The longer I work at the store, the more I'm in love with good design. Besides visual design, the design of a workplace includes its considered response to other people--the flow of bodies and communication as well as of goods.
Have I mentioned that my workplace's lack of thoughtful design drives me crazy?
I have?
Well, here's another example.
Yesterday we got a private message on FB from an older shopper about how unsafe our Covid response is.
The message had several good ideas for fixes--some of them easy.
My workmates--including the bosses--responded as if the message was an annoyance from a kook, instead of taking it as a call to action.
Ass't Man is the only one at work who thinks about design. He also thinks in grand terms.
Too grand, sometimes--he can be perfectionistic.
I pointed out that we were lucky the customer wrote a private message and didn't blast us in a Google Review.
"We should cover our ass," I said.
"Yeah, but," he said––[I pointed out once that he often says this, and he got mad at me]––"until we hire a designer to make signs, that's not going to happen. You know they won't spend money on it."
For fuck's sake.
The upside of the lack of management oversight is, if you want to do something, you can just do it (pretty much).
I went into the office and printed some already-in-existence "Keep 6 FT Apart" signs--something the customer had specifically pointed out the lack of.
I put them up where you enter (below, left & right) and around the store.
I got tape and marked more Xs and added " < 6 FT > " for clarity.
Look! People will stand on Xs! It's so sweet. It's like kindergarten, in the best sense.
I replied to the FB message with photos and thanks.
The writer replied, "I am smiling under my mask."
Cost to the store? $25 of my time.
Value in damage control: priceless
Good design doesn't have to be tidy, but I do love this VEG-O-MATIC box, from 1961:
BELOW: Entropy reveals natural design--and human design flaws. "GIFTS" wall and rubble: aftermath of the arson and destruction post-police murder of George Floyd.
I bike past it on my way home from the store.
BOOK(s) NOW . . . Oh, yeah!
Aaaand... BELOW: today's disqualifying statement on the profile of someone who messaged me on the Dating Site:
Have I mentioned that my workplace's lack of thoughtful design drives me crazy?
I have?
Well, here's another example.
Yesterday we got a private message on FB from an older shopper about how unsafe our Covid response is.
The message had several good ideas for fixes--some of them easy.
My workmates--including the bosses--responded as if the message was an annoyance from a kook, instead of taking it as a call to action.
Ass't Man is the only one at work who thinks about design. He also thinks in grand terms.
Too grand, sometimes--he can be perfectionistic.
I pointed out that we were lucky the customer wrote a private message and didn't blast us in a Google Review.
"We should cover our ass," I said.
"Yeah, but," he said––[I pointed out once that he often says this, and he got mad at me]––"until we hire a designer to make signs, that's not going to happen. You know they won't spend money on it."
For fuck's sake.
The upside of the lack of management oversight is, if you want to do something, you can just do it (pretty much).
I went into the office and printed some already-in-existence "Keep 6 FT Apart" signs--something the customer had specifically pointed out the lack of.
I put them up where you enter (below, left & right) and around the store.
I got tape and marked more Xs and added " < 6 FT > " for clarity.
Look! People will stand on Xs! It's so sweet. It's like kindergarten, in the best sense.
I replied to the FB message with photos and thanks.
The writer replied, "I am smiling under my mask."
Cost to the store? $25 of my time.
Value in damage control: priceless
❧ ❧ ❧
Good design doesn't have to be tidy, but I do love this VEG-O-MATIC box, from 1961:
BELOW: Entropy reveals natural design--and human design flaws. "GIFTS" wall and rubble: aftermath of the arson and destruction post-police murder of George Floyd.
I bike past it on my way home from the store.
BOOK(s) NOW . . . Oh, yeah!
Aaaand... BELOW: today's disqualifying statement on the profile of someone who messaged me on the Dating Site:
Bravo for taking the initiative! Definitely good improvements. I know I always stand on the X when I go into a shop and there are designated X's.
ReplyDeleteThe Veg-O-Matic box is fabulous. But does it make Julienned potatoes, whatever those are? (To quote an old joke from Robin Williams.)
Yikes on Mr. "No respect for authority"! That's a NO! if I ever saw one. HAHAHA I guess he just liked your smile...
ReplyDeleteThe Gifts photo is really great: the emblem of 2020.
I think some people think of roadblocks as they might be afraid that they are going to be the one stuck with the action. Good on you for stepping up and just doing it as Nike would say.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that difficult! Even the Salvation Army here which is a small store has managed to put up the signs.
Re design: I think at times we have lost our way with design or even common sense. At the campus bookstore here they put galvanized tins with items for sale in them in a winding path to keep people from bunching up when lining up to check-out.
Kirsten
ps my parents probably said the same thing about me -- no respect for authority
Here’s to the proactive!
ReplyDeleteIn the photo with the shelves and aisle, I almost read 6FT as GIFT. Social distancing, like mask use, is indeed a gift to others.
Have you thought about marking the aisles with one-way arrows on the floor? A tip: it won’t accomplish anything. In the supermarket I pointed out a Do Not Enter sign to an old couple as I was nearing the end of the aisle and they were about to enter. “You can go anywhere you want,” they told me.
You have customers who care for you. That is heartening xx
ReplyDeleteThe wall of entropy! With the gifts neatly held in by chain link fencing. Only thing missing it that "grabber" arm.
ReplyDelete@Steve Reed; julienned potatoes are like french fries: thin, skinny chips.
ReplyDelete