travis in edmonton says this painting (which “resembled a tenth-grader’s crack at designing fantasy novel jacket”) appeared one day in the alley behind the pub where he works. feeling puckish, travis says, “every evening i would turn it toward the south-facing balconies…and every morning it would be face-down in the street again, until eventually it [...]
Entries Tagged as 'canada'
the art of passive resistance
November 4th, 2009 · 108 Comments
my condolences on your birthday
September 16th, 2009 · 116 Comments
daniel is montreal says his dear grandmother sent him this card in the mail for his birthday. the front of the card (which didn’t scan very well) says: it is not what is visible on the surface but what is deep inside that sustains us.
well, says daniel, “that and guilt.”
related: dear grandma — thanks, i [...]
Tags: birthday · guilt trip · montreal · old folks · signed with love
your a geneous
July 10th, 2009 · 105 Comments
writes amy in canada: “part of my job (as a civilian employed by the canadian armed forces) is to install or repair network services out to remote areas of our training area. here are a few of the notes i saw while puttering around with my cabling and switches.”
happy (very) belated canada day!
related: (don’t?) wash [...]
Tags: canada · spelling and grammar police
dear grandma: thanks, i guess.
July 8th, 2009 · 253 Comments
writes our anonymous submitter: “this was sent to my 6-year-old step daughter by her grandma. the birthday present in question was a pack of writing paper and $5 american. we live in canada.”
(the “did you get…” pretense combined with the oh-so-subtle post script is so classic “passive-aggressive grandma” that i cannot even handle it. bonus [...]
Tags: birthday · canada · martyr complex · ohio · old folks · p.s. · thanks (but not really) · xoxo
make an effing wish
June 25th, 2009 · 93 Comments
rachel spotted this on a frat house fridge in champaign, illinois, adding: “said fridge was indeed revolting.”
meanwhile, helen swiped this from an equally revolting frat house in vancouver. adds helen: “the reason why it is so ripped up is because a frat boy saw me steal the note and we fought for it for a [...]
Tags: canada · cleaning · fratboys · fridge · roommates · university · vancouver
notes with character
June 12th, 2009 · 119 Comments
because nobody says “i mean business” like…donald duck.
except, perhaps, mickey mouse?
writes our anonymous submitter in toronto: “my sister went to do her laundry with her 2-year-old daughter who kept on saying ‘mickey! mickey!’” it seemed like random toddler babbling…until she saw the note.
related: how many wonders can one cavern hold?
extra credit: didn’t disney sue a [...]
Tags: california · ellipses-crazed · exclamation-point happy! · fuck fuckity fuck fuck · laundry · not-so-veiled threats · out-of-context cartoon character · toronto
when targeted advertising goes terribly, horribly wrong
June 7th, 2009 · 186 Comments
“a few days after changing my status to single,” writes meg in red deer, alberta, “facebook proves to be the creep i always knew it was.”
(jordon is the ex-boyfriend.)
related: reason #784 why you should never list your relationship status in your facebook profile
Tags: breakup · canada · facebook
paying through the spout
May 25th, 2009 · 190 Comments
our anonymous submitter in ontario, canada found this note in the office lunch area. apparently, the water in the office cooler had been going like crazy until the new pay-per-sip policy was enacted.
“while people were willing to pay,” our submitter says, “whoever was changing the bottles was not doing it as often as before the [...]
Tags: money · office · office cop · ontario · water
on jamming
April 1st, 2009 · 202 Comments
this note is so goddamn beautiful that if i just saw this floating around on digg or something, i’d probably assume it was fake. and yet, marta in vancouver swears it’s for real.
she explains: “the guy who lives in one of the basement suites in our house left this on our front door after we [...]
Tags: canada · crazypants · music · neighbors · noise · vancouver
do your stairs think you’re fat?
March 28th, 2009 · 100 Comments
rachel in victoria, b.c. found this somewhat puzzling bit of anthropomorphism (stairs have feelings? really?) posted in the elevator of her residence building. adds rachel: “my favourite part is ‘your bum will love it.’ no better way to guilt trip people into ’saving energy’ than by insinuating that they’re fat!”
related: hey, fatty
Tags: anthropomorphism · canada · elevator · energy usage · excessive underlining · guilt trip
neighborhood crazy-watch
March 6th, 2009 · 75 Comments
our anonymous submitter in quebec says this note is posted on the door of an apartment in her building. “looks like somebody had a rough breakup,” she speculates…in which case i think dude is probably better off. still, i think the ambiguity here presents a wealth of other possible scenarios, no?
related: and all the pieces [...]
Tags: canada · crazypants · ex drama · neighbors · you know who you are
when a card just won’t do
February 22nd, 2009 · 78 Comments
juan in brampton, ontario wasn’t persuasive enough to convince his girlfriend, kat, to skip work and go to her own surprise party. his friends were…not so happy.
meanwhile, sam’s best friend baked this for her husband after he re-arranged the living room early in the morning without telling her, resulting in some seriously bruised shins. “what’s [...]
Tags: birthday · cake · canada · more aggressive than passive · ontario · p.s.
a little advice for the ladies
February 12th, 2009 · 100 Comments
…courtesy of the hapless young lads of north america.
as documented by kimberlee in lawrence, kansas:
and by grant in toronto, canada:
happy breakup season, everyone!
related: some dating advice
Tags: "helpful" advice · battle of the sexes · canada · kansas · kinda creepy · toronto
venting machine
February 10th, 2009 · 90 Comments
if you’ve ever bought twizzlers from a vending machine, you probably know that there’s a good one-in-three chance that one tiny corner of the plastic packaging is gonna get stuck, and then (bang on the glass all you want) only yielding after an extra 75 cents is inserted. some folks, however, aren’t willing to condone [...]
Tags: CAPS LOCK · canada · office · rebuttals · smartass · stealing · toronto · vending
the classic all-staff e-mail
February 5th, 2009 · 99 Comments
shirley in canada says one of her coworkers sent this e-mail to the entire building — several hundred people in all — after what we can only assume was an unsuccessful half-day cooling-off period. (or perhaps just several hours spent choosing the most whimsically enraged font/color combination.)
meanwhile, this all-staff e-mail was sent to over 400 [...]
Tags: all-staff e-mail · australia · canada · e-mail · guilt trip · office · stealing · thanks (but not really)
silent protest
January 27th, 2009 · 100 Comments
tara in vancouver organized a meetup for “progressive, radical and lefty librarians” at a place called subeez cafe. it wasn’t until afterwards — when she took a look at the contact sheet she’d passed around — that she realized at least one attendee was less-than-pleased with her choice of venue.
“they didn’t complain to me directly, [...]
Tags: politics · spelling and grammar police · unsolicited feedback · vancouver
panty raid!
January 14th, 2009 · 102 Comments
caitlin at ontario college didn’t write this note, but she feels for the person who did — she and four friends on her floor also had panties go missing from the dorm laundry room. “the thief seemed to particularly prefer black thongs,” she says. (unlike the notewriter, however, they don’t necessarily want them back.)
since then, [...]
Tags: canada · kinda creepy · laundry · ontario · seattle · tokyo · wtf?
we’re not naming names, but…
December 18th, 2008 · 72 Comments
i challenge you to an emoticon-off!
October 24th, 2008 · 58 Comments
ah, young love.
related: facebook: a place for frenemies
extra credit: thumbspeak [thenewyorker.com]
Tags: canada · facebook · frenemies · ontario · smiley
listing in now magazine’s adult classifieds: $70. revenge?
October 6th, 2008 · 75 Comments
…well, you know how it goes.
meanwhile, in melbourne…
and in london…
…a saucy variation on a much-photographed placard from london’s soho:
but my favorite sign was spotted by nick at a backpacker’s hostel in rio:
related: the whore of west babylon
Tags: "customer service" · australia · canada · melbourne · rio de janeiro · sex sex sex · toronto

