Which of these urinal notices do you find most troubling?
This one, from a London nightclub?

This one, from a construction site in New York City?

This one, from a campground in Russellville, Arkansas?

Or this one, from an office in Redmond, Washington?

P.S. “Sausage dump” wasn’t a euphemism.

(Thanks to Dylan, Paul, David and Lucy for submitting!)
related: Why I hate [...]

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Based on the evidence below, I’d say one of John’s male coworkers in Sydney, Australia has taken “holiday spirit” too far. Way, way, too far.

related: sprinkles are for cupcakes

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Francesca in Boston spotted this posted in a bathroom on Santorini in Greece. “Because of the island’s old-fashioned plumbing, many bathrooms had similar notes, but only this one had the implied threat of sexual harassment by a Sea God.”

Honestly, though, it’s the awesomely unnecessary 80s-power-suit clip art in this notice — spotted by Taryn in [...]

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This restroom sign from Baton Rouge, Louisiana manages to combine variations on two of the genre’s most irritating cliches — the rhyme that must be flushed and the clip art that must be stopped…with some additional ridiculous floral clip art thrown in for good measure.

And yet, somehow, this note manages to offend me even more. [...]

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Spotted by our anonymous (and uninvolved) submitter on the office bulletin board at a “super mega corp” in Columbus, Ohio…where apparently a vegan “safe space” is, um, kind of in order (sob).

related: p.s. bacon is life
extra credit: Passive-aggressive vegan grocery cashier, a day in the life [McsSweeneys]
P.S. Like this post? See more like this by [...]

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Writes Desiree: “This is a note at the express (stamps-only counter) at a very busy post office in Washington, D.C.. They are apparently!! very!! uptight!! like everyone else in D.C. (myself included)!!”

Meanwhile!! in Florida…

And! in Los Angeles!

related: this is why your postal worker is disgruntled

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writes our anonymous submitter in hartford, connecticut: “we’re not much for posting notes in our restroom at work., so the situation must have been pretty dire for someone to go to the trouble to craft this one.”
i appreciate the initial sentiment here — i really do. this website has already condemned the cutesy rhyme that [...]

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“in the staff area of our library, there is a single-stall, co-ed bathroom,” says our anonymous submitter in berkeley, california. everyone got along okay, more or less, until recently, when one of the library’s male employees “left quite a mess behind.” then a female coworker responded with the note below.

and then, well, the lines were [...]

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“There’s a lot of foot traffic at a certain computer lab at our university,” says our submitter in Ypsilanti, Michigan, “but it can only seat 30 at a time.”
In order to (in theory) alleviate the problem, and in practice, to give waiting students some new clip art to focus their rage upon, the university posted [...]

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Casey in Human Resources may have moved on, but not to worry — Thx Sandra is here to solve our global climate crysis!

related: It takes a “genius”

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“let me preface this by saying that the ladies’ room at work is quite clean,” writes angie in stamford, connecticut. “i’m not saying it’s where i eat my lunch, but it’s a very satisfactory restroom.”
it was something of a surprise, then, she says, when this sign appeared on each of the walls and stall doors.

in [...]

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The tenth-floor kitchen at this office has no fewer than ten of these painstakingly laminated, clip-art-covered notes — and our anonymous submitter says this kitchen is only the tip of the iceberg.
“Nearly all of the notes in our office receive the same attention to detail,” our submitter says. “Every time I come to work I [...]

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sorcia mcnasty in north carolina says this “piece of art” is located right next to the paper supply drawer.  “we’re not sure if there is really a problem with theft or if occasionally, you know, the machine just runs out of paper. no one wants to question the MACHINE IN MOTION.”
  
related: the passive-aggressive note has not [...]

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What do you do when words alone can’t express the depth of your feeling? In the business world, you turn to clip art. And specifically, you turn to screen beans.

If you’ve seen a PowerPoint presentation in the last decade, you’re most likely familiar with screen beans, the clip art collection that will not die.
Says one [...]

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what kind of objectionable trash do you suppose is being disposed of in these bins? (half-eaten curries? yesterday’s times?) how many hours of company time did the sign’s designer spend on this full-color laminated masterpiece? what is that comma doing there? and how, exactly, how are these bins to be monitored?

related: servicing over a half-billion [...]

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Dealing with the rantings of your crazy boss or overzealous receptionist is one thing, but what do you do when your office’s resident passive-aggressive note-leaver doesn’t even work there? Casey in San Diego (a.k.a. RunBarbara) says that’s the situation she’s found herself in at her job.
The offender, Sandra, “has met me a total of twice, [...]

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you decide! which clip art catastrophe raises the most new and troubling questions in your mind?
is it exhibit a, from new york’s west village?

(think about the designer’s thought process here for a moment. why the sunglasses? and not just any shades…but electric blue sunglasses? ditto, the sunflower.)
exhibit b, from a casino in cambodia?

(does no crossed [...]

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i really thought it couldn’t get more egregious than this clip-art catastrophe from a church in boston (left), which made this one (right) look downright tasteful in comparison.

but then, at a friend’s recent wedding, carey in northern virginia spotted this note — complete with that same punchy little yellow smiley — on several [...]

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Like this phrase, there are a few irritating little pieces of clip art that keep popping up in submissions over and over again. Hovering somewhere near the top of most-wanted list is this pouty little white-gloved dandy.
From the factories of Pittsburgh…

…to the cube-farms of Virginia, this perspiring misanthrope has been spreading his message of intolerance [...]

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faydra in gainesville, florida lives in an apartment complex she describes as “a step above dorm living” — 85 girls total, all of them coming and going at all hours. faydra’s next door neighbors kicked things off (with the most frightening clip art extravaganza ever) and things devolved from there. in chronological order:

related: a fancy [...]

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This oh-so-subtle note was posted by Mary’s former boss, “a pathetic professor in a backwater institution” where 90% of the graduate students happened to be Korean, Japanese, or Chinese.
“Nevermind that he doused himself with great lashings of Brut in an attempt to jazz up the bald-up-top-ponytail-in-back look he had going on,” Mary says. “There were [...]

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Many offices, it seems, are a regular Disneyland of what only appear to be inanimate objects. The evidence?
From Frank in San Francisco, a sentient sponge:

From Amy in Annapolis, Maryland, a talking toilet:

From Ben in San Antonio, Texas, a talking door:

And then there’s my favorite – from an anonymous submitter in Washington, D.C. – a talking [...]

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Which clip art extravaganza is the most gratuitous? You be the judge!
Is it this sign, from the Virginia office of — of course — a major mobile carrier?

Is it this little tea party of a sign from Cambridge, Mass.?

Or is it this one, from, yes, a church restroom?

related: cubicle etiquette

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Writes Deanne: “Because Orlando prides itself on being a friendly city, we tend to do most of our dirty work via passive-aggressive notes and signs. This one is from the front door of a tacky tourist shop on international drive. I can get past the reference to ‘plane rude’ but the ‘Macdonalds’ analogy is a [...]

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This series of signs (all made by one person, and pinned up across an entire bulletin board) is among my all-time favorites. The glorious redundancies, the inappropriate quotation marks, the clip art — oh, it’s just too good.

(Yeah, the last one is blurry. Our anonymous Canadian submitter apologizes.)

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