Liam Hughes, general manager, Hughes & Hughes in Dublin Airport
IF I'M ON the early shift, I start at 5am, which is when our shops open.
I'm no relation to the Hughes family that owns the business, by the way.
Passengers start coming through the security desks from 4.30am and the first thing everyone wants to buy is a newspaper, to read while they have a cup of coffee.
This is the height of the holiday season, which for us is the equivalent of Christmas for other book shops. It's non-stop.
I park in a staff car park and get a shuttle bus into the terminal. About 90 per cent of our business is airside, through the departures gate. Like everyone else, we have to empty out our pockets and get scanned each time we go through.
Every product sold airside has to be scanned, which, for books, is a huge logistical exercise.
The biggest concern in the morning is that all the staff are in. If people are out or delayed it puts a big strain on the others.
Newspapers are left at about 4am and there's huge pressure to get them sorted and out as soon as we open.
Before Hughes & Hughes, I worked with Hodges Figgis and Dillons in the UK. I like books and reading, and that was the big attraction.
The appeal of working in an airport bookshop is that no two days are the same. The recent radar problem is a case in point. When there are major delays, people don't spend any more on books, they just tend to get impatient, irate and clog up the system.
Going around the airport last week with a name tag of any sort on you was a dangerous occupation.
At some stage in the morning I'll walk around to each of our shops to check that they're neat and tidy and have enough stock. An airport bookshop needs, in particular, to have enough of the bestsellers and new titles.
By the time I've done that and sorted through problems such as broken shutters or fridges, it'll be lunch time.
Airport workers get a 20 per cent discount in most of the restaurants here, which is good because it can be expensive.
After that, I may have a meeting with my management teams. The early team works 5am to 1pm and the late shift runs from 1pm to the last flight.
I'll also meet our book manager to discuss issues about stock and deliveries, and talk to the personnel manager about rosters, recruitment and training.
We get daily sales targets and these have to be reviewed to see how we are doing against budget.
At this time of year, I work a 60-hour week and spend about 80 per cent of my time on the shop floor.
The difference between working in an airport bookshop and a regular one is not just the anti-social hours but the fact that our shops are extremely busy all the time.
Booksellers here are under constant pressure. Customers are worried about losing their passports, being late for flights or minding children. They're more stressed than your usual customer and it puts pressure on staff.
On the other hand, there is a great sense of camaraderie among airport staff. There are about 10,000 of us here and there's a feeling of all of us being in it together.
Numerous relationships have started here, too - mine included. We met during a Brink's strike four years ago. I had to go to Bank of Ireland at the airport and ask them to handle our daily lodgement. The assistant manager, Emer, helped sort me out. We're getting married in October.