Question: What is the most PROMINENT sign you have seen an SC ignore?

[Skrae]

At my friend's job (he's an arcade gameroom attendant) there's really only a couple signs, but the one that my friend always complains that people do not know how to read how many tokens go in which machine, it's at the point where they not only put the number down, but actually put pictures indicating how many tokens go in each machine, ie if 2 tokens go in the machine, there are 2 tokens pictured. The only exception is because they're a nickel arcade, the DDR machine takes 10 nickels.

[hecubus]

At the movie theater I worked at, the most ignored sign was the one we would put up on the vending counter when that particular station was closed. I can't count the number of times someone would come up to the closed counter, stand directly in front of the sign, actually look] at the sign, and still yell to the vendor that they needed help.

Those incidents, as well as the fact that a substantial number of people leave the auditorium just before, or as soon as, the end credits begin to roll, has convinced me that, not only do people not read, many people go out of their way to make sure that there is no chance that they may even be put in a position where they might have to read.

The other thing that was ignored most often at the theater was the velvet ropes. We put those up to guide people to the proper exit, etc., yet most people saw nothing wrong with just stepping over the ropes, or moving them, so that they could go the way they want to go.

[GayleShy]

RESTROOM CLOSED DUE TO CONSTRUCTION

You would not beleive how many people ignored that sign and tried to go in anyway. I gave up on trying to tell them and just laughed at them trying to push a door open when there was no restroom.

[ArenaBoy]

I gave up on trying to tell them and just laughed at them trying to push a door open when there was no restroom.

The first thing to pop up in my head was that scene from Roger Rabbit. I don't know why but I instantly thought of it.

[BusyBee]

Not a sign, but same level of having the blinkers on for this... At my first job - a convenience store - on one wall we had the fridges, and there was a wall of milk in there about 2metres tall and a metre wide. On another wall we had the bread stand, about 1.8metres tall and 2-2.5metres wide.
90% of the "where's X?" questions I got asked were "Where's the milk?" or "Where's the bread?"

At the movie store, across the glass door (the only entrance/exit), in biiiig letters and yellow type we have in stickied-on letters:
[Store]
IS OPEN
9am - 9pm
7 DAYS

.... "Are you open tomorrow?" "When do you close?" "What time can I bring these back in the morning?" And of course the people trying to shove open the door at 9:15pm

[myswtghst]

Those incidents, as well as the fact that a substantial number of people leave the auditorium just before, or as soon as, the end credits begin to roll, has convinced me that, not only do people not read, many people go out of their way to make sure that there is no chance that they may even be put in a position where they might have to read.

And see, my brother and I stay through all the end credits, just to make fun of people's names, MST3K style. The best one recently? Anita Poon, and her sister(?) Sandy Poon, in the credits of TMNT.

/End Off Topic

[El Barto]

The biggest sign that my customers ignore is a big (about 4' wide and 3' tall) red sign in the store window (it's actually 2 signs, there is one on the outside of the window and one on the inside) that lists the Pharmacy's new hours. Mon - Fri they have the same hours as the front store but one the weekends they close at 6 and the front end stays open till 10. At least once each day they close early I get someone who walks back to the pharmacy, stares at the gate pulled across the counter, then walks up to me with a confused look asking what time the pharmacy closes.

What makes it worse is the Sat hours did not change at all for the pharmacy, their hours were extended or changed every day except Sat (Mon-Fri change from 9-9 to 8-10, Sun hours moved from 9-5 to 10-6). It's still 9-6, just like it has been since before I started working there 4 years ago, and people still come up to me on Saturday nights to ask what the pharmacy hours are.

[Velfarre2001]

Excellent, these are just what I was looking for. Keep em coming. Some real super winners here. Kinda sad that none of them are surprising to me.......I weep for humanity as I laugh at its stupidity.

[TwoScoopsSciath]

The sign: "Please, No Bills larger than $20. No purchase, no change. What we hand you is your change, PERIOD."

SC response:

"I need four quarters!"

(This one looked right at the sign)"Can you give me 5 tens for this fifty?"

"All I have is a hundred dollar bill!"

[RecoveringKinkoid]

It's a toss up at Kinko's. The largest was a 10 foot tall, 8 foot wide sign in the parking lot that said "parking for Kinko's customers only, all others will be towed". I've seen people park right against that sign. However, if I can use "most obvious" interchangably with "largest" then I have a tie.

We replaced the huge "no parking" sign with a 10 foot long full color banner with tow truck driving Godzillas on it, a large collection of smaller "no parking" signs in each space, and in one case, and idling tow truck. LEGIONS of idiots ignore this minefield of warnings.

I've also seen more than one idiot move an entire stand up cardboard kiosk, move an easle with a framed picture on it, climb over a velvet rope, ignore a sign that said "no exit" and push on a door that was nailed shut. Most of them said "Why won't this door open?"

And then there was the woman who wanted to know how she was supposed to know a self service machine was a color machine that charged 50 cents a copy. This machine had a sign that said "This is a COLOR machine! It costs at least 50 cents per copy to use this machine!" hanging over it on the window. Another on top of the machine. Another at the card reader (payment slot). Another near the "on" switch. Another on the front of the machine.

[MadMike]

One day, toward the end of my big remodeling project, I was at Lowe's, waiting at the returns desk to return something I either ended up not needing or bought too much of.

While I was waiting, I saw a guy walk up to the Entrance doors, despite the HUGE signs that said "Not an exit" and "Do not enter". I thought he was going to smack right into them when they did not open for him. Then he took a few steps back, looked up and down at the door, and then try again.

This repeated 3 or 4 times before the door just happened to open for someone who was coming in, and then he got out. I just stood there shaking my head.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Oh, oh! I remembered largest!

The Zoo. I was at the time employed there as a seasonal employee decorating for Christmas. We used a bucket truck to string lights on the really tall trees. This particular bucket truck was bright orange, sounded like a hundred motorcycles reving, shook the sidewalk, and was about the size and shape of a Sherman tank with a really, really, long arm growing out of the top. We would put all sorts of warning cones all around it, bright yellow and black hazzard barriers, etc. If one of us was driving, the other (I worked with a partner) would stand on the sidewalk and help direct the driver and also keep the idiots out from under the tires.

I actually said to a woman "Ma'am, please be aware that Sam can't see you from the bucket, and she's going to move the truck. Please stay clear of the barriers."

This stupid cow goes, "oh, okay, thanks." and wanders RIGHT past the cones, RIGHT past the barriers, and damn smacks her face on the truck.

[Dria]

I have to admit, the worst case of not reading the signs I can remember was me.

There I was, blowing through the math portion of my GED. First to finish, working through everything in my head to keep myself occupied. After my test had been collected, I quietly asked where the restrooms were...

...and was quietly pointed to the back of the (small) room, where two large blue doors with large blue restroom signs quietly sat. *facepalm* Maybe not so stupid or sucky as some, but I certainly felt dumb.

[powerboy]

At my store, when we first moved to the location we are at now. The Last store owner of the old shop left his sign up, and we didn't get to take it down yet, since he said that he come by to get it. Well we had so many people come in asking if we were the other shop. Even tho, we have Anime posters on the windows, and a huge banner which is 4ft x 5ft stating the companies name. They would read it, and of course, still come in asking. Once I got into an argument with a SC about it.

[Sofar]

I think I have y'all beat. The sign my customers ignore is in neon. Hung above our counter is a large, red, wooden arrow on which neon tubes spell the words ORDER HERE. If I put out all the lights the sign still lights up the room. It's there because our counter doesn't face the front, and the cash register isn't readily apparent when you walk in the door. However, the arrangement of the restaurant is still very intuitive and before we got the sign many people still had no problem finding their way to the cash register. However, today, yesterday, and the day before that I had at least one couple walk into the restaurant, plop themselves down at a table, and wait.

I believe that they all cotton on about the same time, after they see a few people walk in and step up to the counter. The nicer ones look at me standing behind the counter and say, "Oh, do we order up there?" The more mean-spirited ones I believe continue to pretend I'm going to come over to their table and take their order even after they've caught on, simply out of spite. Soon they begin snapping their fingers at me, saying things like, "Can we get some service o'er 'ere?" And when I say, "Step over here I can take your order right away," some even begin arguing with me. The dumbist incididence I've experienced is when one woman just replied, "WELL THAT'S STUPID!" And stormed out.