HEY OBAMA! and related nerd rage.Follow

So it's political season, signs of it are popping up everywhere. One in particular caught my eye. On my walk to the bus I pass by the main intersection in town where the old highway makes a 'T' with main st. There's a small computer repair place there, with the following posted in large letters in the window.

"HEY OBAMA. I built my business myself you lousy incompetent excuse for a President!"

It got a chuckle out of me the first time I passed it, being as the area is rather liberal, and the sign was sure to ruffle some feathers. Apparently he's had numerous angry notes left for him, got into a few heated arguments in his store, and was slapped by an old lady who came in demanding he take the sign down. This morning while walking by I noticed there was another rather large sign propped up informing the store owner he was an "incompetent idiot who just lost half of his customers." Anyway this got me thinking whether or not something like that was true. That this was the kind of thing that would keep people from buying from someone?

So here's the question: if a small business placed a strongly worded political sign in their window, which you disagreed with, would you take your business elsewhere?



Oh and for the record, I'm not a customer, but if I was this I don't see this keeping me away.

If he can explain his stance rationally then I would still shop there, even if I don't agree with it. If they just go off on a rant then I will do my shopping elsewhere. Besides it raises a red flag for me when a business owner starts to rant about politics that don't directly affect his business.

Political views are one thing. Idiocy is another. I can tolerate the former, but that guy sounds more like the latter.

We are in the midst of a national news story regarding Chick-fil-A and this very subject, yet it took this yokel's sign to pique your curiosity?

Obviously on the same train of thought, but...

1) Small business being different in some people's eyes, compared to a national chain.

2) We don't have Chick-fil-A around these parts.

3) What Joph said as well...


Edited, Aug 17th 2012 8:59am by someproteinguy

I probably wouldn't go if it was deliberately incendiary, like this one was. But yeah, a simple sign for a political opponent isn't enough to deter me.

Depends on a few things. If the business is the best at what they do in town, I won't care so much. Given that the business in question is a computer repair place, and I'm more than capable of doing all that stuff on my own, then he would never see any business from me.

I chose "variables" because it does depend on degree. I wouldn't care about the sentiment he expresses except that he does seem a bit loony about it. That I disagree with his stance, or more accurately think that he missed the point of the President's observation, is not that troubling. As others have pointed out, the inflammatory tone is off-putting. If I had an alternative place to go for the same goods/services, I'd give them a try and make a decision based on the quality of work.

This. It's not the politics that bother me, it's the overtly aggressive stupidity that does the trick. Somebody should cut his power and see how he does without infrastructure.

The appropriate response to that guy is "Get a job." Since if that was liberal screed, that's what everyone would be shouting as they drove by.

Don't care at all. I chose "Politics.. meh".

Even though I don't agree with that sign, I don't see a problem with it. I see how people maybe offended by it, but I equate it (relatively, not literally) to a Romney 2012 sign. Just like with CFA, if GOV Romney says XY and Z about President Obama and you support GOV Romney, then there's a possibility of that person supporting SOME of those very things.

I say possibility as it is possible to support GOV Romney and be pro-choice for example. However, without a said sign explicitly stating your political views, there's no way of knowing. Because of that, I treat this no differently than someone choosing to eat or not to eat at CFA.

Of course the biggest difference is that this sign in question is pretty straight forward.

Yes, I agree that it is entirely untrue. Unfortunately, we have that "freedom" to express our stupidity in a public forum.

This x8