Signs At Work

Signs have been going up at work lately. Oh, there are a couple that have been up for a long time in the breakroom. One announces the dates and times of refrigerator cleaning. The other one is on the ice maker and warns not to leave the door ajar, lest the ice cubes become one massive block of ice fit for nothing more than being hefted into the sink to slowly melt (and give people like me a bit of fun with water and ice).

The new signs, though they start with, "please," are a bit more pugnacious. No doubt they've been created by one of the admins, who have more ready access to fancy colored paper and color printers, and who usually have a more proprietary view of our workplace.

Please ensure door closes behind you.

This one showed up a few weeks ago on the door from the elevator into the work area (our floor requires a badge for entry). It annoyed me, and I was sorely tempted to add a retort like, "Please ensure the door is repaired, so it will close by itself." But I thought better of it, because the kind of people who put up signs like this are the kind who would seek and destroy the transgressors, without seeing the least bit of humor in it (and without getting the door repaired).

I got used to the sign and learned to ignore it. But today, new signs showed up in the Women's restroom:

Please do not leave inappropriate personal hygiene items in the stalls. Clean up after yourself.

The first sentence was printed in red, and the second sentence in black. It's posted on the wall and on the door of each stall in the restroom.

This raises the question, what personal hygiene items are appropriate to leave in the stalls? There's no telling. Only the humorless would leave signs like this one.

Again, though, I have to keep my mouth shut. Sigh!