Anyone who has spent time in the sign industry knows that the job rarely goes exactly as planned. From unusual jobsite conditions to unexpected encounters and head-scratching discoveries, sign professionals often find themselves with stories that sound too strange to be true. The ISA Content Collective members share their most memorable on-the-job moments. Their responses are a reminder that no two days in the sign business are ever quite the same.
What's the strangest on-the-job "field moment" you've ever had?
Sales Manager
Art Display Company
Early in my career, I was working on an out-of-town installation at a hospital in the Midwest. Because space was limited, the facilities team set us up in a workroom inside the morgue. For the rest of the week, we shared both the service elevators and our workspace with the hospital’s morgue staff and their regular deliveries. It certainly made for an interesting work environment.
Senior Sign Consultant
Creative Sign Company
My installation team was completing a sign refresh when they discovered that someone had used Christmas lights inside a sign cabinet to illuminate it.
President & COO
Creative Signs Inc.
One of our installers had to climb over a barbed-wire fence to install a sign in the middle of a pasture, with a herd of bulls nearby. He spent the entire installation with one eye on the hole he was digging and the other on the bulls, hoping none of them decided to take an interest in construction. Thankfully, the sign went in perfectly, the bulls remained unimpressed, and everyone made it back over the fence in one piece. It’s a good reminder that no two days in the sign industry are ever the same.
Director of Operations
Allen Industries
The strangest field moment for me was driving around in the middle of the night making sure sign on/off switches were set correctly.
Sales Manager
Signarama-Sandy
We once had a general contractor accuse our installers of stealing equipment and tools from a jobsite. Our team would never do something like that, and frankly, the tools we use are much better quality. The contractor demanded to search our truck, and of course found nothing. Later it turned out someone else had taken the tools before we even arrived on site. Needless to say, we never worked with that contractor again.
Senior Project Manager
Identiti
Breakdowns often come from unclear milestone expectations and a lack of communication when customers, architects or engineers make changes. A regular touch-base meeting, plus asking customers to document changes by email and updated plans, can save time and money.
The ISA Content Collective is a group of ISA members who regularly contribute their thoughts on a wide variety of topics related to the sign, graphics, print, wrap and visual communications industry. Interested in joining? Email sandy.smith@signs.org. Must be an employee of an ISA or affiliated association member to participate.
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