Guest Opinion: Maybe We Need More Signs

— by Ed Sutton —

Summer is most certainly here and has been for several weeks. Parking is difficult, lines for coffee are nearly endless, and making a left turn is a challenge. So, what else is new; this happens every year.

Our local businesses and the jobs that they provide are dependent on the visitors who come here each season. Those of us working in service jobs begin to stress out and by late August everyone’s fuse is really short. I point out these obvious realities because a friend, today, asked for my ear to vent frustration over an incident in her store with a visitor.

The incident involved the use of a public restroom. The customer evidently overstayed his welcome and words were exchanged with much gesticulation and yelling. The business employee was very upset.

So, how do we, living and working in our community, convey to those visitors the “rules of conduct” here in Eastsound? Too be fair, travel is stressful for the visitor, too. After some thought, I suggest that the answer is more information, more signage.

For example, better signs that identify the location of the public restrooms at the Village Green. Might we need another such restroom? Too, for those businesses such as “sit-down” restaurants required to have bathroom facilities, better signage within each store as to conditions of use could be helpful ( please limit your use, please clean-up after your use, please be considerate of the next user, and so forth).

There is, of course, no excuse for rudeness, so it is incumbent on the visitor to be respectful and considerate of our neighbors who strive to serve them. AND, it is is also incumbent on each of us to serve them to our best ability. With an endless wave of visitors, there will always be those who are less versed in the etiquette of manners, so a periodic confrontation is almost inevitable. Employees should be trained to deal with these situations.

To summarize: 1) Signs, “where is the public restroom”; 2)Rules, “Please be considerate”, “Clean up”, “Be courteous, everyone”; 3) Training, “Be prepared for an encounter”. If we advise the visitor as to our expectations, like traffic signs, then the incidents can be minimized. Remember, we all are visitors, travelers, going somewhere, sometime. My next trip is to Boston.