I’m currently looking at a sign that reads, “THANK YOU FOR NOT SMOKING.”
That’s pretty bold, right? I mean, there’s no sign that reads “PLEASE DO NOT SMOKE;” there’s just this one sign that ASSUMES we aren’t going to smoke, even if we aren’t explicitly told not to.
How about, instead, you just ask us politely to not smoke? Then, maybe we’d be more inclined to happily comply with the absurd rules of your authoritarian dictatorship of a cafeteria.
Instead, you’re totally skipping over the polite-asking and the polite-obeying, and jumping straight into the passive-aggressive-thanking.
Believe me, if any one of us wanted to light up in here, we could. There’s no bouncer here—it’s a damn cafeteria. What are you going to do, realistically? Ask me politely to put it out? And what if I say no? Best case scenario for you—you call the police, who arrive at the scene moments after I’ve already smoked the cigarette all the way down to the filter, climbed out the bathroom window, and begun hauling a** to the 2 train before anyone catches on to my clever evasion skills.
We could avoid all of this with a very simple sign: “PLEASE DON’T SMOKE—OK? PLEASE? THANKS GUYS. OBVIOUSLY, I WISH WE COULD ALL SMOKE IN HERE—MYSELF INCLUDED—BUT YOU KNOW…THE SYSTEM. I HATE IT TOO. THANKS AGAIN, GUYS. I REALLY DO APPRECIATE IT.” Now, that’s a sign I’d abide by. I’d have no qualms about that whatsoever.
Until next time,
Michael J. Erickson, CEO & Co-Founder
