I was sitting at a picnic table outside the local convenience store, enjoying a coffee and the lake view while also watching the steady parade of summer visitors. Beside the store is a small cabin where they sell live bait and all sorts of fishing paraphernalia.
Well…sort of.
The cabin isn’t actually staffed. If you want bait, there’s a sign on the door.
Actually, there are two signs. Both say exactly the same thing:
“Please ask for assistance in the main store.”
Simple enough. Or so I thought.
In the half hour I was sitting there, three different people walked up to the cabin. Each one grabbed the locked door handle. Each one looked confused. Then each one turned to me.
“Do you know if anyone’s here?”
I smiled and said, “I don’t work here, but you’ll have to ask inside the main store.”
They thanked me and headed over. Now, I don’t mind helping people. What made me smile wasn’t that they asked me. It was that the answer was literally on the door they had just tried to open. Twice.
It reminded me of something I’ve noticed more and more over the years. People don’t read signs.
Restaurants have giant signs saying, “Please Wait to Be Seated.” People walk right past them. Stores have arrows showing which door is the entrance and which is the exit. Someone inevitably pushes against the wrong one. Construction crews put up “Sidewalk Closed” signs. People step around the barricade and keep going anyway.
It’s almost as if our brains have decided signs are part of the wallpaper. We’re so focused on where we’re going that we stop noticing the information that’s been put there specifically to help us.
Maybe it’s because we’re all distracted and looking at our phones. Or it could be something else.
Whatever the reason, it’s amazing how often the answer to our question is already sitting right in front of us.
The funny part is that most of these signs aren’t trying to tell us what not to do. They’re trying to make life easier. The restaurant host wants to seat people in an organized way so servers know who’s in their section.
The bait shop wants someone to unlock the cabin for you. The store’s entrance sign is trying to prevent people from bumping into each other. They’re not there to boss people around. They’re there because somebody, somewhere, learned through experience that if the sign wasn’t there, chaos usually followed.
Of course, as this little episode reminded me, sometimes even the sign isn’t enough.
There’s a broader lesson here, too. How often do we miss obvious things because we’re moving too quickly? How often do we ask questions before taking ten seconds to look around? How often is the answer already there if we simply stop long enough to notice it?
Life has become incredibly noisy and busy. Perhaps that’s why something as simple as reading a sign has quietly become harder than it should be.
As I sat there watching another customer head toward the bait cabin, I found myself wondering what would happen next. Sure enough…Door handle. Locked. Confused expression. Then the familiar question.
“Do you know where I get bait?”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“The sign says go inside for help.”
johnberkovich.com 