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May 18, 2007 12:03 AM
Broken: "Energy awareness" signs at JC Penney
Therese Noren writes in:
I work as a retail merchandiser and have access to off-stage areas of the stores while I am working.
On a recent visit to JC Penney in the Twin Cities Metro Area in Minnesota, I noticed these signs are hanging all over the store's off-stage areas.
The one I took a picture of shows a sign posted on a light switch that reads "Wall Switch Here."
[I'm guessing that] these signs are being posted to help bring awareness to saving energy. If so, the signs would be more effective if they actually said something like "Please turn off when not in use"!
[I'm guessing that] they are planning on doing renovations to the area and are indicating that these switches, etc will be at this location still after the renovation.
I'm not sure how you can say this is broken if you are simply guessing why they are there in the first place... just like my comment may be completely off, as shown by my "guessing" comment. If you had asked a few employees about it and no one knew anything about it other than there were these signs around, then yes, I'd say it might be broken, as not even the people that work there appear to know what's going on...
Could be someone trying to be obnoxious about it.
"Since EVERYONE knows that you're supposed to turn off the lights when you're leaving a room, I'll assume you're all just idiots and don't know where the switches are. Perhaps these signs will help."
well, it could just be to bring visibility to the switch, I mean no one likes searching for switches so what would make it easier than a big yellow sign.
This ENTRY is broken. Like Memnon said, just cuz you 'guess' that's why it's there doesn't mean that's why it's there. And I'm sorry, but of all the things one could 'guess,' that's just weak.
Memnon, ambrocked:
When he says "I guess", that means that he is supposing the reason why the sign was there in the first place. Because he doesn't actually know, it is broken.
As for bringing visibility to the light switch, wouldn't it be better to have a more-visible light switch plate (luminescent neon or something like that).
munchkinguy:
The writer is a retail merchandiser who visits various stores in the course of her work. She is not an employee of this store and thus should not be expected or required to know what those signs mean. Thus, it is not broken that she does not know the purpose of the signs -- it is likely that the regular employees of the store have been told what they are for. She is still guessing.
tandy1000tl2:
But the fact that she needs to guess in the *first place* means that it's broken. People don't need signs under light switches to show them where they are.
Aside from that, why is there a picture of a light switch on the sign? Shouldn't people know what one looks like just by looking up a bit?
It is most likely a temporary sign placement for a remodel map.. I used to work at retail and had remodels get planned, and saw similar signs on the day when the store planners were making there mapping to plan for the remodeling plans...the sign is not for the people in the store most likely but a quick big sign for the planners to glance at and put in their cad program/whatever... to assist in the remodel plans..
its easier to glance at a room and see a big yellow sign then a small light switch when your job is to do the planning quickly and probaly have quite a few stores on the schedule each day, and are not neccesarily familar with the individual stores...
This is not broken. This woman walked into a "store" that was actually a set from Philip K. Dick's "Time Out of Joint." The sign is for the benefit of Ragle Gumm.
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Previous: Toastmaster product notice | Main | Next: A&B Sound website
Thank you Captain Obvious!!
Can you tell me what the number is for 911?
Posted by: ashleyriot_vs at May 18, 2007 01:04 AM