Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Stating the Obvious

When I saw this sign in the bathroom of the Baseball Tavern in Boston, I was less concerned about the apostrophe catastrophe in employees than I was about why the management felt the need to post this handmade sign in the first place.


Presumably there was an incident involving employees not washing their hands, which is disturbing. But not nearly as disturbing as this sign that is posted in one of my office's kitchens:


I think the grammar is fine (unless there are errors in the Spanish or Chinese versions), but it made me laugh for about five minutes when my coworker showed it to me, so I decided that I had to share it with my readers. Seriously, who would blow their nose in the sink? In an office! I hope you guys enjoy this tri-lingual classic as much as I did.

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11 comments:

  1. MattJune 9, 2009 at 2:43 PM

    Ewww. I just... ewww.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mary A BrownJune 9, 2009 at 3:25 PM

    We had to dissuade one of our employees from using our lab sink to do his saline nasal rinse. And I thought dealing with spit buckets was bad...

    ReplyDelete
  3. BeckyJune 9, 2009 at 3:30 PM

    @ Aoife: That's horrible! Don't people realize how disgusting they are?!?

    ReplyDelete
  4. tangobabyJune 9, 2009 at 3:40 PM

    Oh, lord. I am not eating lunch today. But I did laugh, so thanks for that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Local Area Resident WomanJune 9, 2009 at 3:53 PM

    I think employers have to post bathroom signs instructing employees to wash their hands before returning to work... The sink thing is gross, and hilarious.

    ReplyDelete
  6. JessJune 9, 2009 at 4:26 PM

    EW.

    ReplyDelete
  7. yello.cape.codJune 10, 2009 at 3:52 PM

    There are a couple mistakes in the Spanish version but the message is hilariously polite in a PA kind of way.

    It says:

    "THE kitchen Sink is only for Washing The dishes. NOT for you to Clean Your Nose. Please consider The Other people. thanks."

    ReplyDelete
  8. BeckyJune 10, 2009 at 3:58 PM

    Ha, I figured out what it said, but I didn't realize that it had any problems with articles. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Vintage ScansJune 19, 2009 at 2:47 PM

    I lived in Hong Kong for a while and a very common sight is Chinese men blowing their noses on to the street.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousJuly 29, 2011 at 1:53 PM

    Wow, this must be a very diverse workplace. I'm surprised it didn't include about 20 other languages. It's a "sign" of the times.

    ReplyDelete
  11. sallyDecember 11, 2011 at 10:41 AM

    I took a picture of a sign that stated 'All employees must wash hand before returning to work'

    Will send it when I find it .. it's lost among 80,000+ photos ;-/

    ReplyDelete