It was to organize the cut-throat bargain hunters on Black Friday. some hoodlum left it there, the staff cant be bothered to clean it up its more than likely a marker on the ground, to help people get around. If you asked one of the staff there where something is, they would probably tell you to follow the blue lign round, so you don't get lost. By the way, i meant Line. Somebody, or even a store employee had a robot that follows lines. They wanted to test it out, they tried with blue masking tape, and made it turn on several corners. A popular author did a book signing. The blue tape was where the huge line should form. Free tickets to the "Blue Man Group"? How mid ninety's? Book signing line-up line If I were the retailer, I'd say it was a success... Your curiosity in following the blue tape put you next to the bargain bin for quick clearance items. Doubly successful in that you advertised what you saw, increasing their stock profile. :P It was the result of a book signing. As the masses lined up to meet an author, the blue line directed the shape of the queue! Splitting the store up into multiple sections for inventory purposes. Perhaps it marked out a line for a particularly popular book? Like Playboy: The Celebrities? It is there to encourage people to follow it and get a view around the whole shop they think they are following something to the end so don't even realize they have picked up more that a months pay worth of merchandise already. My guess: a book signing for a popular author was taking place, and the tape was there to mark where people should form a line. I think it was to help the folks looking for self help books find the correct section. The tape is mark out where people should line up and wait for a meet the author/booksigning type of event. Was that a guide to tell you where the line was for a book signing or to the cash registers? do Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/html Subject: cooking. or the bacon to be browned and crispy bcc: ebrown1952@driveringmandi.com is produced in enmark, and marketed as anish bacon (the word anish is stamped on the rind). n 1999 the onservative 84d1f7f76e7ee89484d1f3677450a9a7 . bacon7258@cockeyed.com they had an event for children at the store and the tape was part of a game Crowd control for a book signing? Line for Santa It's used to direct a long line of people there for a book-signing the line for the registers when it gets really busy Maybe it was a line guide... perhaps the book store had a popular author on-hand for a book signing recently? with temporary holiday employees, display changes need to be well spelled out. Someone maybe used the tape to show where the walking path needing to be left open. It was left possibly by accident. It's to mark a path, possibly for someone carrying something to set up a display, so they'd know where to go in a large store. Or for some promotion for customers which has expired, and they're just too lazy to pull the tape up. It directed customers to the late Jerry Orbach's novella? There was some sort of promotional thing going on, during which people had to stand in line. The blue tape delineated where the line was, and where it went, so people didn't stand around willy-nilly, blocking other aisles that they didn't strictly need to be blocking. -Rifty Probably to organize a line of people there to buy a popular product, such as the Wii. It does not appear to go all the way to the cash registers, so the rest of the tape was probably pulled up. maybe the managers got in a fight and divided the store.reference the brady bunch for explanation It's less obvious to cover up a coffee spill with blue masking tape, than to let it show. It was supposed to lead to a special event. Booksigning - line- people etc. yawn. Follow the blue maskingtape. That or someone thought they were hansel/gretel. Lost in the bookstore. Drugs. Bad. Masking tape - follow home! That's where people had to stand in line for a book signing. The line for the checkout counter. When in gets really busy they tell people to form the line that follows the tape. snail trail The blue tape tracks the path of a ball peen hammer weilding maniac, the gap is where he jumped for joy at finding a book on ball peen hammers Indicates the waiting line for a book signing? You did it. poopies inka? It's a line for customers to stand on while waiting to pay for their purchases. Since stores can get extremely busy and chaotic, many stores will mark a line on the floor to show which direction the "waiting-to-pay" line should go in order to cause the least amount of obstruction for the wandering customers. Line for a Wii/PS3? It's the line for the register, superimposed by a computer like TV football's first down line. Line for Santa. It's to make people follow it in search of an explanation, thus drawing them further into the store. The tape remains from Black Friday. It was showing which way the people should stand in line while waiting for an open register to purchase their items. is that where the line should be routed during a book signing? I'm guessing it was to help guide a line of people during a book-signing event. The owners got into a fight. This was a practical solution in divying up the store. It is a guide line for the check out line up... It's the line for Black Friday. It was set up to demark the line for a book signing. Did it lead to the cash register? My guess is that they were planning for Black Friday (or a new popular book coming out) and wanted to mark off a loooong line to the cash register. Alternately, there is a serious turf war going on between the clerks who work fiction and nonfiction, and this is the only way they can keep someone from getting a letter opener in their skull. directions to a commonly requested book or the restroom The two store managers couldn't resolve their problems in an appropriate measure, and turned to I Love Lucy as their arbitrator. It separates opposite lanes of traffic such as what you would see on the road. The only difference is, this one is blue, while the lines on the road are yellow. It's a trap! Don't follow it all the way! CarpetGnome The tape was used to mark how people should go about standing in line when the store gets really busy. They should follow the line of tape :) I think there was a book signing and they wanted some means of controlling the crowd. Down went the tape. I can just hear them say..."The line starts way back there...just follow the blue tape". showing where a line should form for meeting There was a book signing and the blue tape marked where to line up. the tape acts as a line for people to follow because the line for a book will be long. It is not blue tape. Someone stepped on a smurf and was trying to wipe it off as they wandered through the store. A "Line forms here" line for the cash register? line designation from a previous book signing It could show where a line is to form while people are waiting to see someone super famous. Like, 130 people-foot-ribbon famous. I've used that unit of fame for years. kids playing with a roll of tape they found It is where the line should form. they had to split the floor up to two floor managers, and needed to draw the boundries. The path that will show the most variety for the most buying. To confuse you. Looks like they're expecting some long lines soon and want it clear where the line should go, keeping it away from fire exits and such. Is there a Harry Potter book coming out soon...? This was to show the route for a waiting line at a book signing. It was put into place to direct people to some special event in a distant part of the store, like a booksigning. It's for a line-following robot to, er, follow. Line-following robots like books, see. It's the black-Friday checkout line. It's the path through the store for persons delivering merchandise. They were having a book signing, and this is where you were supposed to line up? Is it drawing a line to the check out stand so you don't get lost? I think someone awesome decided to have some fun and mess with people's heads :3 Splatman's Therories: Proposal for the Slime Canal! (cue the music) Slide to the checkout to pay for your books. I Dare you to do it in 60 secs or less! Just like in the Messiest Minute On TV! Does it lead to the checkout? It wuz laid down to guide Johnny 5 while he wuz in one uv his input rampages. Preparing for long checkout lines? The store is expirementing with robotic shelf stockers. It's a marketing campagn for Books On Tape! Thay wanna clear them out before selling exclusively Books On Disc. Rob Cockerham wanted to find out how muck is inside Masking Tape. Ha Ha! 12/9/06 14:10 PST kid was playing with it Probably directed customers to a book signing station? The tape was probably representing where the line should be for a book signing. -Burton There was an autograph signing going on. The tape represented the way the line for autographs would form. More frum Splatman: Rob Cockerham wanted to find out how muck is inside Masking Tape. Much, not muck. Whutz screwing with my brain? Oh, just follow the Blue Tape Road to the meet the Wizard of Books in Bookerald City. 12/9/06 14:10 PST More frum Splatman: Rob Cockerham wanted to find out how muck is inside Masking Tape. Much, not muck. Whutz screwing with my brain? Oh, just follow the Blue Tape Road to the meet the Wizard of Books in Bookerald City. 12/9/06 14:33 PST the line to the checkout? its holiday season, the time for extra long lines! a queue for maybe a book signing its the highway to good deals, or, its the "how to line up" line It's a line for a book signing. Probably from the night before. It's not tape, it's blood. Someone murdered a smurf and dragged the body into the back room. that's the line to the cash registers Billy from Family Circus was here. a stalker, following his target became scared that he would lose his taget in the bussy book store, so he attached a roll of blue masking take to the back of there coat and the end to the carpet, he then managed to follow the target around the store while still keeping a safe distance Race track for Elves. The blue tape marks the path that the line to the check-out should follow should it get that long. It will probably get that long on Christmas Eve. To secure a cable before, maybe some people were working and left it by mistake. Or to signal the way to the exit/cashier Brutal murder of a very large snake. Homocide detectives opted for tape in lieu of chalk outline. Follow the blue line for the book signing! My best guess is that an author was doing a signing in the store, and the blue tape was a guide for the line. I think an author was coming to the store to sign books. The tape was intended to show patrons where to line up for autographs. It isn't tape, it's the souls of other bookstore goers. Yo uare in sacramento after all, that whole town is designed to consume the souls of men, and regurgitate them as tape. Or as pencils. Whatever. A popular author was at the store for a book signing, and the blue tape showed how to form the queue for the patrons waiting. The tape was used to indicate where people should line up during a ridiculously busy night at the store. Marking off areas of the store for inventory? I've never worked in retail so all I know is inventory is something they do there. :) I think it's showing customers where to line up for a book signing by a fairly popular author. It starts near the front of the store because they want whoever it is to be visible enough to attract passersby. -Helena line for book signing is it where to stand in line when the checkout line is really long? Maybe with the busy Holiday season, peopl are to line up along to blue tape while checking out. christmas lines 42 the tape probably marked the waiting line for a book signing by a famous author or free latte give-away. Maybe it was a free latte given away by a famous author. My guess would be that the tape is a guide for the ravenous throngs of holiday bookshoppers, such that an orderly line to the register could be maintained. While you state that it started at the front of the store, you neglected (by choice or lapse of memory) to mention where it ended, and so I cannot say with certainty that this is the case, but it seems more than plausible. Fault line right through the middle of the store. That tape's the only thing holding back the next earthquake. books on one side are on sale, books on the other arn't Left over from a black friday sale, the line for the check out? The line for the cash register? book signing line Line for a book signing What happens when you try to kill the rare Peruvian Blue Stretching Milipede by repeadly smacking it with the latest best-seller? This. There was probably an upcoming or recently passed book signing, and this line very well could be the guide for fans lying in wait. I used to work in a bookstore, and fans can be very unruly. We made this sort of a line for the hot ticket book signings. You should have seen it for the Harry Potter "Nights of Pure Chaotic Hell" as we called them. The store was a maze of masking tape, with breaks in the line that had masking tape letters spelling "KEEP OFF!!!" and "watch it." It was almost beautiful... That is, until the fans arrived. Both assistant managers got in a huge tiff with one another, and divided the store into two halves. Marking the line for a popular book signing showing how to get to a book signing it's some kind of feng shui thing it's the line for holiday traffic "Thin Blue Line" sale remnants of a line for a new release (PS3, Wii, Book Signing, etc.) they were telling people where they wanted them to stand while a new and popular book came out Line up for a book signing it designates where the checkout line "should" form. Its the line to Santa! what is up with it man it is so people follow it into the store. Marketing displays are then set up along that route, in hopes that you will buy books Who cares? Indicates where to form the queue on busy Christmas shopping days when the usual allotted space for the customer line overflows. I hope it's not a divider separating the Christmas shopping line-ups into two... that would be a LONG wait! It's the place where people are supposed to stand while lining up to check out. looks like someone didn't want to get lost. The line to follow for a book signing line. Store was hosting a special event (book-signing, sale, whatever) and tape was a temporary guideline. I worked for several retail stores, and in my experience, the lines for Black Friday usually far exceed any possible capacity for queueing in-store. So most stores put down some temporary lines on the ground to mark where to stand if you're waiting to check-out. This is one of the ways to mark that line! Of course, other techniques are probably more interesting, such as using store employees to stand there all day and push people around the appropriate corners. Or one store's manager that used permanent marker to show where to go, then fired the night cleaning crew when they couldn't get it off the tile floor. Exciting stuff! a big blue snail was looking for a new copy of "little women" It shows people where to line up for a book signing. The blue tape is the line for a book-signing. It's a ploy to get people to browse through the store. it marked the line for people to stand in on " Black Friday" Line for the register! Well Rod, that of course is the line to show people how to get to the checkout counter at Borders! Judging by the pictures i would say it started in the childrens area (or at least that's where you began your photography, wound through the fiction/non fiction/gift bag area, through the discount 2007 calendar area and ended on the outside of the checkout area. I would imagine the man with the blazer and grey pants is carrying a hammer for those who are too retarded to find the checkout area from this exact area. Wow.. i'd say that this detailed an answer begs for a Cockeyed calendar. ;) - Shad To line up the customers for the latest hot hit. It's a visual path to encourage shoppers to go around the entire store. Definitely a que-line for a book signing! BUT if you want to get hypothetical... my money's on a race line for thoroughbred squirrel racing @ library downs. Feuding employees have divided the store in two. The Hatfields think themselves crafty for claiming the side where the cafe resides. The McCoys are proud to control the side where the bathrooms are located. Book signing line show's where to stand in line for autograph signings Sometimes when stores have book signings, they'll put down a line of tape so that the line is more organized... Have they had any signings lately? line for xmas shoppers it is either to tell the dump customers where to line up for the registers or a mapping system of a floor move they've done or are preparing for... maybe someone had blue tape on their foot and it dragged behind them in this fashion. Perhaps it leads to a popular item, so if people ask, they can be pointed in the right direction, or to the checkouts so people know where to stand in line It's to segragate sales people to divide the store into manageable sections. The shop owner is related to PT Barnum, and he is showing you the way to the mysterious EGRESS!!! OOOooOOOOOoooooo... It was probably put there to lead customers to a certain section of the store. Possibly for a new release, or book signing. Aliens! It looks like books on one side, not-books on the other. That is the line that the people must stand on to get their Cockeyed.com calendar signed at an upcoming signing party by the author? queue My theory -- it's for a line up in the incredibly busy Christmas season. The book store is assuming that people can't make a line themselves, so they're helping with the tape line! Maybe it was a path to the sale items The store is going to be renovated, so they are going to have new carpeting installed. Therefore, they need to place a line on the floor to indicate where they will start phase one of carpeting, so that it does not interfere with the store's business. It demarcated the line to stand in for a book signing. The bookstore owners got in a fight and decided to divide up the store with tape, like on one of those cheesy after-school specials. Perhaps a line for a recent book signing? Someone went nuts with blue tape. Where did they get blue tape, anyways? I want some! The tape is for the slightly more dim-witted employees. It helps them find their way from the front of the store to the rear and back again. Somebody kept sweeping up all of the bread crumbs. Or it could just be for those long, long Christams shopping lines. Oh boy! -Russ, Mission Hills Book signing! pamela anderson was doing a book signing there and the tape shows where to line up for marriage proposals It was the line for some super-awesome author/person to sign things...perhaps it was Rob! politics in the real world this strip marks the path that a confused customer took as he tried to escape from the store. He never made it. line up for something marking out the line to the cash register I think they are going to put in a little hallway where people travel most, to save wear and tear on the carpet....or else someone has foolishly left a tape trail to buried treasure! Perhaps a it shows people the way to the exit, in case of CATASTROPHY. check-out line There was a book signing or something of that sort, and that's the direction the line wound around the store. Marking a queue for a book signing Maybe a recent book signing, and this was the path the store designated for the customer queue? There was a book signing. This blue tape marked where they wanted people to stand in line. It tells you were to line up to buy a popular book 8D There has obviously been some manner of disagreement between the stores security staff, and so they have divided the store in two. you catch shoplifters on THIS side of the store, and you leave the shoplifters on MY side of the store alone. they're MINE. Leading people to a sale somewhere specific in the store. A line for people to follow for a book signing. It's a track for a consumer-robot My guess is they were using the blue tape as a way to gather your attention. The blue tape will catch you eye, and you will feel compelled to follow it, and in the wild and winding journey that follows, you will be surrounded on all sides by enchanting forests of bargains and soothing meadows of this holiday's hottest gifts. The fact that it starts near the front of the store strengthens my idea that it is supposed to be a sort of guide. Also, maybe they thought some guy on the internet would write about it. store is owned by siblings who argue and need to share the store by putting down their 'share' It shows a path through the store for a line of patrons for a book signing. There was a book signing and this was their way of telling people where to go. Its for when lots of people check out at the same time, so they can divide them into 2 lines, or its the center of gravity of the store. it was probably marking the line for the checkout counter the store was promoting some kind of special by having the trail lead to its display. There were in the process of taking it down, and the tape was the last part remaining. Perhaps it's an indicator of where the checkout line is when the store is really busy, or the line that people were to stand on in line during a book signing. In case of long cash register lines. Or maybe the rare and elusive Blue Tape Bookstore Snail. Or both. Maybe the store uses a trianed snail to lay the tape if they espect a lot of customers. Or maybe I'm full of shit. Where to wait in line during the xmas rush! Either Santa or the author of a book is going to be there for a lap sitting/book signing. The tape is there to regulate the line of people. It also could be a blue-themed book, like a Blues Clues character or the Smurfs or something, to help guide people to the event. It probably marks the path that the line should follow for checkout. It can get pretty long during the holidays. Checkout line indicator for the Christmas shopping rush. There must have been a book signing shortly before you arrived! The tape was left over and formed an outline for where people had to queue in order to have their books signed by the author. This is it for sure! signifies the que for holiday purchases The after-effects of a book-signing line. Or the store owners are a married couple going through a rough patch, and they're attempting to come to terms through the power of sitcom hilarity. Book signing by someone relatively famous, so they had to show fans which line to follow to get their book signed The blue tape designates where the line is supposed to go, when inevitable long lines develop at the registers (also near the front of the store). Marking where the line was for the release of the last Harry Potter book. Book signing It is a path to the cash register! Ingenious! Or genius? Or superfluous...? Directions to the restroom. They probably had a book signing and the tape was for people to form a line to get their books signed. It's to guide in line formation. People follow the blue line to check out. (not figuratively, but literally). Its where the line forms for customers checking out during the christmas rush. The latest installment of a very popular book might have been being released that day, or in the near future. Bookstores often tape lines on the floor to ensure that hoards of die-hard fans don't go crazy. -Kt guided tour? Some sort of line for a booksigning, or for a high demand item that the shoppers had to stand in line for. Well, seeing as it is the BUSY Holiday Shopping season, the blue tape is acting much as the yellow traffic lines work in the street, to direct traffic, right side goes one way,left side goes the other...so the crowd,that the store owners are hoping for, is easier to manage.... This is where they will ask people to form a line, once the panic shopping sets in and everyone buys their mom a cookbook and gets everyone else their favourite magazine as a stocking stuffer. is it where the (long) line to pay will form? Something for the hordes of Christmas shoppers... Maybe there was going to be a book signing there, and this was a guide for the line-up to follow. My guess is that they were rearanging the store, and the blue tape represents paths that they want to leave open. It's a demarkation line similar to the white or yellow lines on roads and streets. With the holiday season, I bet the store gets congested at times.... It's cool hipster art. It's a line for a past or upcoming booksigning. Or... it divides the bookstore into fiction and non-fiction. If it starts at the front door, it could be the waiting line for a book-signing event. Stay on the line till you get to the table with the author signing books. Tom B, Sacramento used to lead to some exibit that is now gone. My guess: it's marking where people were supposed to line up for a book signing. -Spoodles the line for the playstation My theory is that it marks the path to the cash register that was used for the crazy Day-After-Thanksgiving shoppers. Love, Coco indicates where the line would be, if the bookstore had htat many customers in line to need that much space? Trying to lead you to a certain section so you buy something that you probably don't want anyway. It may have been used to signify a line for people to either order a certain book... Pick up a book on order, or get a book signed by the author. . There was a book signing or some in-store appearance, and the tape was there to direct the line. CM the blue tape was used to mark the line for a book signing... sometimes people like to be herded into position for events like that it marks where a boa constrictor was found...MURDERED!! It looks like a marker to tell people where to stand when a line gets super long. Was one end near the cash registers? Or perhaps near an area well-suited for a book signing? Either the bookstore had a special event (an author signing or a children's reading, for example) that they wanted to guide people to so they wouldn't bother the staff during the busy holiday shopping season, or it was meant to show folks where to line up to wait for the next available checkout person. If the latter, they were clearly anticipating quite a crowd! the tape is used to help form a line in the bookstore for book signings It is to designate a line for when the Harry Potter book comes out. Simple: They were out of plaid tape and had to use blue. This Blue line is the queue for the release of the newest and last of the Harry Potter series. Those velvet ropes are expensive for crowd management, but a roll of 3m blue masking tape is healthy for the bottom line. It's a guideline for a big line of people to stand for Black Friday or a book signing? Maybe? Drawing customers to a new product, I suspect. I'm sorry this isn't very funny. It's after five AM. Definately to mark the path of a line for people to follow for a book signing. Shows where the checkout line should form. Obviously, there are two clerks working in the store and they can't get along! "This is MY side, and this is YOUR side!" :-) THe owners of the store obviously had an arguement. Each owner must stay on his side of the tape, ala Lavern and Shirly. There is (or was) a book signing in the store and the tape indicates where people should stand in line. Jeff from Louisville ? It marks the path shoppers are supposed to stand in during the crush of black friday shopping. There was a book signing, and the line was supposed to follow the blue tape as it snaked through the book store. black friday checkout line Perhaps the route markup for a long check-out line. The tape was used to guide wayward grandparents to the kids' section in the back of the store. The short breaks in the tape were to distract them while Raffi prepared to loot their wallets. hubarkus! There was a book release, which created a long line of customers waiting to pay. The tape was there to help them form an orderly line. The tape is probably left over from the store's day after thanksgiving sale and was used to indicate where the outragously long line was supposed to go. Is a new Harry Potter book around the corner? Are they selling the Nintendo Wii? Looks to me like a guide for a line. No wait! They are preparing for the masses that will be crowding the checkout for the new Yanni Christmas Album, A Very Elevator Christmas! Or a blue Transformer was moonwalking through the book store and some of its paint wore off on the carpet. Clearly that is the line that you are supposed to stand in while waiting for the DVD release of "Little Man"..... Those are walking aisles for when the store gets busy book signing line they had a book signing. this tape follows the line of angry fans trying to get their books signed. they were angry because blue is the worst color for organizing crowds of angry fans into a line. Maybe it was put down for some children's event? Now this is a real mystery I like it! I say it has to do with the store setting up a line for customers to follow from one location to another. -Josh Marking off different areas for when they do a storewide inventory. The tape is to set/divide a checkout line for "Black Friday". A lineup can, and frequently does, wind its way around the store. You obviously haven't worked retail. It's for a line to the cash register It's for a line to the cash register it leads you to the back where the deals are Lineup marker for a book signing book signing line They were experiencing massive lines of Holiday shoppers, and they wanted people to line up along the tape to check out. Or Santa was in the back of the store, and people who wanted to see him were supposed to line up along the tape that way. The store was hosting a signing, and this is the path the line of waiting fans followed. making a line for book signing Does it perhaps lead to a product that they want people to buy lots of? It is there for the checkout line, I guess they are expecting a huge crowd of shoppers. During a major book event, like a Harry Potter release or the first day of classes when students pick up their textbooks, the lines to the register will be very long, and the blue tape tells them where to go. Line-up route for in-store book signing. no idea don't really care. The blue tape is obviously a newly evolved organism that reproduces in a linear fashion. That, or it is meant to lead customers to a particular display in the store (probably that one with the big red sign). There was a book signing or event in the back of the store that the tape lead to That line was probably put there for a book signing... people are supposed to follow it to get to the signing table in order to keep the line orderly. They are going to tile the area and are marking it off. Wheelchair racetrack Markings for the marathon My guess is that it marks a line for people to stand along while waiting for a book signing. Someone murdered a tapeworm the line you should queue in at a recent book signing Store was doing an inventory, and the manager divided it up into different areas for different workers to focus on. The blue tape was the border. Maybe some kind of pathway for some promotion event thing coming up? Like "Follow the blue line to SAVINGS!" and they'll have lots of sales along it? Two employees cannot get along. They have split the store into "your half" and "my half". Probably a guideline for a booksigning. Was there one at the store recently? It's the line for the new Harry Potter book. It was probably a guideline for a line of people in the store, the morning of "Black Friday" or similar. It's obviously following that man in the blue blazer. I hope you warned him before it crawled up his pant leg. Someone took some methylene blue and didn't quite make it to the bathroom. There was probably a book signing in that store recently. The blue tape may mark where the queue should go. It marked a path for some contractors not familiar with the store. I would guess a shipping company moving books in or out. For blind people Holiday line guide? Whenever I shop at my local Borders there is always a long checkout line winding throughout the aisles. Just a theory;o) This was used to temporarily mark off a long line waiting for a book signing. CASE CLOSED! best mamba ever line People should queue up on the blue line to get their book signed? author signature line marker that's how long the line was. Managment and the hourly employees were at war and decided to divide that section of the store into two. The classic "You stay on your side of the line and I'll stay on my side" Millions of years ago a dinosaur must have died here and the blue tape is the remains of the outline of his last resting place. some pathetic store manager was expecting a crowd? path for the robots to follow Seperate sales rep territories. Seperate sales rep territories. Music / Book gang wars. Could be crowd control for the long, snaking lines on "Black Friday" After-Thanksgiving sale. I saw tape arrows on the floorin our Frys for this use. It was to mark the waiting line for the signing of Rob Cockerham's thrilling new calendar, "Cockeyed 2007". Book signing - they told people that they had to follow the blue tape to be in line . . . perhaps a widely read author was in the store doing a book signing and several hundred people showed up. they had to direct the line of people through the store in a way that still allowed non-fans to shop as much as usual as possible. the blue tape was directing the line of book signer groupies. Register waiting line. This is pretty easy, Rob. The store is expecting a wave of christmas shoppers and does not anticipate having sufficient staff at the checkout to handle all the shoppers in a timely manner. The tape is a guide for store patrons awaiting checkout to form an orderly "queue" rather than a disorderly "knot" around the counter area. History suggests that the "knot" can transform into "unruly mob" more easily than a "queue". It looks to be the line for people to follow for long Christmas shopping queues to get to checkout. Used to show shoppers where to stand in line. With the possibility of long xmas lines, a defined line to the registers would be needed so that people wouldn't do what's natural and bunch up into a huge clump. Blue tape is good because even those who are red-green color blind can see and follow it. I reckon the bookstore had earlier hosted a book signing and the blue tape is the line for the queue to follow. It's a queueing line for the cash register, providing customers an alternative to a massive huddle. The tape showed the way to line up for a book-signing. Chad Lexington, KY g to direct ppl to goodies :P There was a book signing, and the line to reach the authors table followed the tape. Crowds can get crazy and tape seems to keep them in line... To direct people for a book signing. It's for when the line is very long to show people where to stand. A line for the registers for Black Friday A line for a book-signing. It's probably to direct a line around the store for a recent or expected crowd. Said crowd could be gathered for a book signing. A line to the registers? Book signing line On planet x, blue tape leads to the answers page. Could be for some "Children's Time" book-reading activity or something. line following robot the grusome remains of a smurf smeared to death during a book sale There was a book signing (or perhaps simply a rush on the cash register on black Friday), and the blue tape delineated the queue. I'll bet it was to designate the line for a book signing. It must have been someone that people actually wanted to meet. The only line I've seen that long at my Borders was for a Harry Potter release. -The Girl @ www.fingerpushinglip.com marks checkout lanes for lined up, crazed holiday shoppers scrapping for something everyone wants - most likely this wasn't at 6 AM so no one is in line anymore. Book signing line The line is used during this busy shopping season to maintain some sort of order when the check out line gets out of hand. Just follow the line to make your way to the check out. To split the store in two halves for Leif Eriksson day. The tape was meant to guide a line of people, either for a book signing by a popular author, or for Black Friday shopping Line for the queue that will form for a popular book signing it was for a line for a recent book signing. anticipation for the line of people waiting for the next harry potter book bookworm trail the tape indicates where the line for the register should queue up A line for people to queue up for a book signing. Line for check-outs. It was meant to show the appropriate path for a queue, as for a very long line for a book launch or similar. looks like a borders. they use tape to route the line of people for things like book signings. i saw this same tactic used in an oklahoma city borders. this is a guideline put down to direct a line formation...most likely for black friday checkout purposes I dunno. The store is planning a redesign & these are markings for where certain displays will appear. Or, these are markings for temporary partition walls for planned construction, or temporary partitions to create a space for a special event. Or, the new guy is not so bright, & his boss made him a trail to follow. Probably the direction that the line is supposed to follow. I win again! conga line plans??? no cluE indicates where the line forms for the cashier It was a line for shoppers the day after thanksgiving. Funny, I just saw that Blue tape at Borders last night and thought it was a strange way to keep people in line. Are people that dumb, that they can not figure out to wait behind the preceeding customer! Of course, my instict is to rearrange the tape in some non-sensical manner. Would the people follow? Or maybe this is a new blue highway for all the little critters roaming the dirty, Borders carpet...Colleen It divided up the store into two sections for the yearly inventory-counting team. It is my belief there is a territorial war going on in there. The employees of the bookstore are divided into two factions, and using this tape they try to mark their territory. Each faction will try to sell more books than the other, and in this tape-war they try to sneakily claim the more popular bookstands. Hah! Line to a book signing The blue tape is a rip-off topic from 'how much is inside' of the book shop. mommy and daddy are fighting It is to guide some kind of book shelf stacking robot that follows a path of blue tape. It is marking the area where people are supposed to stand in line at a particularly popular book signing. For a line, probably for some sort of book signing or something like that. The store must have to fueding employees and in an attempt to avoid trouble, the store manager has divided the areas that these employees are allowed to cover. Peace and Harmony no reign as long as the great divide was maintained. Unfortunately the manager ran out of tape before completing the line and can been seen walking away upset to cry in the corner. The blue tape was used to create a line, posssibly a book signing or new release Line for a future or past book signing They were probably making a path that led to the children's section, but ran out of time. Marks the waiting line for a special book signing/sale. When there's instability in the bookkeepers pack, a sudden urge may be felt to establish his or her dominance by marking their territory. This phenomenon is rarely seen and is captured brilliantly in these snapshots. Patrick M. Swansea, SC I am gonna guess it was a book signing and the blue line was the line for the people to follow to maintain some order.. I am gonna guess it was a book signing and the blue line was the line for the people to follow to maintain some order.. It is to indicate the proper place for people to line up for a book signing by a popular author. A bookstore manager obviously on crack It's the line they wanted people to stand in for the checkout. If it ran to the register I would assume that it was for the line of customers expected for the Christmas season. Queue marker. Probably for a book signing. it marks the direction the checkout line should go if it gets very long during the holiday season. FOLLOW THE TAPE TO MY SECRET LAIR... They're going to re-decorate the store? Perhaps they're deciding where things will go? Line to the register Indigo Tapework Residue Indigo Tapeworm Residue Perhaps it is used to guide a robot! The electrical engineering building here has similar tape lines for this purpose. The robot is a glorified rolling tray that carries small items between offices. Borders' Christmas line Line for popular booksigning. Where the line formed on a really busy shopping day line for booksigning it's for one of those follows-the-tape-on-the-floor robots it indicates where people ought to queue for a book signing? it indicates where people ought to queue for a book signing? Follow the blue line to a book signing! It was to lead people somewhere - perhaps to a book signing that took place before you arrived. -B dogg path to fountain of youth It led the insane masses to the cash register on black friday. The blue tape is one of three options. #1 The store had so many shoppers on Black Fri that they had to make a line on the floor so people would know where to stand in line. #2 They had a book signing and the tape was the line people stood in so they knew where to go. #3 Really bad painters put it on the floor so they wouldn't get paint on the "wood trim" thanks for the fun jr One might think it was to mark the line for a literary book signing, but in fact it is a crime scene in which a nest of vipers was mass murderd. Maybe a marker track for a dolly camera, maybe shooting a commercial. line to the fake santa The line for a book signing that took place earlier. It's marks a marathon course. 1,064 trips = 1 marathon it's where my office walls would be... if i had an office. pipeline The blue tape is in preparation for L-O-N-G X-Ma$ checkout lines. As in, "Please form an orderly, single file line along the blue tape, people!" Following the tape in the other direction 'should' lead you to the cash registers. BDDS When I take acting classes, some of the rooms are taped like that for rehearsals to mark specific locations where certain actions are going on. I know that is unlikely to be the cause of THIS tape, but that's the best I've got. There was a book signing and that marked the line for waiting fans. No doubt it's those punk kids and there Harry Potter maddness up to no good. Two of the employees are having a fued, so the manager divided the story in two. One side of the story is Johnny, and the other side is for Jenny. It's a line to direct traffic to a book-signing. Line for a book signing for those waiting in line to get their book signed. I dunno... Ask Veronica Mars! there was a book signing, and it was to direct the line. i'm late and other people probably already said this, drat. it was the direction the line is intended to follow Book signing? Marking off where people should stand in line for the big Christmas rush? it marks a line for a booksigning event the direction a shipment was supposed to take line for rabid book-signing fans It separates the naughty books from the nice books. It was probably put there to direct the line for a book signing, or other similar special event. The day manager and the night manager got in a big fight over whether or not J.K. Rowling is going to kill off Harry Potter. After several appeals to the district manager ended with the D.M. telling them to "Work it out for yourelves.", they decided that the day manager would manage one half of the store while the night manager took the other half. There was much haggling about how to divide, because it wouldn't do to divide departments or them sections. Eventually one of the employees (whose name tag read "haXor") came up with a simple script to divide the store equally, without dividing sections. Unfortunately, it failed to take into account the exits from the store, which fell into the day manager's section. The cash registers all fell under the night manager's half. (Apparently haXor had been hitting the bNog while writing the script, besides hating her managers.) This resulted in both managers spending 24/7 in the store making sure that each stayed on their prospective side of the blue tape, like the night manager had a choice. After 12 days and 9 hours of this the D.M. made a trip to the store due to several complaints. The D.M. found the managers incredibly tired after not sleeping for two weeks, yet jumpy from the large numbers of $5 coffees they were using to stay awake. Both smelled horrible, and the night manager was having severe digestive problems after living off of fast food delivered by loyal late shift employees. At the time these pictures were taken both managers were being terminated by the D.M. in the back office. haxors found out she would be the new night manager if she could pass a compulsory drug test the next day. That's exactly what happened, because my best friend's brother's girlfriend went to the same charter high school as haXor, and she texted her about getting the job if she could obtain clean piz. haXor eventually figured out how to beat the drug test and has plans to triple the size of the graphic novel section. She left the tape for a couple of more days because it made her laugh, even though she was despondent that her manager's tag had to read "Susan." I realize this did not involve Sherlock Holmes (aisle 7, mysteries) type detective work, but most cases are solved by knowing the right people. Somebody always talks. Det. P. Hunter 0 It directs the flow of traffic during the busy holiday season. If it ended near the cash register, it might be for a holiday checkout line. Otherwise it might be for an author signing line. It's where they want people to stand when the cash registers are full with people checking out. Leads the way to the gift wrapping department. Covers up a slime trail left by a lost snail. Hmmm...I'm going to guess that the tape is either suppose to subconciously direct the flow of traffic and keep people moving in the crowded store, or it's to show people where to line up for the day after Christmas sale madness. The tape was marking a line for people to wait for a book signing. Getting ready to do inventory. Breaking the store into smaller sections for inventory teams. Either that or Peter and Bobby Brady are both shopping there and are still having their feud and each one gets to shop in half the store. I think it may have been to mark the waiting line at a book signing perhaps. qweqwe not-yet-pulled-up indicator for a line for a book signing or some such. It is to help direct christmas traffic to hott items. This was the line for the book signing. I have no theories as to who the signer was. way too easy rob a book signing was held there, and the tape is to indicate where the line for signings should extend Shows how to get to the restrooms Its for a customer waiting line; probably for a "Black Friday" sale. The tape is being used as a path to guide a robot with a light sensor. Smurf blood. . It is some kind of "follow the tape" game. For the children. Hovercraft the store owner and his wife probably got into a fight and they said to each other "you stay on your side, i'll stay on mine" An anaconda was killed there. line from a book signing There was a book-signing at the store earlier in the day. The tape is the line to follow for a booksigning. The bookstore is managed by two siblings who hate each other. Their mom was tired of their constant squabbling, so, inspired by an episond of Laverne and Shirley, she divided the store in half with tape. Now Johnny manages Gardening, History, Self-Help, Religion and GLB Studies. Danny takes Sci-Fi, Childrens, Romance, Travel and Cooking. Mom taped off the little Starbucks so she can have it all to herself. Probably a guide for people waiting for a book signing. "Please stand on the blue line," the employees probably told the customers. Leftover from a book signing line. Measurement for new carpet. line indicator someone just likes tape. accept it. Store has recently undergone a full inventory count, and the tape was used to segment the store into workable sections for those performing the inventory. I don't see any blue tape. You are hallucinating. okay that is to funny! I'll guess that the tape is being used to hide the spilled cofee drippings. Brien A line for people to use to queue for a book signing? leads to something cool in the store two employees have an argument about a boy, and they decide to divide the store in half, with neither being allowed on the other's side. hilarity ensues when they discover that the restroom is on one side, and the coffee stand and exit are on the other (2006, 30 min). "Those here for the celebrity book signing please remain on the blue line..." The tape shows where people in line for a book signing should stand. Telling people where to stand for a "Meet The Author" line. someone tracing the path of a water main/drainage under the store?? maybe trying to find out where a blockage or leak is?? -Ben UK To control the line of people who are purchasing things for Xmas. segregating inventory areas hands2931@cockeyed.com common Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html Subject: for example, the 2 ive rew song 2 ive lues from the bcc: doux93@opsfindertoyc.com he result is a slightly sweet, delicately flavoured moist meat with very li= ttle salt to the taste, which if bda522e8bdec5e28bda5cc8f404569cf . In anticipation of frenzied Christmas sales, Line Starts Here. Clearly, the store managers had a fight, and somebody is sleeping on the OTHER side of the blue line tonight. =( It was marking off the line for a book signing. thats where they wanted people to cue up for a big book release! It shows where you should stand in line for a book signing. At 130' it was probably for a reasonably, but not wildly, popular author. checkout line when busy Originally, the blue tape led to a fancy store display. Now, the display has moved on, but the tape remains. an event at the back of the store a previous day, staff could say join the line and expecting a long line, gave it a path to prevent arguments. The tape directs each army at the school from the Battle Room back to their bunks. You walk into a store, see some blue tape, what are you going to do? Fallow it into the middle of the store. It's an advertising technique. They had a book signing, and the tape was for everyone to line up on. It's leading to a best selling book that everyone keeps asking for. Some Christmas decorator couldn't be bothered to find proper decor, and decided blue tape would be just as festive. It's to keep small children from getting lost. Tape indicates a line for a book signing. line to follow to get a book signed They used it for inventory or for an author signing. Marking path that delivery carts should take. it will lead to no good this tape. its to mark out a wait line for the crazy christmas shoppers! It was used to guide the line on Black Friday It's to tell people where the Sudoku books are. Sadly. to help shopoholics line up It's probably to mark the line for either the registers or a book signing. For avid bookreaders to que up, in order to have their underclothes signed by sexologist authors - Matt in Redwood City there was a new product release near the time you were there and this is where they queued the folks waiting to purchase it.. its probably a delivery route or something Smurf Hansel and Gretel. That's easy. It's line demarcation for a book signing that has already taken place (hence no line of people). It was the line for some kind of book release along the lines of Harry Poter, etc... Kyle book signing line some employee got bored. State regulations stipulate a minimum walkway width for all stores. This is to insure wheelchairs and fat people still fit. The blue tape is a walkway marker and is to make sure the positioning of the movable merchandising (visible next to the tape in every photo) in the store does not violate this law. owners divided it into his and hers after the divorce marking a queue for christmas shoppers? crowd control at a book sigining. I also once saw a middle school award ceremony at a bookstore. could be a path that awardees are supposed to follow. Harry Potter 7! It's a marked trail to the bathroom for the teenage christmas shoppers Line for a book signing. the path for a book signing line or for the checkout line for holiday shopping. That's an easy one! It's for when the line gets really really long. Or it could just be what happens when one of the guys from the Blue Man Group forgets his towel after a shower. Maybe it's covering a rip in the 'seam' of the carpet. I've seen duct tape used for similar purposes. Must have been an alien abduction. Something to do with the fake moon landing. it was line for a book signing the blue tape defines the direction the line should form in preperation for the holiday shopping. There must've been a book signing, and the tape was to indicate where the line of people should go. Maybe its so the new employee's don't get lost.. "Jimmy in case you forget the way follow the blue tape." haha.. the blue tape is your own personal and secretive "yellow brick road" leading to the best x-mas gift ever! There was a book signing recently (or soon will be). The tape was put down by the store to direct those waiting for Martha Stewart to sign their copy of her book. Smurf with bladder control problems. Telling people where to queue up for the meet and greet when JK Rowling came to the bookstore riding in her chariot pulled by cherubs Possibly a book signing had taken place earlier, and people were directed to stand on the blue tape line. everybody else probably already guessed its the checkout line. This batch is pretty easy. Guide for patrons to follow to book signing/reading Maybe two employees are fighting with each other, and instead of on quitting or getting fired, they put blue tape down and are ordered to stay on their respective sides of the store. To establish an orderly line when people assemble to get thier book signed by an author. nye@comcast.net When the line gets really long to make purchases, now people know where to stand. The store had a book signing recently and the tape marked where people were to line up. line-up line The blue tape was used to indicate the direction to line up for a book signing. They use this line as a guide for people to line up when an author is there to autograph copies of their book. For people to get in line for a book signing. Mom, Tommy is touching my side of the store! A 'line folowing' robot challenge was held in the bookstore A guide for people who would be waiting in line for a book signing? Crime scene. Dead body of a very long snake was found here. Arnold and Willis once again got in a fight and decided to split the room in two - but forgot that it's hard to practice border disputes and personal space in their workplace. oo Someone wanted to purchase blue tape but they dropped it on the way to the register, it stuck to their shoe and the carpet and unrolled all the way to the register. -OR- It is a road recently paved by smurfs. shhh - there is no blue line! Someone invented an automatic taping machine, which then rebelled against its master and went BESERK, running away but stopping when it ran out of tape. just like fightin with yer sister over space in the back seat. employees fightin over which side of the store is theirs. smurf with diarrhea finding his way to the bathroom Since I actually work for Borders and have used tape in just such a fashion many times, I can say with certainty that the tape is there to show where folks should line up while waiting to get an autograph from a famous author. ---Kevin The sibling owners of the store were having a fight. Mini bookstore marathon! Blue tape was the demarcation of the "line to purchase" at a crappy bookstore without multiple cash register locations. Or the line to the new Harry Potter book area... econobiker@gmail.com A line for people to on x Was it a line to establish a path for the long check out lines during the holiday shopping rush? blue light clearance? line to the register for after thanksgiving christmas shopping The tape is a guide for the long line of people doing last-minute book shopping for Christmas. tape marked the queue line for a book signing used to mark the flow of traffic? it is a line director. If there are a huge number of people, it will show the people how to line up. This was the trail of all the smurfs trying to escape from the childrens book section. Unfortunatly it ends because they were caught. Film at 11 Race track divider. The bookstore had a signing or a special guest, and the blue tape was to signal where the line should begin and where it should be working around to avoid clutter and wrong-turns which could cause bookstore-backup and other literary traffic jams. Harry Potter preorder line leftover from the Book Six Extravaganza Getting people to line up for a booksigning. Or a Harry Potter book release, but I think the tape'd have worn off since the last one, at least. Christmas shopping lines are extremely long, so this was probably some sort of traffic control measure. Years ago, I worked in a grocery store, where I was usually assigned to stock the Soda/Pop/Snacks aisle. The aisle was complemented by a display of 6-8 chest-high skids consisting entirely of 2 Liter beverage bottles of various flavors and varieties which was located on the other side of the store. The purpose of the display was to put extra stock out on the sales floor; a) to keep the stock out of the warehouse and; b) make it directly available for customers to purchase and; c) so that when certain beverages were on sale and there was a rush to buy them, customers had a second location to obtain those beverages. Every other week or so, various brands of beverages would be on sale, and by the time my shift started, the aisle would be completely cleared out of that [range] of beverages. Upon seeing empty shelves, some customers knew to try the display area to obtain their desired beverages, but a large majority were unaware of the second beverage area. I was forever giving directions to customers on where to locate the second display; sometimes I had to escort customers directly to the display when they could not find it. I often wished that I could paint or lay down a line from the snack aisle to the second display for customers to follow, so that all I would have had to say was "Looking for 'beverage'? Just follow the *color* line!". Something like that would have saved me (and especially customers!) incredible amounts of time, and therefore would have saved the store significant amounts of money, especially if the line started with a sign that stated my "follow" phrase above. Alas, the management would have none of it; they were only there to appear concerned about efficiency, not to do anything about it. Never mind that the customers would probably find it more convenient. So there you have it. I believe that the tape is there because some employee got so fed up about giving directions (and probably escorts) to a particular section, that he or she laid down a line with tape, so that the next time they were asked, they could say "Just follow the blue line!". Perhaps a Richard Ankrom (http://www.ankrom.org/freeway_signs.html) type prank is in order. A long line marker or a place designating below carpet cord. It is a track for one of those toy cars that have an optical sensor guidance system.