It seems like it's very difficult for some people to pay attention. Or maybe they just don't want to pay attention? Then again, maybe they're just ”too damn precious” to mind anything other than the ideas inside their own heads. Or maybe they have Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD) — yes, it's a thing; look it up!
I had and run retail stores for about 16 years all told; my wife and I are also both creatives/artists and we go set up booths as vendors at a variety of arts and craft shows and other events. Meanwhile, I've been a seller on eBay for more than 20 years. We’re also just human beings, doing our best to interact with the world around us.
When I had my stores it always amazed me how many people would pick something off the shelf from right next to a sign that read in large letters ”Last one! 50% off!” bring it to the sales counter and ask: ”Do you have three of these?”
Similar things happen with my eBay listings. I've been doing that long enough that I'm pretty good at creating informative listings that always include all the pertinent information about the item I'm selling. This includes things like accurate measurements, weights, age of item, condition, and so forth.
Even so, I receive a constant stream of email requesting specific information about an item that is already IN the description. For example:
An item is listed with multiple photographs, one of which shows the item being held in somebody's hand, another showing it next to an item for scale reference — like a quarter coin — while the descriptive text itself contains the exact dimensions of the item.
Lo and behold, in comes a message from somebody asking ”what are the dimensions of the thing there you're selling?”
WTF, over?
Are you just completely blind or just plain careless?
Or is it just that you have a pervasive need to hear the sound of your own voice (or keyboard)?
Or can you just not undertake anything at all without starting a conversation with somebody even if that conversation is utterly irrelevant?
Maybe I've just grown intolerant and snippy with age, but I've learned to send very polite replies that I always start with the words ”as it says in the description:” followed by the copied text and a screenshot.
Meanwhile, here in our local town we have a couple of streets that run at 45-degree angles to the rest of our street layout. This creates several situations where making right turns would require a 135-degree turn, basically causing a driver to have to partially double back.
There are clearly posted "NO RIGHT TURN!" signs at these intersections... and yet I see people try to make these illegal turns all the time, usually causing havoc to oncoming traffic because the turn radius puts them outside the appropriate lane.
Hence the "NO RIGHT TURNS!" signs.
I'll admit that it's entirely possible that I'm just not a nice person. After all, we live in an age where most communication takes place in the form of 140 character tweets common so perhaps reading a paragraph long description of something has become too taxing for most brains. If that is the case though, I fear for the future of humanity!
Thanks for reading and have a great remainder of your weekend!
How about YOU? Do you read signs? Or do you generally not pay attention to such things? Do you consider yourself an observant person? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20210619 23:52 PDT
0279/1522
This.
I can be very observant, but I'm also able to miss the most obvious things. Information overload maybe. Especially when driving (I hate driving). I think I miss signs easilly enough, but I'm good at observing human behaviour. I do, however, always read very carefully before asking a stupid question! This is something that has annoyed me in my work quite often aswell. I mean, put a little effort into searching for the answer yourself please. So whenever an answer can be found in a manual or whatever, I just refer to that and not answer their question. Teach a man to fish...
You just had me laugh out loud - hahaha - this is one of my biggest pet peeves in today's society, culture, whatever. People don't read. They just don't. And I don't understand why. Don't even get me started, it is so annoying. Then again, as you said, maybe it is because we've been around for a while and have been seeing this too often. I have definitely grown intolerant of it, but to my level best to stay polite.
Every time there is any election from local to federal, we put a sign on the library front door and the inner lobby door directing would-be voters to the community center half a block away. Every election, at least a couple people walk right past both of them and ask us if they can vote here in our library.
Maybe you shouldn't vote if you can't see the signs?
Scary on many sides of the spectrum the people who will go vote lol
I once walked into a dollar store that had huge signs "EVERYTHING ONE DOLLAR" and asked how much an item was.
This was not my problem at that time, but perhaps many of us are spending too much time watching TV and videos and can no longer read?
Hi @Denmarkguy - This is also a pet peeve of mine. I believe that people have selective sight, listening, and memory! My frustration is that I "dumb it down" as much as possible for these people to catch on, but inevitably the stupid is STRONG or they are extremely lazy. It's kind of like trying to talk with someone but you can see they're not listening because they're too busy thinking about the next thing they want to talk AT you about.
What’s this post about????
Lol kidding. Yeah that’s some tough stuff man. I get it often myself in work and other areas. People don’t have the attention span to just look at some of the basics. I’ve done it myself though unfortunately and have asked a stupid question! I at least apologize and joke with the person, I’ve seen people keep on moving with their business like they weren’t foolish not seeing it.
With having kids, I tend to pay far more attention to the road signs than I did before I was a dad. It’s the protective person in me I guess. That would annoy me with the people and the crazy turns. I’ve seen it often though, there’s some bad drivers in our area and they blow past the red light at the top of our street. So often that I always hesitate now before going through the light.