The Bookstore

the Seinfeld episode

"The Bookstore" is the 173rd episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 17th episode for the ninth and final season. It aired on April 9, 1998. In this episode, Jerry catches his Uncle Leo in the act of shoplifting, George is forced to buy a book after he is caught reading it in the bookstore's public bathroom, and Kramer and Newman attempt to start a rickshaw business.

Jerry and George are at a bookstore, Brentano's, where George hopes to meet women. Jerry spots Uncle Leo shoplifting. He confronts Leo about it privately, and Leo promises to return the book, but on a subsequent visit Jerry sees him shoplifting again. Jerry rats out Leo to the Brentano's security guard, intending only to scare him straight, but because Leo has a prior conviction, he now faces jail time. Jerry apologizes to Uncle Leo, but Leo tells him he never forgets when he's been betrayed. Jerry has nightmares about Leo seeking revenge on him. George takes a book into the bookstore bathroom. The manager says he cannot put it back on a shelf after it has been in the bathroom, forcing George to buy the book. George tries to return it, but the book has been flagged as having been in the bathroom. George tries to donate his book to charity, but even they won't take the marked book. George plans to get even with Brentano's by stealing a copy of the same book and returning it to get his money back. Jerry tries to talk the manager into letting Leo off lightly, but the store is having problems with theft so he needs to "make an example" of someone. Realizing he can sacrifice someone else to save Leo, Jerry rats on George for his attempted shoplifting. At the annual Peterman party, Elaine is depressed by the other staff showing her up at dancing, so she and a man named Zach get drunk and make out at their table. George suggests Elaine tell everyone that she and Zach are dating, so that she won't be known as the "office skank". However, she doesn't clear this with Zach, so he openly makes out with another woman. Elaine plans to use his "cheating" as her reason for ending the fake relationship. However, J. Peterman informs her that Zach is an opium addict, and makes Elaine help him quit cold turkey. Elaine gets through it without trouble, and the experience inspires her to pitch a "detox poncho" for the catalogue. Kramer and Newman plan to run a rickshaw service. They interview potential rickshaw pullers; however, one of the candidates steals the rickshaw. Newman and Kramer track it down. Kramer loses the counting out game to determine who will have to pull it back. When Kramer gets tired pulling Newman in the rickshaw up a hill and sets it down, the rickshaw runs backwards over Zach.

The episode's Jerry story was inspired by a news item the episode's writer, Spike Feresten, saw on TV, about the rampant shoplifting being committed by the elderly. The table read for the episode was held on February 14, 1998.

In this episode, J. Peterman referred to opium as "the Chinaman's nightcap". The episode prompted many Asian American viewers, including author Maxine Hong Kingston, to send letters of protest. In her letter, Kingston wrote that the term is "equivalent to niggers for blacks and kikes for Jews". Media watchdog Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) called on NBC to issue a public apology. NBC did not issue an apology, but it removed the offending term from the episode in the episode's rerun in May 1998. NBC's executive vice president for broadcast standards and content policy sent MANAA a letter stating that the network never intended to offend. MANAA was pleased with the studio's response despite the lack of an apology, and Kingston, while disappointed there was no apology, was pleased that the term was removed from the episode.