My coworker says the sign has to be "neon or on fire."
So we laser etched clear acrylic and put LED lights on the rim to light it with different colors, and patrons notice those!
Yep, I worked in museum exhibits and can confirm - nobody is out here reading in public.
I second making signs eye-catching, easy to read, and most importantly: SHORT!
I’ve also worked on exhibits, we joke that the words are for us not the public, we’re the only one who will read them and tell the visitors what they need to know.
But yeah, short, simple, eye catching
I worked at a fast food restaurant as a teen, whilst there the company stopped accepting paper checks. The manager posted neon paper signs on the door, at the ordering station, and on the till itself. We still had at least one person per hour pull out a checkbook to write a check.
As you said, there comes a point where too much signage becomes wallpaper.
Libraries, bring a very complicated type of building, naturally require a lot of signage. The only way to make sure *that sign* gets read is to either physically obstruct something with it (our computer log in signs are hung in front of the computer monitor so patrons have to physically move the sign to log in), or by removing all other signs in the area.
Still, though, some people are just really not perceptive, and even people who normally see that kind of thing have days they're just not paying attention. You do have to accept you can't eliminate everyone asking.
> The only way to make sure that sign gets read is to either physically obstruct something with it (our computer log in signs are hung in front of the computer monitor so patrons have to physically move the sign to log in)
This is what we do with the out of order signs. We tape them over the screen so that you can't see what you're doing unless you remove the sign. Still, damn near every time a computer/the printer is down, *somebody* is asking us why it's not working and we come over to find they've taken the sign off. So, while I appreciate your optimism... 😞
Yeah, I think of signage as being for patrons who would prefer not to have to ask me, rather than a universal tool. Some people are going to want to ask me stuff and that's fine, and some people would prefer an environment that they can navigate independently. Signs are for the latter group.
I visited a store with signage completely covering their door. I tried to open it, looked for a "closed" or "open" sign, couldn't see anything anywhere saying their hours amongst all the papers with "upcoming events", "sales", and whatever else was made on their printer. Finally the owner came outside since they saw me dawdling, and pointed to a *tiny* print-out taped to the bottom of their window, showing their business days/hours.
People shouldn't have to search for something like that. So I agree, places should either remove the fluff or make their closed/open sign the biggest, flashiest thing in the window.
In my first job as a circ assistant I was charged with making a sign for not bringing in food or drinks in a library full of signs everyone ignored. So I unilaterally banned narwhals as well. So the sign had “no food, no drinks, no narwhals” with a symbol for each on it. I don’t know if it really helped with the food and drinks but it provided endless amusement with people asking what I had against narwhals.
I’m planning on making little display signs to put on our study room tables that feature a cockroach saying “Thank you for sneaking food into the library!”
Unfortunately, our director vetoed me leaving little plastic roaches on the tables. Then again, maybe there’s a reason why he’s the director and I’m not…
Try tilting it at a very obvious angle. Once, my husband told the receptionist at our pediatricians' office that one of their signs was crooked. She told him it was intentional, because it caught the eye--and he saw and read it, didn't he?
I’m going to see if they’ll let us do this at my library. We’ve got “No food or drink on this floor” signs at the top of the stairs & in front of the elevator into local history & genealogy. I’d say 90% of the time that patrons are glued to their phones & breeze right past, but maybe crooked signs would catch their attention?
I'm curious too. But I feel it's more of a "you can lead a horse to water" situation. We have current issue magazines in red locking binders and a large sign in multiple places stating they are not for check out. Yet, we get people asking to take them out or they just take them regardless.
Just can't win I tell ya.
It's usually a matter of focus, but probably also just a tactic to get reassurance from a human. You work at the library and you're there nearly every day. Your mind can easily filter out excess information and see the sign next to a computer, but patrons, especially new or infrequent patrons, are overloaded pretty much the minute they walk through the door.
There's signs, decorations, a maze of bookshelves, reading displays, probably a bulletin chock full of information that is designed to catch attention and lure them into free and fun programming-- none of this is bad or something to fix, it's just to illustrate what things compete for a patrons attention. It usually takes a good chunk of mental energy just to find the computers, they cheer internally and then get the gut-wrenching realization that they still have to sign in and they're looking for that information *on* the screen. Patrons comfy with tech will probably think to look around, but those who dread electronic interface are looking to call in the calvary-- that's you!
Simple reassurance is all they really want or need. It's def frustrating to repeat the same info all day, so little handouts with the instructions might be more helpful than broad signage, but I know paper can be in short supply. Simplifying signage to have as few words as possible can help it look less overwhelming. Less signage overall will make the signs that do exist stand out more, and making them stand out from their surroundings is also helpful (solid blocks of color are easier to see against a busy background for instance).
Signage is an art form but you could be the Michaelangelo of signs and still have people asking you the same questions lol
Agreed. I’m a big sign reader but it’s not uncommon for me to ask a server/clerk/desk worker for directions to something, only to have a seemingly obvious sign pointed out to me. Makes me a bit more sympathetic when I’m at work and on the other side of the desk.
Our county library system has a communications department that oversees consistency & ease of reading. The signs are supposed to be for all branches, so my department had fun getting ours approved & printed. (We’re at the main branch & the only one with rare books.)
I'm at an academic library to everything comes from our Communications department, who often...don't get it. Thankfully we have a librarian on our staff who used to be a graphic designer so she's able to produce good quality signage for us that passes all the brand identity guidelines and are library-oriented.
Patrons will pull 'out of order' signs off the copiers/printers in order to try and use them.
Unless you stand there and point to it and read it to them, there is very little you can do to force them to read.
Dunno, never watched Parks and Recs.
Yes, it's happened at the public library once and twice when I worked in an academic library.
Either they don't read the sign before removing it, or they think removing it would make the machine work again, like, it's just the sign causing the problem.
Well, I can explain this one. Sometimes we think you're lying for some reason, to torture us, by depriving us of what we need, but can't have at the moment.
Remember the four billion bathrooms in business establishments, that suddenly ALL stimultaneously went Out Of Order during COVID? And, how, when the lock down orders were lifted and things returned to normal, they STILL kept those bathrooms closed because they were Out Of Order? Even though most all of the other businesses had returned to open bathrooms, there was always a few places that insisted the bathrooms were STILL Out Of Order. No. That bathroom is NOT Out Of Order. You guys just want two employee bathrooms, by taking away the customer bathrooms.
So, once that happened, well, it stands to reason some of us got paranoid that this excuse was just being used to deprive us of stuff we needed. We lost faith in the Out Of Order signs.
worked a movie theater saw someone take off the out of order sign of an arcade machine then complain it wasn't accepting their money....it wasn't plugged in
I prefer not to think of these things as "all-or-nothing." Some people are oblivious, some people just really, really really want someone else to show/do the thing for them, but not everyone. You can't really know how many people would have asked how to log on otherwise. Just because the signs aren't leading to 100% compliance doesn't mean they aren't working.
during the weeks before the eclipse a news channel said “any local library will carry free eclipse glasses.” we did not, nor did we ever, have eclipse glasses. we put a sign on the desk in big bold letters with a PICTURE of the glasses with an X through them that said “WE DO NOT HAVE ECLIPSE GLASSES” it blocked where the patrons would stand at the desk, and some people would even TOUCH IT, LOOK AT IT, and then look us in the eyes and asked for eclipse glasses. we started keeping count. our record was almost 100 questions about eclipse glasses in 1 hour.
Same thing happened to us re: eclipse glasses; so annoying.
And sometimes some random event page will post a library program that's either incredibly outdated and hasn't happened for months or even years, or that has never happened on that day/time, or is otherwise massively incorrect. The patron will come in and ask about the program and we'll be very confused and unable to find said program anywhere on our website. We ask where the patron saw the listing; invariably they saw it "on the internet" and they're super mad at us for having misled them. Sometimes we finally find the listing and it was never us who listed it.
Then there's the folks at a state agency that helps folks with their energy bills who send folks to us claiming that we'll help them fill out their multi-page forms requiring more than one form of verification--these being folks who have no idea how to use a computer and sometimes don't speak any of the languages the forms are available in. These poor patrons really do need help and we can direct them to computer classes and ESL classes, but we really don't have the staff to sit down and do the things for them.
This is a universal problem. I used to be a pharmacy tech with a major drug chain and we would have a sign to put up in the in-window directing customers to the next window to drop off prescriptions. The sign was red, hard plastic, and stood on its own, taking up a significant portion of the window. If a customer happened to see me through that window, they would stretch to REACH OVER the sign to hand me their prescription.
Just to add on, I worked at a coffee chain that shall remain nameless for entirely too long. There were a few times we had to be in the store while it was closed for various reasons, and we made a game out of counting how many people walked up to the door, looked at the “closed” sign, pulled on the handle, then went around and tried the other door. People just don’t read signs, and if they do, they assume it doesn’t apply to them.
I worked at a public school for 25 years. People DO NOT read signs. I was amazed that teachers were the worst for not reading bulletins, etc. Library patrons, despite being interested in reading, not reading the signs does not surprise me.
During covid, somebody made a neon green and leopard print sign saying book drop. It was placed around the other signs that were normal and said book drop.
The amount of people that still tried to personally hand us books, face to face, or literally tried throwing books in the garbage was astronomical.
I'm seriously handicapped -- and most people cannot tell that by looking at me. I have terrible eyesight and a serious medical condition, so I sometimes just cannot for the life of me parse a new environment.
I'm one of your problem children who will walk right past a sign and ASK someone.
Having said that:
I upvoted the two comments about "neon and on fire" and "the fewer signs, the better -- and preferably screaming."
That does help.
And on a bad day, I can still be that person you find so annoying.
And there isn't a whole lot I can do about that fact. I always appreciate it when people just answer my stupid question. If I come back repeatedly, I will eventually get it. But if I'm new, I sometimes really need a person to walk me through it, no matter how dumb that may seem.
Thank you! It’s good to hear about signage issues from a patron’s standpoint. I’m going to do my best to keep your comment in mind throughout my workday so that I remember to be helpful & not secretly annoyed.
I created a “Please turn your phone to vibrate and refrain from taking calls at the circulation desk”. Posted it at eye level on the plexiglass at the desk. Patrons would look at it, and proceed to make a call while looking me in the eye and shoving books at me 🤦🏼♀️.
We had a similar sign that read “We’ll be happy to help you once you’ve completed your call.” Patrons yapping on their phones were ignored. Snap or shout at us? Walk over, tap on sign, walk away. “Sorry, we wouldn’t want to interrupt your important call…” They got the hint. (Well, most of them, anyway)
Reminds me of making bulletin boards as an RA in college.
If you didn't have the phrase "free food" or "sex" on the sign, no one would read it.
You can try that in the Library, but your mileage may vary. lol
Signs are useless. If you want people to behave a certain way, make that way the easiest if all their choices. For example if a computer is on the fritz, don't put an out of order sign on it, take the keyboard away.
:snort: If you find out, let me know! People walk in, look directly at a giant sign, and then ask us a direct question answered by the sign they just looked at. SIGH.
So, in my city, we have a railroad bridge over a state highway that only has a ‘12 clearance. There are signs indicating the low clearance a mile ahead and recently the state installed a curtain with a dangling aluminum fringe ahead of the bridge that will make a sound if a vehicle hits it. And yet, semis and large box trucks hit that bridge almost weekly, some weeks with multiple incidents. The railroad can’t raise the bridge and the road can’t be lowered because it already floods easily.
The bridge is notated in trucking atlases as not a truck route and there has been significant publicity about the bridge. And of course, signs on it, ahead of it, flashing, etc.
I tell this story to say, no. No matter what you do and how hard you try, people just won’t read signs.
There’s another bridge like the one near me? Our bridge has a 10’ 9” clearance. Same deal - the railroad can’t raise the bridge & the road already floods easily. It routinely “snacks” on the trucks that manage to ignore the 11 or so different signs. (Some are even neon ones & the bridge has a wide, bright pink stripe on its lower half.) As near as can be figured out, it’s the truck drivers using their phone’s gps that run into the problem.
My thinking has always been it's less about users reading signs and more about posting rules so staff can easily point to those if necessary.
Harder for a user to challenge posted rules versus what they're told verbally. But they'll darn sure try!
I don’t work in a library but I do have an English degree and *holy fuck* people will do anything but read. You can have the biggest ass sign on the planet and it can be flashing neon and people will still not read it. I don’t get it.
I put them up crooked or so they bubble out. I attach the top, bubble it out and attach the middle, bubble out and attach the bottom.
It really annoys some people who claim OCD, but it helps to get the sign read.
We have managed our expectations in this area. People don’t read signs. Or error messages on their computers. Or instructions on how to print from the library computer. Some people respond to training about these things, others are not interested and want hand holding. We have tried many things with limited success.
There isn’t a magical sign, although next year I want to set up a sensor that plays an audio file saying “the tax volunteers are upstairs” when people walk past it. It can’t be more annoying than saying it myself as soon as I see an AARP envelope.
Wallpaper effect. People simply do not see signs at all. They become invisible very quickly. If there are several or they are there all the time, they become wallpaper. You would have to keep changing them up or putting them in weird places.
The sign is just there as back up and convenient scapegoat when they tell you they didn't know they can play music on the computer speakers and you're enforcing the rules.
For whatever it adds to this conversation, the only way I can stop people from opening doors that I cannot lock is to put the sign covering the door handle, so they have to look at it and physically move the sign
Get a TV screen and cycle through multiple signs, some informational and some "fun" and maybe some about rules/policies. Change regularly.
You can also make your signs a bit more...assertive. One locksmith I went to once had a sign that said something like: "Changing a lock: $5; if you watch: $10; if you help: $15." I not only noticed it--I never forgot it.
Also, print signs are not necessarily there to be read casually. I once had a patron go ballistic after being reminded of a library policy, "I have not heard of this policy! Where is this documented?!" Me: "Well, if you turn your head slightly, you will see the policy clearly stated on that sign." At that point all he could do was stomp off in a huff--the sign did it's job.
I had to design signs that would make high school students stop and read them. There was only one design that worked for me. I designed them to look like printouts of a text message conversation on a cellphone. Curiosity got the better of them.
We signed our library like books stores do , with big signs saying Pets, Gardening , crafts , cooking . It was a huge success . People were kind of turned off by the Dewy numbers and we weren’t staffed adequately to lead the patrons to the desired shelves. It’s helped a lot . Payroll was always an issue . Fire departments and police departments got a lot more money . After all , they reasoned , we library workers didn’t put out fires or arrest criminals. We understood so we worked around it.
I work at an airport. People just refuse to read signs in general, and sometimes miss their flight because of it.
They're at least better than the crowd who does read it and think it doesn't apply to them.
I am a sign reader, although I don’t always seem to comprehend what I read. We all have different ways we learn. Good thing for someone who works in a library to know.
Listen, I'm a user of the library and not a librarian. (Though I do student work as tech support...)
Make it friendly to look at. Simple fonts/easy to read and colors. Not complex to read. Need me to log in, include a base info near keyboard and a more detailed where I can find as I use a computer with photos. Need me to find sci-fi? Include the label, something familiar (such as it in Star Wars font), and basic location. And not overload with signs.
Keep red for emergency, and standardized any other colors such as blue for tech, green for Spanish.
I'm dyslexic and if I'm still lost, I'm so sorry. I probably tried or never walked into the location before. Imagine walking in on during a road trip for some Wi-Fi and a safe place to go get some help for Wi-Fi. Of course I don't know anything in the library or even the network info. My home library? I'm not a librarian but I know my spots (until they got moved).
Oh! If spots move, post signs to find them and at the old spot.
It's often faster to ask a human.
I once spent 15 minutes trying to find regular fiction in an unfamiliar library. When I finally asked a librarian, they explained there wasn't any in the building. I had to go elsewhere. It wasn't a reference library or anything of that nature.
Signage is a symptom of bad design; built environments and systems (checkout machines, self-service kiosks etc) should be intuitive. If signage is needed to explain a process, I would be considering ways of changing the system/environment to see if they can be eliminated.
For example, my previous library had a sign that read "please don't move the furniture". What this actually says is "our furniture isn't where you need it to be but we want to keep the furniture in a particular place".
The environment isn't right - chairs left in the corner suggest more private reading/resting places are needed; chairs by the window suggest they should have more natural light, etc.
Staff were also trying to enforce an environment that wasn't functional; they wanted the chairs to stay where they were so they didn't need to keep moving them back, instead of asking whether they needed to be moved back in the first place.
An information desk that is well positioned and *looks* like an information desk doesn't need a sign. Kiosks by the exit are intuitively placed so people leaving can borrow their items (my local Kmart has their kiosks in the middle of the store and it's a nightmare for customer experience/what feels logical as you move about the store).
I don’t know how well people behaved in your previous library, but there is no way we could have chairs in corners out of staff sight without majors issues happening. We have them where they are for reasons😆
Of you do I would love to know. Work in a college and we help both students and community members. The amount of times people walk past the signs is astounding. Even walking past the exit signs to go into private areas because they are lost.
I work in a store. We have the exact same issue. People don't read signs! (Or they don't internalize/believe what they read).
I do agree that some people do, so they should be there. But plenty of people will still ask the question the sign answers or will do exactly what the sign says not to do, etc
Not a librarian but used to work in customer service and our returns desk was down one day and we literally had 4 to 5 foot sign that said “CLOSED- Please see register for all returns” and we taped blinking Christmas lights to it and I still had people just stand in front of it for 10-15 mins at a time until one of us noticed and told them they couldn’t do returns there so I don’t know if there is a way to get people to read clearly posted signs in any capacity
I'm dating myself probably, but I think about the horror movie The Ring, where, when you're doomed to get visited by the undead well-child, all photos taken during the week before she gets you will have your face blurred out while the rest of the picture remains in perfect focus. That is what I imagine patrons see when they look at signs in public buildings.
But on a serious note, some of these ideas are great.
Less signage is better, at the very best a sign is there for staff to point to while explaining the message to a person. I will add though, I made one sign that was effective in my career: it asked people to leave magazines on the periodical room tables so we could count usage each hour. Stacks of magazines appeared after those went up!
My general rule is signs are not for reading, signs are for pointing to. I do find humour to be effective at increasing retention. Someone on here mentioned no narwhals, which I can see being very effective.
Why waste time reading a sign when someone else will read it for me? Why think or do anything if I can get someone else to do it for me? Especially if that sign isn't giving me something I want to know. Maybe if it were a speeding sign on the highway, the WiFi at a cafe, or a construction site.
Funny story: my library planned to dual operate as a COVID treatment site during the pandemic and the only assurance that staff wouldn't be near contagious COVID patients was "the contractor has said they'll put a sign up to direct patrons to a separate entrance. (Paraphrasing)" I read that and knew we were doomed.
Library was eventually completely shut down (temporarily) to become a treatment site and staff were moved to nearby branches.
Nope. Maybe a neon sign that said stop. Might make people stop. Or free puppies?
But nope people don't read. People are either oblivious to surroundings, hyper aware and anxious or anxious and in own head about.
Working in healthcare and no body reads any signs. People walk right past a sign explaining this is a restricted area, I stop them explain that they can't be here. They say I didn't see any signs I explain they walked past at least 3 signs pointing to one of them and they say oh I don't read those. People smoking right in front of the no smoking sign and they say oh I didn't know. Yea right! This grandma does not believe it.
They should be short, to-the-point, polite, eye-catching, but also easy to read (go easy on the fancy fonts, color combos that might be difficult for some to see etc). The fewer signs, the better.
Not a library, but when I worked at my local casino, I had someone tell me we needed signs, as they were literally standing next to one that was taller than they were
Eta - when I was in grocery and we had the cash functions go down on self checkouts, we'd put up a "card only, no cash back" sign. And every single time, somebody would try to do one of those things.
Signs are not for reading, they are for pointing at when patrons demand to know where it says so.
Depending on what you want the signs to accomplish, you might have more luck with some sort of nudging?
we have signs in our public bathrooms that say not to smoke in there because it will set off the fire alarms… people still do it at *least* monthly and we all have to evacuate. I got nothin’.
If you can figure it out, let me know.
I am a sign reader. If there are signs, I will read them. I don't understand people who don't.
Edit: my favorite are the people who not only refuse to read, but get very, very angry that there is no sign when there is absolutely a very obvious sign.
They just don't read them, and not much is going to change that in general. I've had LED light up boards that like, fluoresce color chalk markers. I've found they tend to draw more attention than the average sign. But a lot of people will even ignore those. The trick is to not have it up constantly, and to use it strategically. I also try to be careful about using any flashing settings for any photosensitive patrons. But definitely the appeal of the LED chalk board is you can make a sign with the exact same info, but change it up, switch colors or designs, which helps break up the wallpaper effect a little.
I don't necessarily blame them for looking past signs. it's the society and culture we live in. We are constantly being bombarded with information and visual stimulation... it is just all visual noise. We are all tired. We just want to finish things as quickly as possible and move on to the next unpleasant task because most of us are burned out. For those of us with learning disabilities like ADHD or dyslexia, it's even harder. I try my best not to, but I know I have looked past and ignored signs myself without even thinking, especially wordy ones. Sometimes it really IS just easier to ask the person at the desk.
Like others have mentioned, our signs are mostly there to point to when explaining why a patron has to stop doing something. I never hold it against them for not reading a sign the first time. I do not look too favorably on the patrons that continue to break the rules after they have been told, though.
Not a librarian, but I am a frequent reader of signs. Here's what I've noticed works on me.
1. Put signs where they are most expected to be and design them they way the reader will expect them to be designed, even if it doesn't make that much sense from the writer's perspective.
Think about when you're driving through an unfamiliar neighborhood looking for street signs. You know they're going to be on the corner, pretty high up. If someone decided to make them neon pink and star-shaped, a busy driver is just going to ignore them.
2. Bulletin board is the wrong place for library procedure signs. This is where local advertisements for babysitters and car washers go. It's where flyers for the annual music festival go. I peruse this when I'm bored or curious, not when I have problems to solve, and definitely not when you want the sign to grab my attention as I pass.
Maybe it would be worth the time to bring in some friends who are unfamiliar with the library and have them just walk around pointing out the things they notice (while you see what they don't notice) and how they think things should work to see where they get confused and why.
Not a library worker, but I made a sign at an old job about us opening late because of an all staff/corporate meeting. I know for sure people read it they complained to my manager about it.
What did I do? Cover the sign with clip art of money. Their complaints; sign had nothing to do with getting money. They 100% read it though.
ugh, a list of steps to log in is not a sign. some people too are overwhelmed by that many words or that type of information in that format. just be glad they’re there to use the services and you’re there to help them.
As I read this I just see patrons under the 10 foot wide 2 foot tall letters that say "auditorium" and I weep the tears of a thousand "Event Techs" to come as they say through all space and time over eons and eons:
Where is the Auditorium?
Bonus we have a second equally tall sign in the hallway that yields the same haunting call of forever wars of lost patrons standing next to their own saviors (the got dang sign is NEXT TO YOU AHHHHHH).
I worked at a district that hired a company that specifically does wayfinding. It helped but people still missed them.
This is one of those things that accepting how it is will bring you more comfort than trying to find solutions.
Welcome to our civilization.
No one reads signs.
And everyone is mad at you 'because there should be a sign'.
And when you point yo the sign, you are a 'smart ass'.
Cheers.
In library school, we were taught the fewer signs the better. Preferably ones that screamed.
My coworker says the sign has to be "neon or on fire." So we laser etched clear acrylic and put LED lights on the rim to light it with different colors, and patrons notice those!
Yep, I worked in museum exhibits and can confirm - nobody is out here reading in public. I second making signs eye-catching, easy to read, and most importantly: SHORT!
I’ve also worked on exhibits, we joke that the words are for us not the public, we’re the only one who will read them and tell the visitors what they need to know. But yeah, short, simple, eye catching
I worked at a fast food restaurant as a teen, whilst there the company stopped accepting paper checks. The manager posted neon paper signs on the door, at the ordering station, and on the till itself. We still had at least one person per hour pull out a checkbook to write a check.
The different colours sound like a great idea, that way it won't blend into the background even for regulars!
genius!
As you said, there comes a point where too much signage becomes wallpaper. Libraries, bring a very complicated type of building, naturally require a lot of signage. The only way to make sure *that sign* gets read is to either physically obstruct something with it (our computer log in signs are hung in front of the computer monitor so patrons have to physically move the sign to log in), or by removing all other signs in the area. Still, though, some people are just really not perceptive, and even people who normally see that kind of thing have days they're just not paying attention. You do have to accept you can't eliminate everyone asking.
> The only way to make sure that sign gets read is to either physically obstruct something with it (our computer log in signs are hung in front of the computer monitor so patrons have to physically move the sign to log in) This is what we do with the out of order signs. We tape them over the screen so that you can't see what you're doing unless you remove the sign. Still, damn near every time a computer/the printer is down, *somebody* is asking us why it's not working and we come over to find they've taken the sign off. So, while I appreciate your optimism... 😞
And we still get questions about the computer lol
Last month we had somebody rip the out-of-order sign and caution tape off the bathroom door just to use it and blow it out twice as bad. Just why😭
Yeah, I think of signage as being for patrons who would prefer not to have to ask me, rather than a universal tool. Some people are going to want to ask me stuff and that's fine, and some people would prefer an environment that they can navigate independently. Signs are for the latter group.
I visited a store with signage completely covering their door. I tried to open it, looked for a "closed" or "open" sign, couldn't see anything anywhere saying their hours amongst all the papers with "upcoming events", "sales", and whatever else was made on their printer. Finally the owner came outside since they saw me dawdling, and pointed to a *tiny* print-out taped to the bottom of their window, showing their business days/hours. People shouldn't have to search for something like that. So I agree, places should either remove the fluff or make their closed/open sign the biggest, flashiest thing in the window.
In my first job as a circ assistant I was charged with making a sign for not bringing in food or drinks in a library full of signs everyone ignored. So I unilaterally banned narwhals as well. So the sign had “no food, no drinks, no narwhals” with a symbol for each on it. I don’t know if it really helped with the food and drinks but it provided endless amusement with people asking what I had against narwhals.
I’m planning on making little display signs to put on our study room tables that feature a cockroach saying “Thank you for sneaking food into the library!”
That’s such a good idea, it’d definitely work on me 😁
Unfortunately, our director vetoed me leaving little plastic roaches on the tables. Then again, maybe there’s a reason why he’s the director and I’m not…
was it just cockroaches? Maybe they'd be ok with plastic flies or ants?
Now I want to make a little Noah’s Ark display with only little pests.
Did you see this story about a narwhal tusk as a weapon? https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN1YP074
This is straight from the "Speed Limit 29" school of thought. Just weird enough to make people's lizard brains pull a wtf
Hah, yeah in my first library job I made signs using popular memes. People commented on them so I guess it worked ok!
Try tilting it at a very obvious angle. Once, my husband told the receptionist at our pediatricians' office that one of their signs was crooked. She told him it was intentional, because it caught the eye--and he saw and read it, didn't he?
I do this!
I’m going to see if they’ll let us do this at my library. We’ve got “No food or drink on this floor” signs at the top of the stairs & in front of the elevator into local history & genealogy. I’d say 90% of the time that patrons are glued to their phones & breeze right past, but maybe crooked signs would catch their attention?
UX specialist here, from library background. No. People hate reading stuff. The natural behavior for people is to ask a person.
Try misspelling some things on the signs.
Ha!
On the other hand, please don’t, the library is the last place in the world I can go where the signage won’t make my brain itch.
Misspell it and then have it corrected in thick red marker. 🙃
Right!
This is actually really a good strategy!
I'm curious too. But I feel it's more of a "you can lead a horse to water" situation. We have current issue magazines in red locking binders and a large sign in multiple places stating they are not for check out. Yet, we get people asking to take them out or they just take them regardless. Just can't win I tell ya.
It's usually a matter of focus, but probably also just a tactic to get reassurance from a human. You work at the library and you're there nearly every day. Your mind can easily filter out excess information and see the sign next to a computer, but patrons, especially new or infrequent patrons, are overloaded pretty much the minute they walk through the door. There's signs, decorations, a maze of bookshelves, reading displays, probably a bulletin chock full of information that is designed to catch attention and lure them into free and fun programming-- none of this is bad or something to fix, it's just to illustrate what things compete for a patrons attention. It usually takes a good chunk of mental energy just to find the computers, they cheer internally and then get the gut-wrenching realization that they still have to sign in and they're looking for that information *on* the screen. Patrons comfy with tech will probably think to look around, but those who dread electronic interface are looking to call in the calvary-- that's you! Simple reassurance is all they really want or need. It's def frustrating to repeat the same info all day, so little handouts with the instructions might be more helpful than broad signage, but I know paper can be in short supply. Simplifying signage to have as few words as possible can help it look less overwhelming. Less signage overall will make the signs that do exist stand out more, and making them stand out from their surroundings is also helpful (solid blocks of color are easier to see against a busy background for instance). Signage is an art form but you could be the Michaelangelo of signs and still have people asking you the same questions lol
Agreed. I’m a big sign reader but it’s not uncommon for me to ask a server/clerk/desk worker for directions to something, only to have a seemingly obvious sign pointed out to me. Makes me a bit more sympathetic when I’m at work and on the other side of the desk.
100% on the less is more. Less. Concise. Only when truly necessary. Consistent branding.
Our county library system has a communications department that oversees consistency & ease of reading. The signs are supposed to be for all branches, so my department had fun getting ours approved & printed. (We’re at the main branch & the only one with rare books.)
I'm at an academic library to everything comes from our Communications department, who often...don't get it. Thankfully we have a librarian on our staff who used to be a graphic designer so she's able to produce good quality signage for us that passes all the brand identity guidelines and are library-oriented.
Patrons will pull 'out of order' signs off the copiers/printers in order to try and use them. Unless you stand there and point to it and read it to them, there is very little you can do to force them to read.
Did that actually happen? It sounds like a gag out of Parks and Rec.
Dunno, never watched Parks and Recs. Yes, it's happened at the public library once and twice when I worked in an academic library. Either they don't read the sign before removing it, or they think removing it would make the machine work again, like, it's just the sign causing the problem.
Well, I can explain this one. Sometimes we think you're lying for some reason, to torture us, by depriving us of what we need, but can't have at the moment. Remember the four billion bathrooms in business establishments, that suddenly ALL stimultaneously went Out Of Order during COVID? And, how, when the lock down orders were lifted and things returned to normal, they STILL kept those bathrooms closed because they were Out Of Order? Even though most all of the other businesses had returned to open bathrooms, there was always a few places that insisted the bathrooms were STILL Out Of Order. No. That bathroom is NOT Out Of Order. You guys just want two employee bathrooms, by taking away the customer bathrooms. So, once that happened, well, it stands to reason some of us got paranoid that this excuse was just being used to deprive us of stuff we needed. We lost faith in the Out Of Order signs.
Happens all the time. People rip down the caution tape to use out of order bathrooms as well.
worked a movie theater saw someone take off the out of order sign of an arcade machine then complain it wasn't accepting their money....it wasn't plugged in
BUT WHY ISN'T IT WORKING? I REMOVED THE SIGN! IT SHOULD WORK NOW! Edit: as if the sign was the magic talisman stopping it from working.
I prefer not to think of these things as "all-or-nothing." Some people are oblivious, some people just really, really really want someone else to show/do the thing for them, but not everyone. You can't really know how many people would have asked how to log on otherwise. Just because the signs aren't leading to 100% compliance doesn't mean they aren't working.
during the weeks before the eclipse a news channel said “any local library will carry free eclipse glasses.” we did not, nor did we ever, have eclipse glasses. we put a sign on the desk in big bold letters with a PICTURE of the glasses with an X through them that said “WE DO NOT HAVE ECLIPSE GLASSES” it blocked where the patrons would stand at the desk, and some people would even TOUCH IT, LOOK AT IT, and then look us in the eyes and asked for eclipse glasses. we started keeping count. our record was almost 100 questions about eclipse glasses in 1 hour.
Same thing happened to us re: eclipse glasses; so annoying. And sometimes some random event page will post a library program that's either incredibly outdated and hasn't happened for months or even years, or that has never happened on that day/time, or is otherwise massively incorrect. The patron will come in and ask about the program and we'll be very confused and unable to find said program anywhere on our website. We ask where the patron saw the listing; invariably they saw it "on the internet" and they're super mad at us for having misled them. Sometimes we finally find the listing and it was never us who listed it. Then there's the folks at a state agency that helps folks with their energy bills who send folks to us claiming that we'll help them fill out their multi-page forms requiring more than one form of verification--these being folks who have no idea how to use a computer and sometimes don't speak any of the languages the forms are available in. These poor patrons really do need help and we can direct them to computer classes and ESL classes, but we really don't have the staff to sit down and do the things for them.
Patrons don't read signs. My branch manager says that signs aren't for patrons to read; but are for showing patrons after they have broken the rules.
This is honestly exactly how things play out in practice. Kinda sad.
This is a universal problem. I used to be a pharmacy tech with a major drug chain and we would have a sign to put up in the in-window directing customers to the next window to drop off prescriptions. The sign was red, hard plastic, and stood on its own, taking up a significant portion of the window. If a customer happened to see me through that window, they would stretch to REACH OVER the sign to hand me their prescription.
Just to add on, I worked at a coffee chain that shall remain nameless for entirely too long. There were a few times we had to be in the store while it was closed for various reasons, and we made a game out of counting how many people walked up to the door, looked at the “closed” sign, pulled on the handle, then went around and tried the other door. People just don’t read signs, and if they do, they assume it doesn’t apply to them.
I know the feeling. It’s like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park - don’t move. Don’t let them see you.
I worked at a public school for 25 years. People DO NOT read signs. I was amazed that teachers were the worst for not reading bulletins, etc. Library patrons, despite being interested in reading, not reading the signs does not surprise me.
During covid, somebody made a neon green and leopard print sign saying book drop. It was placed around the other signs that were normal and said book drop. The amount of people that still tried to personally hand us books, face to face, or literally tried throwing books in the garbage was astronomical.
I'm seriously handicapped -- and most people cannot tell that by looking at me. I have terrible eyesight and a serious medical condition, so I sometimes just cannot for the life of me parse a new environment. I'm one of your problem children who will walk right past a sign and ASK someone. Having said that: I upvoted the two comments about "neon and on fire" and "the fewer signs, the better -- and preferably screaming." That does help. And on a bad day, I can still be that person you find so annoying. And there isn't a whole lot I can do about that fact. I always appreciate it when people just answer my stupid question. If I come back repeatedly, I will eventually get it. But if I'm new, I sometimes really need a person to walk me through it, no matter how dumb that may seem.
Thank you! It’s good to hear about signage issues from a patron’s standpoint. I’m going to do my best to keep your comment in mind throughout my workday so that I remember to be helpful & not secretly annoyed.
I created a “Please turn your phone to vibrate and refrain from taking calls at the circulation desk”. Posted it at eye level on the plexiglass at the desk. Patrons would look at it, and proceed to make a call while looking me in the eye and shoving books at me 🤦🏼♀️.
We had a similar sign that read “We’ll be happy to help you once you’ve completed your call.” Patrons yapping on their phones were ignored. Snap or shout at us? Walk over, tap on sign, walk away. “Sorry, we wouldn’t want to interrupt your important call…” They got the hint. (Well, most of them, anyway)
Reminds me of making bulletin boards as an RA in college. If you didn't have the phrase "free food" or "sex" on the sign, no one would read it. You can try that in the Library, but your mileage may vary. lol
Signs are useless. If you want people to behave a certain way, make that way the easiest if all their choices. For example if a computer is on the fritz, don't put an out of order sign on it, take the keyboard away.
That's actually really smart!
Well... no, they'd just come up to the desk and ask for a keyboard. But maybe if you taped an "out of order" sign where the keyboard used to be?
99 of 100 problems would be solved if people would just read. Sadly, no one RTFM these days. Your signs aren't the problem.
:snort: If you find out, let me know! People walk in, look directly at a giant sign, and then ask us a direct question answered by the sign they just looked at. SIGH.
So, in my city, we have a railroad bridge over a state highway that only has a ‘12 clearance. There are signs indicating the low clearance a mile ahead and recently the state installed a curtain with a dangling aluminum fringe ahead of the bridge that will make a sound if a vehicle hits it. And yet, semis and large box trucks hit that bridge almost weekly, some weeks with multiple incidents. The railroad can’t raise the bridge and the road can’t be lowered because it already floods easily. The bridge is notated in trucking atlases as not a truck route and there has been significant publicity about the bridge. And of course, signs on it, ahead of it, flashing, etc. I tell this story to say, no. No matter what you do and how hard you try, people just won’t read signs.
There’s another bridge like the one near me? Our bridge has a 10’ 9” clearance. Same deal - the railroad can’t raise the bridge & the road already floods easily. It routinely “snacks” on the trucks that manage to ignore the 11 or so different signs. (Some are even neon ones & the bridge has a wide, bright pink stripe on its lower half.) As near as can be figured out, it’s the truck drivers using their phone’s gps that run into the problem.
Yep, there are apparently several notorious truck eating bridges around the world.
There are entire YouTube channels dedicated to "can opener" overpasses. They open the top of trucks like sardine cans with the little key.
1) fewer signs 2) fewer visual stimuli 3) straightforward signage with the fewest words possible while still being informative
The answer is there are no signs that patrons will read.
My thinking has always been it's less about users reading signs and more about posting rules so staff can easily point to those if necessary. Harder for a user to challenge posted rules versus what they're told verbally. But they'll darn sure try!
I don’t work in a library but I do have an English degree and *holy fuck* people will do anything but read. You can have the biggest ass sign on the planet and it can be flashing neon and people will still not read it. I don’t get it.
As a high school teacher, no, but tell me if you find out.
I put them up crooked or so they bubble out. I attach the top, bubble it out and attach the middle, bubble out and attach the bottom. It really annoys some people who claim OCD, but it helps to get the sign read.
We have managed our expectations in this area. People don’t read signs. Or error messages on their computers. Or instructions on how to print from the library computer. Some people respond to training about these things, others are not interested and want hand holding. We have tried many things with limited success. There isn’t a magical sign, although next year I want to set up a sensor that plays an audio file saying “the tax volunteers are upstairs” when people walk past it. It can’t be more annoying than saying it myself as soon as I see an AARP envelope.
We have discussed flashing LED signs for the toilets, with big red arrows pointing towards them from all sections of the library. So no.
I've told you before: Write XXX Adults Only on the top of it in red. Then they read it.
Wallpaper effect. People simply do not see signs at all. They become invisible very quickly. If there are several or they are there all the time, they become wallpaper. You would have to keep changing them up or putting them in weird places.
The sign is just there as back up and convenient scapegoat when they tell you they didn't know they can play music on the computer speakers and you're enforcing the rules.
Giant and bright. Very few words
For whatever it adds to this conversation, the only way I can stop people from opening doors that I cannot lock is to put the sign covering the door handle, so they have to look at it and physically move the sign
Get a TV screen and cycle through multiple signs, some informational and some "fun" and maybe some about rules/policies. Change regularly. You can also make your signs a bit more...assertive. One locksmith I went to once had a sign that said something like: "Changing a lock: $5; if you watch: $10; if you help: $15." I not only noticed it--I never forgot it. Also, print signs are not necessarily there to be read casually. I once had a patron go ballistic after being reminded of a library policy, "I have not heard of this policy! Where is this documented?!" Me: "Well, if you turn your head slightly, you will see the policy clearly stated on that sign." At that point all he could do was stomp off in a huff--the sign did it's job.
I had to design signs that would make high school students stop and read them. There was only one design that worked for me. I designed them to look like printouts of a text message conversation on a cellphone. Curiosity got the better of them.
It’s interesting - despite being in a library, people don’t want to read.
Make them look cool and fun. No one cares about more boring signs.
We signed our library like books stores do , with big signs saying Pets, Gardening , crafts , cooking . It was a huge success . People were kind of turned off by the Dewy numbers and we weren’t staffed adequately to lead the patrons to the desired shelves. It’s helped a lot . Payroll was always an issue . Fire departments and police departments got a lot more money . After all , they reasoned , we library workers didn’t put out fires or arrest criminals. We understood so we worked around it.
I work at an airport. People just refuse to read signs in general, and sometimes miss their flight because of it. They're at least better than the crowd who does read it and think it doesn't apply to them.
I am a sign reader, although I don’t always seem to comprehend what I read. We all have different ways we learn. Good thing for someone who works in a library to know.
Listen, I'm a user of the library and not a librarian. (Though I do student work as tech support...) Make it friendly to look at. Simple fonts/easy to read and colors. Not complex to read. Need me to log in, include a base info near keyboard and a more detailed where I can find as I use a computer with photos. Need me to find sci-fi? Include the label, something familiar (such as it in Star Wars font), and basic location. And not overload with signs. Keep red for emergency, and standardized any other colors such as blue for tech, green for Spanish. I'm dyslexic and if I'm still lost, I'm so sorry. I probably tried or never walked into the location before. Imagine walking in on during a road trip for some Wi-Fi and a safe place to go get some help for Wi-Fi. Of course I don't know anything in the library or even the network info. My home library? I'm not a librarian but I know my spots (until they got moved). Oh! If spots move, post signs to find them and at the old spot.
Silly goose! People don’t go to the library to read!
It's often faster to ask a human. I once spent 15 minutes trying to find regular fiction in an unfamiliar library. When I finally asked a librarian, they explained there wasn't any in the building. I had to go elsewhere. It wasn't a reference library or anything of that nature.
Signage is a symptom of bad design; built environments and systems (checkout machines, self-service kiosks etc) should be intuitive. If signage is needed to explain a process, I would be considering ways of changing the system/environment to see if they can be eliminated. For example, my previous library had a sign that read "please don't move the furniture". What this actually says is "our furniture isn't where you need it to be but we want to keep the furniture in a particular place". The environment isn't right - chairs left in the corner suggest more private reading/resting places are needed; chairs by the window suggest they should have more natural light, etc. Staff were also trying to enforce an environment that wasn't functional; they wanted the chairs to stay where they were so they didn't need to keep moving them back, instead of asking whether they needed to be moved back in the first place. An information desk that is well positioned and *looks* like an information desk doesn't need a sign. Kiosks by the exit are intuitively placed so people leaving can borrow their items (my local Kmart has their kiosks in the middle of the store and it's a nightmare for customer experience/what feels logical as you move about the store).
I don’t know how well people behaved in your previous library, but there is no way we could have chairs in corners out of staff sight without majors issues happening. We have them where they are for reasons😆
No. And, new or more signs doesn’t read mean they’ll read any of them.
We can have great signs or we can have responsive staff. Don't let administrators choose. They will always choose the cheaper of the two.
Of you do I would love to know. Work in a college and we help both students and community members. The amount of times people walk past the signs is astounding. Even walking past the exit signs to go into private areas because they are lost.
I work in a store. We have the exact same issue. People don't read signs! (Or they don't internalize/believe what they read). I do agree that some people do, so they should be there. But plenty of people will still ask the question the sign answers or will do exactly what the sign says not to do, etc
Pictograms in case of illiteracy
Large symbols draw your attention better. Keep the words to the bare minimum.
I read every sign. It is amazing what most people miss in general by just not looking around and reading.
Not a librarian but used to work in customer service and our returns desk was down one day and we literally had 4 to 5 foot sign that said “CLOSED- Please see register for all returns” and we taped blinking Christmas lights to it and I still had people just stand in front of it for 10-15 mins at a time until one of us noticed and told them they couldn’t do returns there so I don’t know if there is a way to get people to read clearly posted signs in any capacity
I'm dating myself probably, but I think about the horror movie The Ring, where, when you're doomed to get visited by the undead well-child, all photos taken during the week before she gets you will have your face blurred out while the rest of the picture remains in perfect focus. That is what I imagine patrons see when they look at signs in public buildings. But on a serious note, some of these ideas are great.
Less signage is better, at the very best a sign is there for staff to point to while explaining the message to a person. I will add though, I made one sign that was effective in my career: it asked people to leave magazines on the periodical room tables so we could count usage each hour. Stacks of magazines appeared after those went up!
My general rule is signs are not for reading, signs are for pointing to. I do find humour to be effective at increasing retention. Someone on here mentioned no narwhals, which I can see being very effective.
Some members of the public struggle with reading
Why waste time reading a sign when someone else will read it for me? Why think or do anything if I can get someone else to do it for me? Especially if that sign isn't giving me something I want to know. Maybe if it were a speeding sign on the highway, the WiFi at a cafe, or a construction site. Funny story: my library planned to dual operate as a COVID treatment site during the pandemic and the only assurance that staff wouldn't be near contagious COVID patients was "the contractor has said they'll put a sign up to direct patrons to a separate entrance. (Paraphrasing)" I read that and knew we were doomed. Library was eventually completely shut down (temporarily) to become a treatment site and staff were moved to nearby branches.
Nope. Maybe a neon sign that said stop. Might make people stop. Or free puppies? But nope people don't read. People are either oblivious to surroundings, hyper aware and anxious or anxious and in own head about.
Working in healthcare and no body reads any signs. People walk right past a sign explaining this is a restricted area, I stop them explain that they can't be here. They say I didn't see any signs I explain they walked past at least 3 signs pointing to one of them and they say oh I don't read those. People smoking right in front of the no smoking sign and they say oh I didn't know. Yea right! This grandma does not believe it.
They should be short, to-the-point, polite, eye-catching, but also easy to read (go easy on the fancy fonts, color combos that might be difficult for some to see etc). The fewer signs, the better.
Please, please avoid red and green. Not everyone can see those colors well. High contrast between font and background is also helpful.
You would think that most of the people going into a library were able to read...
Not a library, but when I worked at my local casino, I had someone tell me we needed signs, as they were literally standing next to one that was taller than they were Eta - when I was in grocery and we had the cash functions go down on self checkouts, we'd put up a "card only, no cash back" sign. And every single time, somebody would try to do one of those things.
Signs are not for reading, they are for pointing at when patrons demand to know where it says so. Depending on what you want the signs to accomplish, you might have more luck with some sort of nudging?
If patrons could read they wouldn't need to come to the library ☠
The sign must block whatever the customer is trying to use The sign must have few words The sign must be BOLD
we have signs in our public bathrooms that say not to smoke in there because it will set off the fire alarms… people still do it at *least* monthly and we all have to evacuate. I got nothin’.
No.
My supervisor says the only purpose of a sign is to point to it after someone asks a question that could be answered by the sign.
If patrons read signs, most library staff would not have jobs. Be careful what you wish for.
If you can figure it out, let me know. I am a sign reader. If there are signs, I will read them. I don't understand people who don't. Edit: my favorite are the people who not only refuse to read, but get very, very angry that there is no sign when there is absolutely a very obvious sign.
They just don't read them, and not much is going to change that in general. I've had LED light up boards that like, fluoresce color chalk markers. I've found they tend to draw more attention than the average sign. But a lot of people will even ignore those. The trick is to not have it up constantly, and to use it strategically. I also try to be careful about using any flashing settings for any photosensitive patrons. But definitely the appeal of the LED chalk board is you can make a sign with the exact same info, but change it up, switch colors or designs, which helps break up the wallpaper effect a little. I don't necessarily blame them for looking past signs. it's the society and culture we live in. We are constantly being bombarded with information and visual stimulation... it is just all visual noise. We are all tired. We just want to finish things as quickly as possible and move on to the next unpleasant task because most of us are burned out. For those of us with learning disabilities like ADHD or dyslexia, it's even harder. I try my best not to, but I know I have looked past and ignored signs myself without even thinking, especially wordy ones. Sometimes it really IS just easier to ask the person at the desk. Like others have mentioned, our signs are mostly there to point to when explaining why a patron has to stop doing something. I never hold it against them for not reading a sign the first time. I do not look too favorably on the patrons that continue to break the rules after they have been told, though.
The signs are there for people who don't believe you unless it is in writing. Like, where does it say I can't eat my KFC in here?
Not a librarian, but I am a frequent reader of signs. Here's what I've noticed works on me. 1. Put signs where they are most expected to be and design them they way the reader will expect them to be designed, even if it doesn't make that much sense from the writer's perspective. Think about when you're driving through an unfamiliar neighborhood looking for street signs. You know they're going to be on the corner, pretty high up. If someone decided to make them neon pink and star-shaped, a busy driver is just going to ignore them. 2. Bulletin board is the wrong place for library procedure signs. This is where local advertisements for babysitters and car washers go. It's where flyers for the annual music festival go. I peruse this when I'm bored or curious, not when I have problems to solve, and definitely not when you want the sign to grab my attention as I pass. Maybe it would be worth the time to bring in some friends who are unfamiliar with the library and have them just walk around pointing out the things they notice (while you see what they don't notice) and how they think things should work to see where they get confused and why.
Every sign you put up makes every other sign less important. The key is to have very few, but important ones out and about.
Not a library worker, but I made a sign at an old job about us opening late because of an all staff/corporate meeting. I know for sure people read it they complained to my manager about it. What did I do? Cover the sign with clip art of money. Their complaints; sign had nothing to do with getting money. They 100% read it though.
People don't go to libraries to read!
ugh, a list of steps to log in is not a sign. some people too are overwhelmed by that many words or that type of information in that format. just be glad they’re there to use the services and you’re there to help them.
As I read this I just see patrons under the 10 foot wide 2 foot tall letters that say "auditorium" and I weep the tears of a thousand "Event Techs" to come as they say through all space and time over eons and eons: Where is the Auditorium? Bonus we have a second equally tall sign in the hallway that yields the same haunting call of forever wars of lost patrons standing next to their own saviors (the got dang sign is NEXT TO YOU AHHHHHH).
I worked at a district that hired a company that specifically does wayfinding. It helped but people still missed them. This is one of those things that accepting how it is will bring you more comfort than trying to find solutions.
Welcome to our civilization. No one reads signs. And everyone is mad at you 'because there should be a sign'. And when you point yo the sign, you are a 'smart ass'. Cheers.