Give Me a Sign

July 24, 2018

I don’t know how many times I’ve signed up to volunteer for something and was told, “Meet at the east end of the building.” Or heard, “Volunteers should meet at the Barkley pavilion of XYZ State Park.”

So I show up at a building and walk around it; or follow the other cars driven through the park by confused people and hope somebody can figure it out. I have actually seen people leave a volunteer event in disgust because they were tired of trying to figure out where to go.

After one election, several of us called the Election Commissioner because we hadn’t been able to find out where to park in order to vote. I saw several elderly people driving around confused, and I myself hiked across a grassy field to get to the polling place—which had adequate, if unmarked, parking, once I got there.

I don’t even want to mention how long I looked for the church office.

If you want people to participate in your event, I’ve got one word for you: Signs.

Signs saying, “Volunteers” or “Parking” with an arrow pointing in the correct direction. And don’t be sparing—put them all through the park, so that no matter what entrance people come in, they can find the correct pavilion.

Give me something to work with.

Give me a sign.

July 30, 2018

The day after I wrote this, but before I posted it, the paper published a letter from a woman who said that it was very difficult to find the office for early voting, because of bad signage. See, it’s not just me.