This was years ago, long before they closed up permanently, and definitely before the Internet! I don't recall any sort of "rewards program"..... When we were at Registers, our primary responsibility was to deal with the purchase transaction, and to ensure that the customer had found whatever he/she had come into the store to see and buy. When working on the sales floor, we helped people find what they wanted, even if they were not sure just what that might be, and we discussed books with them (other merchandise as well, but mostly books!), guiding them to what we thought they (or the prospective recipient of a gift) might enjoy and/or often actually putting a book or two into their hands.Found an old Borders gift card when we were cleaning out to move.
I have to ask about training. How much did they press selling the "rewards program"?
It could be a lot of fun and definitely rewarding to see a smile on someone's face when we handed them what they described as that book "with I think a red cover about the lady who flew airplanes...." One or two more questions of the patron usually could elicit further clues to the item's identity. (The book jacket actually was blue with a large photo of "the lady who flew airplanes": Beryl Markham.)
We also shelved the newly arriving books, too, in the section(s) to which we were assigned, as well as were responsible for keeping our section neat and tidy, and that sometimes took me longer than it should because I'd run across an interesting title and pause to just "take a quick Look" at it......