The sign told me “Fuck You”…
…So I drew a smiley face on it.
Some of you are familiar with the fact that I work in my dad’s fireworks store-- a business that is located in our very own backyard. Although fireworks are fun for most, there are a few neighbors who have incredibly strong feelings against the business we conduct.
For one, there’s the neighbor who insists on blowing his horn every time he goes by the house. This isn’t a friendly, neighborly “Toot toot! Howya doin, neighbor ol buddy ol pal?” This is an obstinate, angry HOOOOOONNNNNKKKK that leaves an unpleasant ringing in the ears. This same person will rudely honk at anyone attempting to leave the driveway.
There’s another neighbor, the next-door neighbor no less, who insisted to a TV newscrew that we were blowing sticks of dynamite over his house.
There are still the unnamed few who make me very nervous. Every year, when it gets closer to the Fourth of July, we place two extra signs on the road to let the out-of-towners know where to go; one is by the main road, and one points which way to go at the fork in the road. This one mystery person has been stealing our signs for years. It really is quite annoying, as making those signs gets pricier. Steve The Sign Guy must have our information firmly memorized.
We thought the trouble was over when the ornery neighbor who lived by the fork in the road moved away. I guess he wasn’t the culprit, because a couple weeks ago the sign I put back together was missing. The wooden stand part was there, but the “Fireworks” sign was clearly ripped off.
Dad found it later, at the end of our driveway. “Maybe it blew away and someone knew to leave it here,” he said, handing the two pieces of the sign over to me. I looked down at the now pitiful sign and felt my heart plummet into my stomach. “I’m pretty sure the sign was like this on purpose,” I told my father. When he asked why, I responded, “Because somebody wrote ‘Fuck You’ across it.”
There it was, engraved into the plastic of the sign. FUCK. YOU. Those words burned and resonated in my head. Someone hated us so much they put that loverly note across our sign. I felt like I’d been slapped.
Later I made fun of it, saying how cute and funny it was, but really the bad feeling stayed with me. How could people be so damn cruel and hateful?
I reattached the sign to the wooden stand, and was about to bring it back when I had a spark of inspiration. Just a little idea to make me feel a bit better. I took a pen, much like the one that had been forced to engrave those blocky letters into the sign. I drew a smiley face, and pointed an arrow at the words. At least now the sign ruiner would see how much he amused us.
This time he took the wooden part too. I wish I’d seen the reaction on his face, but I’d rather not see such hate in person. Not yet, at least.
Our sign at the fork is now a cardboard box filled with junk. It hasn’t been stolen yet, and it’s been out there at least a week. Whoo-hoo, it’s a freakin’ streak.
Check out the attachment to actually see the sign
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| Attachment | Size |
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Today a person pointed out the middle finger to me but I couldn't understand what did he mean by that.Then I asked it to one of my friend and he told me that it meant Fuck You.
I got angry but thought that people are such a fool that they think that I will take some harsh steps against them.
akkirocks
Addiction Recovery Kentucky
you could maybe wrap some barbed wire around the sign...
or rig them to some fireworks so whenever someone touches it, they get to see a pretty display... from a safe distance, of course.
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And fireworks, too. I mean if you were making guns or crack or guillotines or something... maybe I'd understand the hatred... but fucking fireworks? Seriously, fireworks.
Fireworks are fun and enjoyable. At the most, they can be loud, a little annoying for a week out of the year, and maybe set things on fire every once in a while. That's it. You aren't making Anti-America signs or anything.
Have you reported any of this to the authorities? As long as your business is 100% legal, this constitutes vandalism against your business and, while they aren't going to like... place an officer there or anything, they could probably do something.
Anti-America? Sure, I'd understand that, but with our business being what it is, there are American flags all over the place!
And we can't exactly bring this to the authorities' attention because that would be fruitless. We don't know who's doing it and have no clues. Our police are pretty useless anyway. Two years ago, a man broke into our store in the middle of the night and stole a few knives we had in a display case. We had a forensic investigator come over, take DNA evidence (bloody fingerprints, and clearly-made shoe prints, no less!) and we even knew who wore those shoes, and the man was never incarcerated or even convicted.
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People can be so dang petty sometimes. I sure hope that your mystery sign-stealer is staring at the smiley face you drew on the sign and feeling very small and insignificant right now.
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Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. --Mahatma Gandhi
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These neighbors have probably dealt with people who use fireworks to annoy or endanger others and that is why they are reacting this way.
However, even if that is the case, the dealer is not to be blamed since your family is within their rights to sell such a product and I am assuming you encourage customers to practice safety. These neighbors are taking their anger out on the wrong person.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tricia0711
Some people just seem to want to infuriate the world...
Well, not really, but it is rather ridiculous that your neighbors have to be so rude. And the sign stealer... reminds me of the faceless people who take down our 'No Trespassing' and 'No Dumping' signs and then leave all their garbage on our property, despite the fact that the proper place to dispose of garbage is all of two minutes away. And the police can't do anything about it because they take our signs. >.<
Let's hope your box-sign stays put for a good while!
And that's comin' at ya' from yer local redneck hippie.
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The Story of Myself
Next time make it a super happy face
:))))))))))))) then wright MOTHA!!!!
or every year you could stick little notes on it saying "No, fuck you sir"
make it fun and mock the crap out of them.
It seems embarassing people for being mean is so much more entertaining than taking them to heart don't yah think?
Saint O Nothin' Says
Always go FORWARD, going straight will get you no where!
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(Sorry if message seems screwy, i just had carrot cake)(and a soda)
whooo suga' and blogin'
Well how rude! If people don't like what they see, do they think if they chase it off , it will go away eventually? I would say " Well F*** you too! Then see what they will say. Maybe you should drive over to your neighbor's house and honk at them. But make sure you do it when you are asleep.
Yeah so you don't wake yourself up.
(sorry i couldn't help myself
lol
Saint O Nothin' Says
Always go FORWARD, going straight will get you no where!
-Greenday "Jaded"