Noticed some weird signage at a rest stop in Ohio last week

I was driving through on a delivery run and stopped at that big rest area near exit 76. There was this sign on the wall that said 'Authorized Personnel Only' but it was placed right next to a vending machine. Like in a weird spot where nobody would accidentally go. Made me wonder if there's some kind of monitoring setup behind that wall. Has anyone else seen strange signage at highway rest stops that doesn't quite add up?

3 comments

3 Comments

elliot_patel1mo ago

That exit 76 rest area has been odd for years. My cousin used to work for the Ohio Turnpike commission back in 2015 and he told me those 'Authorized Personnel Only' doors by the vending machines were installed during a big renovation project that summer. The funny thing is he said the room behind that door is barely big enough for a broom closet, but the sign is still there with no explanation. I stopped there last spring and noticed the door had a keypad lock on it, which seemed like a lot for a closet. Makes you wonder if they put the sign there to discourage people from wandering while workers do something else behind the scenes.

wesley_adams1mo ago

Wait, hold on, wait. So you're telling me that broom closet has a keypad lock on it now? I stopped at exit 76 like three years ago and it was just a plain push bar door with nothing fancy. That's genuinely weird. And @sarah818, I get the Occam's razor thing but janitors don't usually need a keypad for a closet that's barely big enough to store a mop bucket and a few rags. Seems like overkill for something that small. They could have just put a normal lock on it and called it a day. Makes me wonder if they store something more interesting in there during certain hours, you know?

sarah8181mo ago

Maybe it's just me but I always figured those doors were for janitorial stuff, not anything secret. Keypad locks are pretty standard now for cleaning supply closets so the workers don't have to carry a bunch of keys. Plus, rest areas get a lot of weird attention online, sometimes people make things sound spookier than they really are. If it was really suspicious, I doubt your cousin's old boss would have told him the room was tiny. Occam's razor and all that.