Confession: I used to say ‘please print neatly’ at the end, but leaving a fat 1.0 mm black pen by the signature line works better. fewer chicken-scratch names at 6 pm closings, and it’s kinda satisfying, idk, what’s your go-to nudge?
Same here — bold gel makes people slow down. I park a Pilot G2 1.0 or a Flair at the line and get way fewer squiggle signatures; only downside is lefties can smudge. Blue ink also pops if you want the names to stand out.
I swap pens based on the signer - quick‑dry blue 0.7 for lefties, 1.0 black gel for everyone else - and angle the page a bit while saying, “sign like you would on a check.” That combo slows folks down and cuts the chicken scratch at the end of day.
I cue with, “This gets scanned - give me your check signature, nice and clear,” then angle the page toward their writing hand. A blank sheet under the sig page adds a little cushion/drag, and with a 1.0 gel it cuts down the 6 pm scribbles a lot.