Use Signs for Some Quick Spanish Lessons (part I)

I am not sure if everyone has had the same experience as me in this respect, but I found that when I started to learn Spanish I was fascinated by shop and street signs. That might sound a little bit sad but I have to confess that I paid quite a lot of attention to these kinds of things for a while. Here are a few of those which most caught my attention.
“Señor conductor, use su cinturón de seguridad”. This sign just tells drivers to use their seat belt and if you have ever been to Bolivia you will realise that I must be the only person who has ever read it. It interested me for two reasons. Firstly, translating it as “mister driver” just sounded funny to me at the time. Secondly, it introduced me to the formal “usted” way of speaking which I hadn’t yet learned. Because I had begun to learn Spanish on the hoof I hadn’t picked this up and my informal way of speaking was starting to get me some rather nasty looks from old people and officials.
“Se sirve”. I have to confess that I am still not sure why the signs outside of restaurants say this. It’s a reflexive verb so it translates as something like “it serves itself”, and then below this is a list of the menu items. No one could explain it to me so I filed it in the box of unfathomable mysteries.