Taco Hell

I went to Taco Bell for lunch one day last week. I noticed upon entering the store that stuck onto the glass door was a sticker that said "Caution Wet Floor." It was stuck as permanently on the glass as the hours of operation and the credit cards accepted.


So I walk in to find a fairly clean but dry floor. There were no "wet floor" signs out, for the floor was not wet. I half-way expected to see a leak of some sort that would warrant a permanent "wet floor" sign on the entry door. So as I'm eating my taco, I'm pondering this. Either the staff is too lazy to put out a sign when they mop, or Pepsico Corporation has had to dumb down the store operations so much that they just keep up a wet floor sign in case someone spills a drink and the employees don't mop it up in a timely manner.


The only reason any store puts out a wet floor signs anyway is to avoid a lawsuit. If you walk by a wet floor sign, (which is also in Spanish and has a visual of someone slipping if you are illiterate) and slip on a wet floor, their attorneys will say you were warned and you were careless. It's merely CYA.


So is it right to put on the door "Caution Wet Floor?" I don't think so. It's like they are saying "upon entering our 1000 square feet of retail space, you may find wet floors somewhere,or you may not, but consider yourself warned because we will fight any lawsuit." They have shifted the burden of conscientiousness from the management to the customer. Not that I go around slipping and sliding, seeing if I can sue someone. I don't' want to fall and hurt myself. But I think posting a sign on the entry door about a situation which may or may not be present is over-the-top lazy and deceptive.


A better sign would be "Caution: you may or may not receive your order correctly, we may or may not be out of ice when you want to get a drink, and we will most likely treat you with a surly demeanor." At least that sign would be honest.