Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Speaking of old jobs

I built a sandwich board sign for the store about 5 years ago. I wanted to let people know we were open from a distance and to advertise new stock and specials. The sign gets put out everyday. It is bright yellow. It is completely blank. I never got around to finishing it. What amazes me is not one person has ever commented on our blank sign. They stop and look at it and come in the store anyway thanks to our windows, which do get some attention. I am also amazed that we have put the silly thing out everyday for five years. Rain, snow or shine I haul it out and it weighs a ton, the weight protecting it from blowing away in the strong winds we often have. This is a windy place at the best of times and I often have to wedge the sandwich board behind a parking meter to keep it in place. Well hurricane season is here and the other day I discovered the real advantage of a blank sign. A 100K gust peeled the sign from behind the parking meter and it tumbled into the street, whacking into the door of a rented car that was toddling down the street. It made a noticeable dent. The guy got out of the car outraged. I watched from the safety of the store as he examined the sign and looked around. WTF. A blank sign. He kicked it not realizing it weighs 50 pounds, yelped and limped back into the car. I waited a few seconds and snuck out to get it. I left it in the stockroom for a few days but now I put it out everyday, blank. And that's the way it's going to stay. It slows down the shoppers anyway and any future accidents will cost us nothing in liability. I hope that guy never reads this blog.

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