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Make sure its LEVEL…
picture this…
I’m a 16 year old trainee signmaker….back in 1984
My boss then Trevor Taylor of Sign Centre Nottm said ‘hey mark…you been here a couple of months now…Go and stick these stickers on the side of the truck in the loading bay… and Make sure its LEVEL
OK..? I can do this…? Simple…? 😀 I Know I’ll use a Spirit Level…Sorted
got a chinagraph drew the line, found centre…everything going to plan
marked centre on the sticker…a bit of soapy water from the spray bottle… BINGO Sticker on the truck as instructed…this is easy…!! Off to see trev :D….’ITS DONE’… I said as please as punch. Trev came in to see it… ‘That not level’??? he quipped
‘I bet you it is’ said me the smart trainee.. (I’d used a spirit Level)…OK what you betting said Trev… I’ll work saturday morning for nowt… or you pay me double.. Trev Laughed and said OK, I’ll take the truck outside so we can have a good look…’OK’. He took it out and the sticker were ‘miles
out’ of level… 😥 whats happened 😥 Trev pointed… THE LOADING BAY FLOOR SLOPED ALOT 😳 😳 ….That Saturday Trev couldn’t stop smiling…But he still paid me…What a lesson to learn.I’ve got loads of stories like this amassed over the 19 years…
Signs on the wrong shop in Kirkaldy…Still makes me smile that one does..
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10 Replies
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When we started out we had a sign shop on the second floor in the city centre.
We sat opposite a multi-storey car park. So when a van had to fit at our premises it was fitted in the car park.
Cutting it short, the guy comes in wants his van lettered that day. No worries give us a few hours. Away he went shopping with his wife, left the keys and you will see the white transit on second floor over in the right corner.Can you see where this is going yet? 🙄
Van lettered and we stand back admiring… hey! We hear shouted behind us..
That’s not my van. This one is.. On the right. That’s left! 😮 😮Ive 14 years in the trade mate and I know I have tons of stories like this..
Lets hear some from the other “so called pros” of the past lol…
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Our signwriter had to do a 50′ banner that read simply
“AWAY IN A MANGER”What did our intrepid signwriter do………………..
“AWAY IN A MANAGER”
I still don’t let him forget that one 30 years after he did it!
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…one I’ve fallen fooul of a few times is…
when the customer hasn’t furnished the tel number for a new business (waiting for British Telecom to supply a number) then I use my own (or a made-up one) to ‘fill-in’ the blanks on the drawings…then I forget to update this nearer completion date – the drawing file becomes a cutting file and the van ends up with either my own (or a fictitious) number on it!…duh!!!
…havn’t made this mistake for years now – but it’s never too late eh!
more soon
mikethesign
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😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 mike we did this last week… 😮 😮 should i be admiting this? 🙁
very nice van.. all the trimmings… if you need a building contractor call.. 1234 678910
if only we owned that phone number eh? 🙄
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We put tramps trunking distibution
on both sides of a lorry…It was on for about 8 months before anyone noticed it… -
god i feel like we are the cowboy sign maker from hell now.. 😮 😆 😆
that one mark said has just jogged my memory on another one..
andrew that works with me once put “professional strippers” on the side of a painter and decorators van… the guy called laughing saying hes never had so many calls for work.. 😆 😆
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Did a sign for a push bike shop, spelt bicycle wrong “Bicyle” it was up 18 months before anyone noticed 😆
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😮 😮 😮 😮 😮 😮 14 years of making signs for robert lambie.
do you think ive ever had a problem with a miss spelled sign?tut tut, shame on you all.. i dont know what your talking about 😉 😉 😆
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We once did a sign for a local clothes outlet, the name of the shop was FLICK FASHION, got one of the then new lads to apply vinyl lettering. The letters were rather large and due to his lack of experience applied the letters two at a time. The ‘I’ was placed far too close to the ‘L’, so i’ll leave for you to work out how the sign read!. 😀 😀 😀
Cheers
Danny -
Maybe that was the inspiration for the FCUK advertising.
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