Signs like 'Please don't flush the paper towels' and 'Employees must wash hands' exist because someone, somewhere, did exactly the wrong thing. James looks at what everyday posted rules reveal about human behavior when people think no one is watching. Every little sign turns out to be a tiny story about a real moment that made someone grab a marker.

Links referenced in this episode:

• jamesabrown.net

This is the Daily note from jamesabrown.net Signs tell you what people do when no one's watching.

Please don't flush the paper towels.

Means someone flushed paper towels and it didn't turn out well.

Employees must wash hands.

Means someone didn't wash their hands and they got caught.

Recently, I saw a sign in a grocery store that caught me off guard.

No vaping.

No smoking in the bathroom.

I haven't considered either, but the image of someone at a urinal or washing their hands while vaping made me chuckle.

I doubt it happened that way, but someone probably did something like that, and likely more than one person.

Every posted rule is a tiny history lesson.

You know of something that's probably still happening.

So what do you think?

Brown and as place be well.