"Don't be ripped off. Theft has been reported in the library. Watch your belongings at all times."
Multicolored signs with this message adorn the magnetic security posts at the library's entrance. I felt like ripping off one of the signs, showing it to the librarian and saying, "common usage dictates that people GET ripped off. The verb to be is used sometimes in the preterite tense. I WAS ripped off. But clearly, the sign should state: Don't GET ripped off. Please have them redone."