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I feel guilt for watching....

CES020

New Member
I just had the most enjoyable lunch! I went to Arbys and once placing my order, I turned around and noticed a guy installing vinyl lettering on a building across the street. He was installing their building number over the door with white vinyl lettering, looked to be about 10-12" tall. When I tune into him, he's got the numbers up there, measuring the location to try and get it straight. I can see from across 6 lanes of traffic, it's crooked. Very crooked.

I watch him make an adjustment, eyeballing, then measure again. Wrong again, still crooked. He adjusts it again. He keeps putting his tape measure away, then sliding it around, and then measuring it again. This goes on for about 10 minutes. At this point, I realized he's smartly dressed and is probably not a qualified sign professional :)

Finally, he seems to get it right, by this time, I've picked a seat that allows me to eat and watch the show :popcorn:

I missed the point when he removed the backing paper, but I was confused on all the measuring he did because then he took it completely down to remove the release liner, I guess.

So he goes back up with it, I look, he's squeegeeing it and I notice his hand placement, and I think to myself "he's using a rubber squeegee on a handle, not a flat squeegee like we use". So he goes over the entire thing a few times, he tries to get the transfer tape off and one number is lifting. He keeps going back over it with his hand. I look away, look back, all the numbers are gone completely. Hummm, I wonder what happened, as I missed that part. Rats. Good planning to the rescue. He reaches out and grabs another one. Apparently he planned ahead and got 2.

He's following the same process and it's killing me to watch. At this point, I'm thinking "I'm going to walk over and help the guy out, I can't watch this train wreck any longer". Turns out, I was wrong, I could watch a little longer :popcorn:

Finally gets it where it wants it, again, measured the entire thing, got it in the place he wanted and then pulled it down to remove the release liner. Then he puts it back up, sticks it, then measures it and starts moving it around. I don't know how he's moving it, as it's not a wet installation, but I could see the big blue bottle of windex sitting next to his 4 foot ladder, so I guess he cleaned it with silicone before applying :banghead:

So he goes to move it one last time after measuring and the last number comes up, but the 3rd number stays stuck to the glass. So now it's crooked and one number has stuck. So he goes to the other side, tries to peel it from that side. 2 of the numbers come up and it's back to that magic 3rd number that's stuck to the glass. Then, he goes back to the other side, tries to get that 3rd number to come back up. It won't. He grabs the transfer tape and rips it off the window, pulling 3 numbers and leaving the remaining stuck number. He then grabs that number, rips it off the glass, balls it all up into a ball and throws it on the ground. Comes off his ladder, packs his stuff up, storms into the office. I can see him walking around in the office, apparently pissed. Someone else comes over to talk to him and he's pointing at the glass, just going off about it.

I thought about it for about 10 seconds, thinking I'd go over, in the office, and save the day for them. Then I realized they were so cheap they wanted to do it themselves, so I decided let the cheap bastards sit and stay pissed for the rest of the day.

That's what you get when your cheap ass buys ready to apply vinyl because it's "so" easy and you're "so" smart :frustrated:

It was probably one of the most enjoyable lunches I've had in a while. Very entertaining to watch :thumb:
 
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housemusikid

New Member
FUNNY POST!

I had an installer applying vinyl to a vehicle on a ramp. To get it straight, he used a level...yes a level. I stood back laughing hysterically while he pulled the vehicle out and got out. He stood there kicking and screaming about how much of a dumb a!@ he was!

It was a great afternoon!
 

Red Ball

Seasoned Citizen
Many years ago I watched a couple of guys letter an approximately 16' box truck in a parking lot.
It was a national franchised store front operation.
One person would hold the front door open.
Two guys would come out the door holding the line of copy sans the release liner.
They walked across the sidewalk, across the head in parking area, two lanes of parking lot traffic, and a small grassy median. They then climbed two sections of extension ladder on each end of the truck. Carefully hit some pieces of tape on the truck with the edge of the application tape and squeegeed what they could reach. Down the ladders and move the ladders to the center of the truck. Up the ladders to squeegee the balance of the copy. Down the ladders and move them to the edge of the box.
Back into the store front. Someone opened the door for them and rinse and repeat.
I guess I am too critical as it was very methodical and appeared to be thought out.

But it was just wrong! And I laughed my a$$ off.
 

Jillbeans

New Member
I woulda walked over, sloppy sandwich in hand, and heckled while eating.
"Hey you spelled that wrong"
"That looks crooked"
"You must have a steady hand"
"Can you come over here and look at my pickup it needs lettered"
"My nephew has a sign company"
etc etc etc all said around a mouthful of food.
Then offered to help with your greasy fingers.
Love.....Jill
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Great story.


Call him on the phone and ask him who the sign shop was that was trying to put a sign on your door earlier today. Before he can say it was himself... blurt out, that you don't want to use them for your new signs. Then give him your name and say, I've had good experiences with this company. Maybe you should try them next time.
 

GypsyGraphics

New Member
i'd have paid admission to watch that!

i like watching people get chit done, but watching people f-up is sooo entertaining! and when they can't figure out why things are going wrong and get all frustrated... it's like watching slapstick! :ROFLMAO:
 

Marlene

New Member
I love stories like this. I will visualize this the next time a cheap bonehead says he'll do it himself, how hard can it be.:thumb:
 

copythat

New Member
He's following the same process and it's killing me to watch. At this point, I'm thinking "I'm going to walk over and help the guy out, I can't watch this train wreck any longer". Turns out, I was wrong, I could watch a little longer :popcorn:

That quote was too F*&^*$ funny!

Thanks for the post!!!




Sign Up!
 

showcase 66

New Member
Thats funny. I watched a guy painting a window sign from the inside. He placed a stencil on the outside of the glass so he could see the pattern. I noticed right away that he was not painting it in reverse. I sat there for about 15 minutes watching him, thinking he would realize it. Had to leave but decided to come back and see if he caught it, and the owner and the painter are arguing on the street about it. Kinda funny. Went into the business next door to drop of a card since part of their sign was missing. Came out and paint is splattered all over the window and the painter was gone. Walked in his building handed him a card and said if you get someone to clean up the paint, I will be back in 2 days to do your windows right.
Day later he called me wanting me to do them.
 

petesign

New Member
I just had a customer place an order for some vinyl for his windows. I gave him the quote for the vinyl installed, and he asked me how much it would be if he put it on himself. He decided to do the install himself.

Thank you for this post, I can't help but think this is what will happen. Maybe I should go over and take some video when the time comes.

:goodpost:

That was great entertainment.
 

Craig Sjoquist

New Member
I ordered popcorn just reading, I am amazed vinyl is cut so perfect, can be set up perfect, all it takes is a ruler, tape and some type of squeegee, even water to help in some cases.. but yet I see it even by sign shop installers vinyl end to end, top to bottom and crooked, but if my hand painted work is the least bit flawed, like a run all hell breaks loose.
 

John Butto

New Member
new member

Looks like there will be a new member to join Signs101 from Virginia and he he will be asking all sorts of questions about applying vinyl to windows.
 
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