On January 3, in a shopping mall in Guangzhou, an old man became the focus of attention because he mistakenly entered the women's toilet. According to the telegraph news report, the old man was not deliberately "rude", but because he did not understand the tall English signs at all. In the face of everyone's accusations, the old man said helplessly: "I don't know English, and I don't know which is the men's toilet and which is the women's toilet!"
Here's the thing, that day the old man probably felt uncomfortable in his stomach and hurriedly walked into the bathroom of the mall. But who knows, the bathroom signs in this mall are all in English, and the design is particularly "creative". The old man looked left and right, up and down, but he didn't understand what those icons meant. As a result, I accidentally walked into the women's bathroom.
This time it was terrible, the ladies inside screamed in fright, and the people outside also watched. He explained: "I really didn't mean to, I just didn't understand the signs." ”
As soon as the news spread, netizens expressed sympathy and understanding. Someone said: "I am a person in my 30s, and sometimes I go to the toilet for a long time." Some people also posted the strange toilet icon they had encountered, expressing sympathy for the old man's experience.
Some netizens posted an icon with a golden boy and a jade girl painted on it, making it impossible to tell which is the men's toilet and which is the women's toilet. Netizens complained: "I don't have any culture, I don't even dare to go to the toilet!" There are even more outrageous icons, which are a circle and a triangle, which makes people scratch their heads. Some netizens said: "When you encounter such an icon, you can only see whether it is a man or a woman who comes out of it before you can decide whether to enter or not." ”
Seeing these strange icons, netizens angrily denounced: "Is it so difficult to mark men and women?", "Is it illegal to mark men and women?", everyone said that the signs of public toilets should be simple and clear at a glance, rather than engaging in these bells and whistles to embarrass people.
When many netizens learned about this incident, netizens started a heated discussion.
Netizen voices
Netizen years are like songs: toilets only have English signs and no Chinese signs are a common problem in some public toilets. Some public toilets just make an abstract symbol to represent the men's and women's toilets, but you know, most of the people who go to the toilet are in a hurry, how can they have time to carefully identify the abstract symbols? I think: it is important to set up Chinese signs in the toilets.
Netizens chattered: Don't mention it, I entered the women's toilet by mistake because I didn't know English! Fortunately, there was no one in the women's toilet at that time, otherwise, I don't know what the ending would be!
In short, netizens have a lot to talk about.
The word "convenience for the people" comes from the third chapter of the "Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty", in which there is such a sentence: "In the year of each dynasty, the Son of Heaven travels to the eastern capital and meets the princes, which is the government of the convenience of the people." Since then, the word "convenience" has been coined.
The so-called "convenience for the people" actually means convenience for the people. However, in some public toilets, as long as the English sign without the Chinese sign is not a "convenience" behavior, it needs to be improved by the relevant management departments, otherwise, it is easy to cause people who do not know English to go to the wrong toilet.
In response to this incident, the mall also responded. The staff of the marketing department said that they would apologize to the parties and promised to optimize and improve the signs of the toilets in the future. They explained: "We used icons and English logos to represent men's and women's toilets. It may be a problem for some elderly people or people who are not good at English. ”
Although the incident of the old man accidentally entering the women's toilet has come to an end, it has sparked a big discussion about the signs of public toilets. I hope that in the future, public places can be more humane, simple and clear when designing signs, and I also hope that everyone can be more understanding and tolerant when encountering similar situations; after all, people have old times and urgent need for convenience; more heart-to-heart, the world will be better!