By Claire Groft
Red-haired and abundantly freckled, Sean Grady towers over just about everyone. He recently graduated from the University of Delaware with a criminal justice degree. His size will be a great advantage to him, if he ever joins the police force, but right now he works as a bookseller for Barnes and Noble. On the days he works he dresses business casual; on his days off, t-shirts and jeans. He prefers his glasses to contact lenses, thank you very much. His occupation? “Student of the world.” He works in retail, as a bookseller for Barnes and Noble.
Sean is a great friend. He listens. He holds the door for others. If he walks you to your car, he makes sure you get safely inside. He is a real gentleman, and he says it was simply how he was raised.
His older sister, Aimee, recalled how Sean picked her up last year at the airport. “I was waiting at baggage claim with my adorable little polka-dot roller bag and leopard print backpack with punk zippers,” she said. “Sean picks up my roller bag handle and asks, ‘Can I take your other bag?’ And off he goes, this 6’5” lumberjack of a man carrying the girliest luggage you could imagine. I just remember thinking, ‘Boy, is some girl gonna be lucky someday.’ You never have to worry with Sean. He is a protector and a caretaker and loyal through and through.”
Sean does not talk about himself too much. “I don’t dislike talking about myself, but I don’t think I’m that interesting,” he said. “I think there are far more interesting people than me.”
Even though he wants to have a career in law enforcement, Barnes and Noble has given him plenty of practice. A few nights ago he received a phone call from a guy looking for a book. “I pick up the phone,” Sean said, “and pretty much immediately the guy starts off with ‘I need a fucking salesperson.’” Hearing customers cuss on the other end of the line is not rare, but this one was particularly nasty. After more yelling, and another apology, Sean found the book the guy was looking for. “He’s like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s it. You got it, right?’ And I say, ‘No, it’s not released until October.’” After a final round of cussing, the customer abruptly hung up.
He has a strong work ethic, and he knows what he wants. He’s worked a respectable amount of years in the book business, but it’s not something that interests him. Sean’s thoughts about his future career are still evolving.
“It’s changed so much. At this point, I kind of think of my dream job as being some sort of cop or something like that… Working in that environment, and doing everything I can to stop bad things from happening and help people.”
His admiration for law enforcement thrived during high school. He attended the Delaware Military Academy, and his experiences there gave him a very mature view of the world. “I got to meet a whole bunch of different guys in the military who made it their life and talked about why and their experiences, and it was a really cool thing,” he said. “They’re wise older guys who usually have good advice and information for you. I’m glad I got to hear all these different stories. It gave me more of an appreciation for our service members and for what they go through and what they sacrifice for all of us.”
When we saw Lone Survivor together, we stayed to the very end of the credits, at his request, out of respect. I told him how cool that was. “Thank you,” he said. And then he moved on to the next topic.