily when picking customer orders. Every single shelf is assigned specific location codes, so we all know exactly where to go to retrieve each item from an order. If you've ever been into the bookshop and requested a specific item, wondering how it was found so quickly, this is the how!
What’s the most satisfying part of your role so far?
Watching customers receive their orders in person at our bookshop. It really feels meaningful knowing that Book Hero is helping to spread some joy and/ or knowledge to real humans.
What does a great day in the warehouse look like for you?
Shelving or finding items from orders that I am tempted to buy myself. We have so many beautiful sprayed-edge books that make me so happy to look at, and of course we have gorgeous puzzles...
Books & puzzles
We hear you love puzzles! What do you enjoy most about puzzling?
Yes! For me, it is surprisingly cathartic to just puzzle while thinking about anything and nothing. I can instantly relax and just enjoy the satisfaction of assembling a picture piece by piece.
What makes a great puzzle for you, and what’s your ideal number of pieces?
A great puzzle is definitely one where the pieces do not keep falling out!
Siobhan, Amelia and the team have just started on Piece House's Petals & Pages puzzle in our break-room, and the piece shapes, pretty colours and patterns have made the jigsaw really enjoyable.
I reach for 300-2000 piece puzzles the most because they easily fit onto my table, aren't too time-intensive, but are still challenging.
Are you an edges-first, sort-everything-by-colour puzzler, or do you embrace the chaos?
It depends on the puzzle, but usually I do like to flip all the pieces over first and do the border, then embrace the chaos! I am usually a messy puzzler, but the sooner the pieces go in, the tidier everything looks.
What kind of books do you enjoy reading?
I grew up obsessed with fairy tales, which quickly turned into a love of fantasy, romantasy, historical fiction and the classics. I do read a bit of everything though!
What are you reading at the moment, or what’s next on your list?
I've just finished Transcription by Ben Lerner, which was a nice quick and easy read. Next up is the second book in NZ author Stacia Stark's Kingdom of Lies series: A Kingdom This Cursed and Empty. And how awesome is it that Stacia is from New Zealand?!
What’s one book or puzzle you’d recommend to a Book Hero customer?
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews, which I think is absolutely worth the hype. I am very grateful to the person who recently recommended I give it a try.
I believe that everyone should try out at least one Ravensburger jigsaw to experience their delightful soft-click technology. The pieces snap together so nicely. Be warned: it can be pretty addictive!
Personality & story
What drew you to Book Hero?
I went into the bookshop to pick up a book I'd bought online and couldn't help but think it would be such a wonderful place to work at. The staff were all so lovely, and of course I figured being surrounded by books all day wouldn't hurt (I didn't even know about Book Hero's many puzzles back then). The place seemed too good to be true! It still does.
What were your first impressions when you saw just how many books and puzzles we have in the warehouse?
It was quite overwhelming, in a good way! I instantly knew that I'd never need to shop anywhere else for puzzles ever again.
What’s something customers might be surprised to learn about you?
I am a huge classical music fan and addicted to collecting sheet music.
When you’re not at Book Hero, what do you enjoy doing?
Spending as much time as I can with my very clingy cat, playing the piano, and reading. I also love to unwind with any sort of puzzle, ranging from crosswords to Minesweeper.