Wings, a Coke and Grammar

On Saturday, my family ventured to Station 43 in Aurora for some savory chicken wings. Despite the half-price special on a delectable item, very few people seemed to be dining in. We were seated immediately and ordered a few baskets of wings and some fountain drinks. After our waitress took our orders and our menus, I noticed the placemats sitting on the table (see picture below). The words “Open Sunday’s for Breakfast,” at the top of the placemat, jumped out at me. I figured someone had just overlooked the minor grammatical mistake, so without any hard feelings, I continued to scan the rest of the placemat. After about 15 seconds, I noticed that someone had added an apostrophe “s” to every day of the week. Questioning the intelligence and carelessness of the “proof-reader,” I then noticed that on November 5^th, Station 43 served “$2 Margarita’s and Corono’s.” Seriously? I could not believe what I was reading. The “author” of the placemat had not only, once again, confused plurals and possessives, but also misspelled a common brand of beer. I soon began to wonder how many people dine at Station 43 and notice this poorly written placemat in front of them. I wondered if it was carelessness or lack of intelligence that allowed for a placemat with glaring grammatical errors to be printed. In either case I find it completely unacceptable. Am I too impatient and critical? After finishing a delicious serving of wings, amidst mild frustration, I returned home and looked through the large pile of mail on the counter. A bright, lime-green brochure jumped out at me, so I began to sift through the seemingly endless number of magazines my mom receives on a daily basis. After a minute of sifting, I located the green flyer and read, “we will plow if there is 2 inches’ of snow or more.” Again? Another problem with possessives and plurals? Another grammatical error? Wow. I understand this is for a plow truck driver, but I feel as though any business owner, regardless of profession, should have the ability to proofread, spell check, differentiate between possessives and plurals and match subjects with verbs. If owners lack these capabilities, then they should find people who understand the basics of the English language and will proof-read their documents. Is this too much to ask? I’m still not certain if my impatience and frustration with grammatical errors stem from a year and a quarter of striving for AP English stickers, or if, I just cannot tolerate the ignorance and stupidity which seem to pervade our society.