Forbidden project - Part 2

Back to forbidden things to do or bring while entering shops in Ljubljana.

I've doing some research around the city, with very interesting results. I was not sure how to publish this. Should I do a statistical count of forbidden things? Should I just focus on some outstanding cases? Well, let's see, I am not sure yet.

Generally speaking, it is forbidden to smoke inside places. This, we could say, it's the common rule. You won't find a place that forbids to enter walking upside down with your hands, without also forbidding to smoke. So, remember, don't smoke, even on cigar shops!!



Second general rule: Dogs. You can have a dog, that's not a problem. But you cannot bring it into places. You can be with him only at your house, or in the street.

Let's say you come back from work and you want to award your dog with a nice walk. Let's also say that, while your dog is doing his thing under a tree, you notice that wonderful shirt that you wanted to buy on the shop window across the street, with a nice discount on the price. So, you pull the dog's lead and run with him to the shop, to buy the shirt. Here, my friend, is when you have to stop and think. This is "the" crucial moment. Even though you're all excited about the discount, and you get anxious because they might run out of shirts for your size in any second, you have to calm down and carefully watch the shop's door before entering. Look thoroughly. Are you 100% compliant with the rules? Do you have any cigarette lighted in your hand maybe? Or maybe a dog? Do you have a dog with you? Ok! Let's get rid of him, because he cannot come in with you! Unless, of course, you want to push yourself into a violent situation with the employees.
Let's be honest. This rule does not apply only for Ljubljana, it's common to find it in many other cities, specially in food places like bars or restaurants.

But in any case, if you have a shop and find yourself needing to forbid dog's entering on it, would you use this sign?:



Besides the pipe and the roller blade, you have a beautiful little puppet with a red forbidden sign on it. That's not just a dog. It's a little puppet. And if you look closer, you'll see that he's moving his tail. This is mean!! It doesn't just imply that you cannot enter with dogs. They want to emphasize that, even if you have an innocent small, super cute baby puppet willing to play and make new friends, it is FORBIDDEN to let him in. Doesn't matter how cute he is. Yes, that's cruel and, of course, mean.

Same applies to this one:



Again, look at the dog. What does it mean? Does this apply for all dogs? Or they have specifically something against fox terriers? (well, it seems like a fox terrier to me!) It's not clear at all.

But let's put dogs on the side for a moment, and let's focus on other dangerous things that are more specific to Ljubljana. Roller blades, for example.



You will find it's forbidden to enter roller blades almost everywhere. So, why roller blades and not ostentatious multi colored Nike boots, for example? Well, because they are not forbidden based on fashion horrors (although they should be). Since the city has reserved paths, it's common to see people using them everywhere to move around. Everywhere, but on shops. I mean, the idea is great. You want to go to the grocery store, so you put your roller blades on, use the designed path and get there in a couple of minutes. Once there, you have to take them off to enter the shop.
The basic message would be: You can hurt yourself, hurt anybody else or break anything while using them on the street, but don't even think about creating any kind of problems inside my shop. So, even I know it's very uncomfortable for you, if you want to enter, take them off!!
Very impolite, don't you think?

So, up to now, no smoking, no dogs, no roller blades. Anything else? Yes, still a few things to take care of before entering a shop. One of them it's also very common in Ljubljana and if you are into details, you may have noticed a couple of them on previous pictures. Yes, we are talking about ice creams.



I have an explanation. Maybe it's not the right one, but let's give it a try. For what I've seen, people in Ljubljana like ice cream very much. They eat lots of ice cream. During hot season you can buy it everywhere, almost in every corner. Of course, that's only during the hot season. Since here in Ljubljana hot season doesn't last for long, they need to satisfy their need for ice cream in a short period of time.
Why is that a problem? I guess that the problem is not related with people eating ice cream, but with people having ice cream in their hands, but not eating it. It basically melts. And melted ice cream is known to be dangerous.



So, if you want to stay safe, DON'T enter with ice creams!!

Finally, a couple of additional things. Let's say it's ok to have some common rules to avoid problems. But what happens when you get picky?






At the end, you need a tutorial book to enter each place. Sounds a little bit rude. Why being so specific? What do you have against hot dogs or plastic cups? And mobile phones?

Last, but not least, people has its own judgment about what is the right or wrong thing to do in certain places. This was found on the street:



That's it for today!!