These Ludicrous Signs Just Can’t Be Taken Seriously

This sign could have been made after a very long and tiring day where employees had just about enough. Or, maybe they were taking their boss’s demands quite literally, making them great employees for listening and doing what they’re told. Either way, these Atlas employees took it upon themselves to write this creative and funny sign, but now we just wonder what their boss made of it and if he thought it was as funny as anyone reading it would.

We’re in a technological era where anything and everything is published online for the world to see. At the same time, our social media addiction can lead to many accidents since we’re so preoccupied with constantly looking down at our phones in times when we should be completely focused. This sign wants to highlight just that, warning walkers to take priority in looking when crossing the street, and then taking to Facebook to update their followers that they made it to the other side safely.

Oh, the irony. Birds may not have the same reading abilities as humans, and for sure aren’t going to be reading signs anytime soon. But how great is it when a bird comes and sits on a no bird sign, giving no care in the world for rules and regulations. Perhaps the bird thought they saw something familiar since the shadow outline of the picture looks exactly like the rebellious bird that has come to ignore the no bird sign. Either way, he is having none of it.

Sometimes signs add a bit of humor and wit to reel customers in. Then there are other signs which haven’t been given much thought, or even double checked, and are just put up with grammatical errors. This “Need Drit” sign became even more hilarious when others took to adding their own signs underneath. Wanting to get answers, these locals took to communicating with one another with individual signs in finding out what is ‘drit’ and highlighting the lack of punctuation, a majorly important factor.

Everyone loves a good pun, so when an auto repair shop in Seattle was turned into an ExtraMile convenience store, they chose to give passerby’s something to laugh about when walking past. Since they were no longer allowed to use the sign for any store specials or service promotions, they chose to make the best of the situation, and what is better than making someone smile? This sign surely would do just that, and that became its new purpose.

Should you ever be in a situation where you come face-to-face with a mountain lion, be sure to “be large” and “shout.” Sorry, what? Well, that is the great advice this sign is giving on the rare occasion you may face the dangerous species. To add to their little advice, make sure you keep children close, and pick them up “without bending.” I mean, if we were in this position we would just run, but we’ll be sure to keep this advice on board.

This bold, capitalized red message may be noticeable from afar, but it is definitely not the most welcoming. If you are still not convinced by the message and decide to come a little closer, you will spot the smaller sign with a more polite message of “smile you’re on camera.” So do we go home, or do we stay and smile for the camera? A lot of decisions to be made, but this is probably not the camera you want capturing your every move, anyhow.

We all look to the police as a secure and protective force that when under their watchful eye, nothing can go wrong. So, when we see a sign saying the parking lot is under police surveillance, we think we’re safe. However, their authoritative status is completely undermined with the sign underneath letting the public know there is police surveillance. Warning people to not leave their valuables in their vehicles makes you think twice about how safe you are with even the police around.

For a global movement that is working for women’s empowerment, leadership and rights in more than 120 countries in the world, you would probably expect the YWCA to make great marketing decisions in raising money. Although it may require a lot of effort, time and money being put in and made to achieve their goals, we would expect better than this sign. So it is unsure what the YWCA had in mind when writing this sign, and how they thought they would have any success.

Picking up hitchhikers is always risky business. You never know what the person is like who is willing to give you a ride, nor do drivers know the type of person they could be picking up. In this instance, when giving instructions not to pick up hitchhikers from this junction, you are also given a clear reason as to why. Just above the sign states “Correctional facility area,” so the type of people trying to hitchhike are most likely going to be fugitives.

Blowing your horn is actually restricted to certain times of the day to avoid excessive noise, as well as excessive horn blowing from road rage. According to this sign, however, you are fully excused to blow your horn if you get angry while driving, as opposed to its actual purpose of alerting other drivers of potential danger. So imagine it – being pulled over for blowing your horn when you weren’t meant to but being excused because you were just having a moment of anger.

Visiting different countries and cities is a cultural experience where you get to discover the history and landscapes that makes up such a place. Knowing the importance of this for tourists, many cities take to explaining the history behind historical sites with signs explaining the events that took place. Not this one, however. This town was so tired of seeing other towns and cities placing signs all over the place to explain the history and heritage that they made their own mockery of the situation.

If someone were to tell you there was depression ahead, you would probably be left quite baffled, or just avoid it at all costs. After all, depression is associated with feelings of sadness and hopelessness and is not a term used to describe as something good ahead. So we gather that the person in charge of this sign was not a native English speaker and something went wrong on their translation mission. The only other option is that it is, in fact, a depression in the road surface which drivers should be aware of. Yeah, that makes the most sense.

Sometimes you need to engage readers before giving them the real sign of warning. That is exactly what this sign aimed to achieve, by catching the readers attention with the bigger font and giving them something humorous, and then adding the important factor in small print below. So if you were hoping to get over the bridge, hopefully, the sign caught your eye, and you saw the small print. If not, we hope you at least realized there were no sharp edges to the sign!

This sign takes a very clever approach to stopping anyone from touching the fence. We’ve all heard the classic lies. Like, don’t sit too close to the TV or your eyes will turn square, but this one is quite the gem. While non-drying paint is quite possibly an impossibility, it would also be a ridiculous creation should there be such a thing. However, would you be willing to risk your chance by touching it? We’re sure your child will never go near the fence with this sign, so we admire the creativity.

“I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream,” is given an alternative twist by Rita’s Italian ice cream joint. The local manager decided to have a little joke with his customers, adding to the general happiness all his customers leave the ice cream shop feeling. Thinking a little outside the box, and adding some wit to the sign underneath the chain’s logo, the manager got his juices flowing and took a fitting quote into his own amusing creation.

This sign is definitely on the lookout for the ladies. If you’re thinking of parading the streets in your heels for a night out on the town, or for a night of dress-up, know you have been warned of potential heel breakage. That’s right, this area is obviously prone to damaging shoes, and they are giving warning to anyone willing to risk the dangers of walking in their fancy heels. After all, this is some serious stuff, so this is most definitely an important sign.

The train platform is not just a place for catching a ride to your place of work or leisure activity, it’s also the place where many couples have to separate before leaving one another, whether it be for the day or a long period of time. Cue the long kisses and goodbyes, which should not last longer than three minutes according to this sign. Perhaps there was too much PDA for people to handle, so the sign was put in place to keep this to a minimum?

Looking after wildlife could get pretty wild, and that is no different when visiting Table Mountain National Park. With the wildlife running around freely, you never know what they are going to do, or where they may end up. So this sign is a warning to visitors to check under their cars for any potential sign of a penguin taking shelter. To ensure no driver mistakenly runs over the sweet creature after it was happening too often, this sign was hung to prevent any more accidents.

This really leaves us questioning the purpose of the sign and why such a sign has been placed here in the first place. In fact, based on the picture itself, it has absolutely no relevance whatsoever to anything. The only guess could be that another sign further ahead is no longer in use, and hopefully, that one holds more relevance for drivers going past. Nevertheless, whoever made this sign made sure it was not ignored, and their use of a red background makes it seem alarming to passersby.

Most zoos and safaris give a clear warning to visitors not to feed any of the animals. The reasoning behind this is for the sake of the animals and their wellbeing, unsure of what visitors may feed them or if it is at an appropriate time. This home of elephants took a different outlook on visitors feeding their animals and stated it ‘creates management problems.’ Many don’t even like the idea of an elephant being in an enclosed area and out of the wild, so management problems would be the least of their concerns!

Remember that feeling when your teacher told you that you don’t speak enough in class, but the moment you spoke you got in trouble? Well, this seems to create the same kind of complicated decision-making when a “STOP” sign is accompanied by a “no stopping at any time” sign. Which do you decide to listen to? The added irony to these signs is that it could cause many more accidents for being unclear as to what is to be done when getting to this point.

Animal activists are always looking out for the health and wellbeing of their furry friends. It is always the case that it is forbidden to feed any of the animals in a zoo, so this sign wanted to add some humor to further safety precautions that must take place in the presence of these animals. To ensure the visitor’s safety, they made a joke out of feeding the animals while protecting themselves from any possible risks or dangers during their visit.

Next time you choose to ride the subway, make sure you don’t have any plans of sawing the seats because that is strictly prohibited on the train carriage. These hilarious instructions spotted on the subway start off relatively normal stating no one must put their feet on the chairs. But as the list of pictures continues, the instructions become more obscure and even incomprehensible. Just go, sit and make it safely to your destination of choice without breaking any of the rules.

The government was trying to send out a clear message on many billboard signs found on various platforms. But their choice of wording didn’t go down too well with some, and they even got a response in the form of graffiti. The famous sign stating men’s stubbornness will result in them dying that year left one individual to make their own clear statement with “no we won’t.” Whether this individual was joking or just being stubborn, it was pretty funny.

If you are not one to fall victim to urinating in the pool, then you better not be in denial about it happening very often by others. This public pool wanted to try and put an end to this so made their own sign which left out the “P,” the exact intent they had for their pool. While you may think they have been absent-minded in their sign with their misspellings, their purposeful mistake was to make a point to customers using their facilities, ensuring they urinated where they’re meant to.

The bartenders in this bar pledge no allegiance to their customer’s wives and are willing to go to extra lengths to help men keep their secrets from their other halves. But this all comes at a price, and the bigger the lie, the bigger the price. Starting from $1 for “nope not here” to $5 for “never heard of him,” this bar must have been getting quite a few too many questions so decided to make a couple more bucks from it all!

If you didn’t like cats before reading this sign, then it won’t enhance their chances of gaining your love afterward. I mean, how dare they not text back if they could, what did I do wrong? But seriously, the veterinary clinic being the ones who chose to write this sign under their own advertisement, is what is really questionable. Cats may be known to not be the friendliest of all creatures, but that is no reason for slandering them in public.

The Hokey Pokey is what it is all about – known among many as the popular novelty dance from the mid-1940s in Britain and Ireland. The musical hit has been used for amusement on a sign, but the meaning behind it is unclear. Taking a twist on words and stating, “I was addicted to the hokey pokey but I turned myself around” is a hilarious and ironic take on the famous tune, regardless if we don’t know what it is exactly advertising.

How many times have you gone to push a door to find out you have to pull? Or vice versa. As complicated as the task may be, this owner of a store was not making it any easier for his customers to know which way the door should open, but he did want to state that if neither worked, the shop is clearly closed. The problem of figuring out when the store was closed was obviously becoming so problematic that the owner had to spell it out for customers.

Everyone loves a bargain, why wouldn’t you? Paying the price for one but getting two – brilliant! So this blackboard took that appealing sales ploy, only to state there was no actual offer. No doubt it would get an onlooker paying attention, and while many may be disappointed, they may also be credited for their wit and reel in the customers. After all, wherever they go and get two drinks from, they’re going to have to pay for them.

We all have those days where we look back at something we did and think ‘what on earth were we thinking?’ Sometimes it takes someone else to point out the obvious to realize our errors, and to see things more clearly. This sign did the exact same thing while giving notice to bicycle riders, they were warned that any “bicycles chained to the railing will be removed without notice.” So what was that notice then? Either way, it is clear what will happen to anyone who ignores the sign.

Subway is nothing short of a great experience. Being able to choose exactly what type of sandwich you want, is truly wonderful. So add a hint of wit and a pinch of humor, and Subway has won us over. With the sign “Lettuce meat olive you eggspectations,” we can infer that they were saying “let us meet all of your expectations.” That they certainly will, and this added pun for good humor is all the better when going to fill up our stomachs.

The Natural Gardener was sure to let parents know they weren’t going to mess about if they left their kids unattended. Rather, they would give them an espresso – in an attempt to make them hyper. And a free puppy!? A gift no parent could ever dare take away from their child afterward. A ploy to make sure they were not left parenting other people’s kids, it was quite a clever threat, with parents knowing the two gifts the children will receive will not work in their favor by any means!

Some people may be skeptical of the existence of aliens, but this bar is not. With the potential of UFOs coming down to Earth at any point, the bar is letting alien visitors know they are welcome in the bar’s restrooms. Well, at least that’s what we hope, and we wouldn’t mind visiting such a bar that is so welcoming of everyone. We just wonder what the new jokes will be for “an alien walks into a bar…” and what is to follow.

The importance of reading has never been denied. From a young age, it is drilled into us that we should read and exercise our brain with novels, stories, and poems. During a time where a smartphone may be more appealing, new advertisements and billboards are having to find new ways of distracting the tech-savvy individual from their phone and convince them to pick up a book instead. This quirky sign conveniently located outside a bookstore is just one way of doing so!

When the MSU Residential and Hospitality Services put up this sign, we can’t help but wonder what they expected to come from it. At least we hope this sign was not taken too seriously, and people did not refer to the sink when needing to go to the restrooms. In fact, we would rather not know what the outcome of this sign was, and would rather point out the misspelling at the bottom of the page for “visit” in the more information section.

When this small town coffee shop put up their sign, they were making it clear that a venti or grande was not an option on their menu. Keeping it simple and to the point, customers were to only ask for a small, medium or large. To be honest, that does make life a little easier when you don’t speak Pig Latin, Klingon or Starbucks yourself, because then your morning coffee could be a complete mess if you said the wrong thing.

Ok, so we get what this sign was intending to say – something along the lines of offices or stores have been moved to another floor temporarily. But there is something so great about reading this and imagining the whole ninth floor being moved to the 15th floor, and just for temporary purposes. At first glance, this must have caused a serious amount of commotion, which the writer should have gathered when he had to put a big “Attention” sign to warn people.

The all-knowing, all-seeing God doesn’t miss a thing, and this shop wanted to let their customers know that. Quoting God saying “I saw that” was just a reminder to all customers to keep to their law-abiding ways, making sure no one was going to steal from their shop. Just to add extra precaution, a picture of Jesus is perfectly placed next to the camera for an even greater reminder that it is against religion, and the law, to steal.

We may joke that our technological devices are sometimes possessed when they begin to have a mind of their own and start doing things beyond our control. Fear of what will happen next is always on our brains, so we try and avoid these devices as best as we can. So instead of a normal “out of order” sign being placed on this printer/photocopier, the brains behind the sign decided to let users know it was possessed so that they would stay far, far away.

Nietzsche and Kant had different ideas when it came to the deep and meaningful approaches to life. But then Sinatra came along, and we chose to listen to him anyway. So while you may like your mornings to start with an inspirational mantra, this sign was a reminder that we should be enjoying life and there are several ways to approach it, so do what works for you. Even if that means following the words of Sinatra and just “do be do be do.”

If you’re looking for a little direction in life, it probably wouldn’t be best to follow this sign. Leading you to Chaos, the sign screams trouble, and you are to only follow on your own accord and risk. While passersby may be hoping to find directions towards a famous landscape or even directions to public transport, they aren’t going to get much guidance with this sign, and this is when they choose to follow or continue looking for the more helpful directions.

Riding the underground tube and seeing “The End” as the final stop of the journey could leave many people confused. While it is the end of the tube line, it could also be seen as being the end of everything! Of course, it’s neither, as the tube line doesn’t need to spell out the last stop of the journey, and “The End” is actually the name of an attraction. For people who don’t know this, it is just very confusing and may lave people exiting the train sooner than they planned.

After Finding Nemo was released, the fondness for the orange fish with white stripes increased dramatically. A fish we have all come to love and adore from the high-grossing animation, there was nothing we wanted more than Nemo to be found by his loving father. So when this restaurant used Nemo for their own joke and pleasure, we were not too pleased. Who would want to be eating Nemo? We sure hope no one would be appealed by this cruel joke.

The church is not a place you want to mess with. As a place of worship, they know the rules about going to heaven and – well, that other place – and the laws to follow to ensure you are sent to the right place in your afterlife. Stealing air conditioning from the church of all places is definitely not going to get you to heaven anytime soon, and they know iy. With this sign, they were able to make a smart remark to whoever the culprit was and send them a clear message!

Everyone loves a bargain, but we all know nothing in life is free. That doesn’t mean we won’t jump at the first sign we see with the word “Free” spread across it and be intrigued with what’s on offer. This clever marketing technique would attract the money-saving individual, to which they will then see the sale proposal, and realize it was all a trick. There is some truth in a way – once you’ve paid the fee, you then have it for free… maybe.

For those unfamiliar with Turkey City, it is a community in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. But let’s pretend we all don’t know what this is and see the humorous contradiction in these two signs placed together. At first sight, it looks like a turkey limit has been placed in the same area as a bird sanctuary, making it unreasonable and lacking much sense. Seeing that this is not the case, then we can see that this makes much more sense.

It seems that golfing isn’t just left on the golf course and keen players will find other places to get their hole-in-one. But a cemetery of all places is really pushing it, to the point a sign had to be put up to stop golfers from using this area for their playtime. After all, there are grieving family members and friends around, and they really don’t need the added trauma of being hit on the head with a golf ball!

You may not need a bachelor’s degree to work the kitchens at fast-food chains, but someone missed the intellectual mark when it came to putting up a simple sign. At a time of hiring new full-time employees, this sign read “now hiring full-time losers.” What would attract anyone to come work for them and hand in their resume after reading that is unknown, but it would be no surprise if there was a new job vacancy going after this!

Some people believe that there are tiny money counting gnomes working their ways in ATMs to give people their withdrawn cash. That is exactly what the creator of this sign believes, and wanted to inform all customers that this gnome was off sick that day, therefore unable to provide hopeful ATM users with money. When customers discovered that they could not withdraw any cash it would, of course, have been annoying, but hopefully they at least got a little amusement from this alternative “out of order” sign.

Sometimes customers just like to complain because they like the sound of their own voice. In fact, many complaints are far beyond the worker’s ability to deal with, and in many cases, they don’t have any suitable response. So to avoid getting yet another customer complaint – even though the customer is always right – this pub went and showed its caring side by providing a sign and button to make it look like they cared. If you look closer, however, the red button is situated on a mousetrap!

Zombies are not something you want to mess with, and after seeing shows like The Walking Dead, all preparation is definitely necessary. This gas station knows it, and if you’re a fan of such a show, then you know it too. If you happen to be a zombie skeptic, however, you can at least appreciate the humor of such a sign and the way the gas station has chosen to be creative in getting you to choose them for your gas tank refills.

Some signs are too good to be true. We can all appreciate the importance of bacon, so forget the poems, just come in because, after all, there is bacon. Even the sign behind is sticking to the topic, and it’s clear this restaurant is making their priorities clear.

We may all be used to doing things the way we know best. However, there is a world out there where locals of each country are doing things a bit differently. While it may seem a bit peculiar to the tourist’s eye when traveling to different countries, this sign in Europe has obviously come about after one too many cultural differences have left the locals offended. Taking a stand in their own country, this sign is a reminder to tourists to be a little more polite!

The last thing anyone going for surgery needs is the pressure of getting back to their car before their time limit expires. Seriously, a five minute limit in the surgery parking needs a little explanation for us to understand, and why is there even parking offered in the first place? We know that medical centers aren’t the kindest when offering parking facilities, but this one really takes the bullet. Hopefully, they’re doing a better job inside the operating room, and all their attention has been focused there.