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The Dreaded Paper Sign

Posted on October 23, 2022 by Steve Ainslie

There’s a “new normal” thanks to the pandemic – the dreaded paper sign tape to the front door. I run into regularly at my pool. It’s never good news. It announces unscheduled closures, reduced hours and service reductions due to staffing issues.

I run into it when I go the the UPS store, the grocery store and the occasional shop.

Sometimes, the sign will detail more than staffing issues. It explains delays due to supply chain problems, vendor problems or mechanical failures.

It’s such a strange and unexpected phenomenon to me.

I grew up in a world where we made do with whatever we could. When we were short staffed when I was a lifeguard back in college, we sat longer shifts. One summer we worked every day 80 days in a row with no days off because we only had two people to cover the entire pool.

When someone didn’t show up at the warehouse, the rest of us had to cover for them. We unloaded more trucks, stayed late or skipped lunch.

When a salesperson quit, the rest of us had to make up his quota.

No excuses were allowed.


I’m not saying the way I worked was better. I wish that we had been given some reasonable leeway when we were understaffed or under resourced. But that wasn’t how it was back then. For most of my working life, I felt lucky to have a job and felt (or was directly told) that if I didn’t do the work, I wouldn’t’t have a job anymore.


I predict that the pendulum will once again swing away from accommodating employees back to the “employer has the ultimate power” mode again when the economy goes through another down cycle.

We shall see if I’m right.

In the meantime, I’ll keep an eye out for the dreaded paper signs.

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