H2-Slow To Read The Signs

As a long-time NAR reader, I am fully aware that “customers don’t read signs.” I thought, in the silly naive way that I feel all people do, that this ended with customers. Surely coworkers would be more respectful. I was wrong.

The handwashing sink has been backing up since, well, forever. Some of the old timers may remember ye olden days when the sink worked like a sink. At least once a day, we get nasty water in the sink. So, management finally takes a look. The pipes are the problem, so they pull the pipes but leave the faucet usable.

The dishwasher puts a sign on it, sensing that if people turn it on, water will end up on the floor. In the span of an hour, I watch this go down.

[Server #1] walks over, turns on the sink, and looks shocked when water flows over their shoes.

Server #1: “Oh, is it broken?”

[Dishwasher] mops up the mess and then modifies the sign. It’s now in English and Spanish, in bright red, and it’s taped to both handles: “DO NOT USE. USE SINK IN BACK!”

[Server #2] tries the handle. More water.

Server #2: “Oh, it’s broken.”

[Dishwasher] mops up the new mess and then gets a sheet pan to place over the sink and a bucket under the sink. He puts a sign on top of the sheet pan that matches the one above.

[Busser] looks at the signs, looks at the sheet pan, and turns on the sink.

Busser: “Huh. I guess it is broken. I thought the signs were lying.”

[Dishwasher] is about to lose his mind. He mops again. Then, he goes and gets twine from the back. I watch as, over the course of ten minutes, he ties this really intricate thing that keeps the handles immobile. And he adds more signs.

[Server #3] reads the signs, examines the sheet pan, tries the handle, notices the string, reaches for the shears on my station, notices my head shake, and sighs heavily.

I have other things to do, so most of these I only notice in passing as I get set up for the day. I stupidly leave my station with my shears sitting in the open.

Soon, [Server #3] can be heard throughout the whole kitchen.

Server #3: “I didn’t know it was broken!”

She’d used my shears to cut the twine. Last I saw, [Dishwasher] was looking for a wrench to turn off the water to that sink. I went on break.

Related:
H2-Slow, Part 25
H2-Slow, Part 24
H2-Slow, Part 23
H2-Slow, Part 22
H2-Slow, Part 21