SHUT UPPP

I've said this before, and if you are just that bored I invite you to backtrack like an entire year to find it, but it bears repeating. I am SO ANNOYED by the "marketing" strategy that involves real human people standing by the side of the road waving a sign at me. Bonus points if the bosses put the poor guy in a costume. It used to just be the guys at Jiffy Lube who would send the new guy down to the curb to hold up the big "$19.99 OIL CHANGE" sign which was sort of a form of hazing, but now it's a little out of control. Restaurants, gyms, mechanics, tax places, weight loss clinics, stores, it seems like ANYBODY with a business is jumping on the sign-spinning spectacle bandwagon these days. For instance, I saw a person in a firefighter suit today down at Firehouse Subs, pretty much just desperately trying to use their sign for shade and trying not to choke on the exhaust fumes of all the traffic zooming by on 1431. It seems like every other place has some person out there, sometimes waving, sometimes dancing, or, in the case of the guys who advertise a new housing development in north Austin, just sitting there in lawn chairs under their umbrellas. I don't understand how this improves business; maybe it's all the times I've seen bums with signs or interrupting my daily walk to/from class, etc. to ask if I can spare some change but I'm instantly turned off by this. Especially when it's freaking hot outside and you just feel pity for the person with the awkward job of dancing around by a dangerous roadside with a sign. Especially especially when it's a teenage boy dressed in a "Wendy from Wendy's" costume, complete with red yarn pigtail wig. I'll just keep on driving, thanks.