The sign saying everyone is welcome meets its test in an inconvenient customer’s arrival.

Welcome is cheap to declare and expensive to mean. The sign costs nothing; the test comes when someone arrives who needs the ramp unblocked, the music turned down, extra time at the counter or a question asked twice. That is the moment the claim is either true or decorative. Nobody is inconvenient by nature, and a place is either built for the range of people who use it or it is not.

If you run or work anywhere, watch what happens the next time a request slows things down. The response people remember is the first three seconds of it. Then fix whatever made the request necessary.