Small boy peeing in bottle at S'pore food court splits opinions about hygiene

The toilet was pretty close by.

April 18, 2022

Small boy peeing in bottle at S'pore food court splits opinions about hygiene

We've all been in situations where answering the call of nature simply isn't an option, despite how desperate we are to relieve ourselves.

For kids – who don't have any responsibilities to take care of – this is a different story altogether. It's up to their adult loved ones to decide when and where they should go.

Such was the case with a young boy in Singapore, who suddenly felt the need to pee in the middle of a bustling food court at Tiong Bahru Plaza.

Right here, right now.

IMAGE: COMPLAINT SINGAPORE / Facebook

In a photo posted on the COMPLAINT SINGAPORE Facebook group, a young boy can be seen standing on a chair as he pees into a bottle being held up by an accompanying woman. On their table – sitting precariously close to the peeing boy – is a delicious bowl of ice kacang, a popular Southeast Asian dessert also known as 'ABC'.

Around them are food court patrons simply minding their own business, seemingly unaware of what's taking place just meters away.

The photo, posted on April 16, 2022, has since garnered more than 1,200 reactions and over 900 shares on Facebook, with the comments section being flooded with a flurry of remarks expressing both support and condemnation of the act.

So hot has the debate become, the entire comments section of the post has already been limited by the user who posted the photo.

Not the time or place, or is it?

Accompanying the photo is a caption that says the toilet is "just outside one minute away", making the entire situation more bizarre and confusing than it already is.

One Facebook user said he wouldn't be fazed by a kid urinating in public. But if it was poop, that's a different story. Still, the Facebook user thinks it's not as bad as someone coughing in the age of COVID-19:

Others emphathized with the 'grandma' accompanying the boy, saying she was probably making sure that they wouldn't lose their table. After all, some people can be truly shameless and claim a table as theirs even when someone else's food is already there, or worse – the food might be cleaned up by a worker thinking it's somebody's leftovers:

A good number of other users emphasized the need to uphold basic hygiene and etiquette in public places, saying it could 'teach' or condition the child to think doing something like this is, in fact, acceptable:

Whatever your stance on the issue, it's pretty clear that opinions are divided. While we can definitely understand the 'logic' behind not bringing the boy to the toilet, it also raises other questions like, "Are my needs more important than those around me?". In most cases, they aren't.