I stopped at a pizzeria yesterday.
There was a sign in the window – “washrooms for custmors only”.
Not knowing what a ‘custmor’ was, I decided to use the washroom before ordering some food.
I’m seeing a lot of this through Saskatchewan.
Misspelled words everywhere.
When I walked into the pizzeria, I expected to find immigrants, happy to be in Canada and working hard to make a living.
Immigrants often misspell words on their signs, but you can see they’re trying.
But the pizzeria was fully staffed with white, Anglo-Saxon, male and female, university-aged employees.
And yet still the sign read ‘custmors’.
What I don’t know is if what I’m seeing is a deterioration of our school system, or simply an evolution in language.
I mean, we all know that the writer of the sign meant ‘customers’.
And maybe that’s where language is going.
Maybe it just has to be close enough, kind of like where math is right now in our public schools.
Perhaps estimates and approximations are the new black.
As long as the receiver of the message understands the meaning, why complain?
The other thing I don’t know is if anyone cares.
Personally, if my realtor is misspelling words in his primary marketing tools, like I have seen twice today, I have to think he’ll probably make a mistake or two in the sales contract as well, so I’ll have to check it myself meticulously.
Or change to a different realtor.
I’m not criticizing the writer of the sign at the pizzeria.
I’m not criticizing the owner.
And I’m not criticizing realtors.
It just seems that poor spelling is (sorry, another pun) a sign of the times.
By the way, I see these types of signs all the time – washrooms for customers only.
Is this really a problem?
There was a lodge I stopped at in northern Ontario who not only had a ‘customers only’ sign on the washroom doors, but when I sat down to eat at a table with a plugin for my phone, the plug was stuffed with a plastic cap, with a sign that read “$2 extra to plug in phone”. Wow.
What I’d really like to see is a sign that reads: “We realize we have the only toilet on the highway for 200 km. Please go ahead and use it. No purchase necessary. However, if you’d like to show your appreciation and help support jobs in our little community, please consider buying some food or gas. We make awesome sandwiches here!”
At the pizzeria in Saskatchewan, I ordered a pizza and a Pepsi to eat in, but I had to order it and pay for it at the till before it was made, as if I was ordering takeout.
When I went to pay with debit, the tip option came up.
I’m usually a 20% guy, but I hate paying the tip before I’ve received the service.
My finger hovered over the ‘amount’ button and then over the ‘percentage’ button.
I hesitated.
Then the girl at the counter said, “You can grab your Pepsi from the fridge over in the ice cream shop.”
The ice cream shop shares the building with the pizzeria.
“I can go pick up my own Pepsi in the fridge all the way over there?” I asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
[No Tip] [Enter]
This tip function thing is something that is also happening more often.
A liquor store I frequent in the Okanagan has a tip function on its debit machine.
For what?
For the teenager watching me walk around the store scratching my head while she stands at the till texting her boyfriend?
I mentioned the tip function to her and she said, “Most people leave a tip.”
Of course we do, we’re being conditioned.
[No Tip] [Enter]
