'Joke' toy store toilet door decal horrifies customer

A woman in Palmerston North was "horrified" after using the toilet at the local Toyworld, on the door of which is a decal showing a man climbing over the wall into a woman's cubicle. 

Grandmother Suzie Horrobin was shopping with her 10-year-old grandson when she asked if she could use the bathroom. 

She was "just horrified" when she noticed the sign on the door. 

The decal, instead of a standard male/female decal or sign saying 'toilet', was one of a figure climbing up the cubicle wall to peer down onto the figure in the toilet. 

The decal on the toilet door at Toyworld Ms Horrobin saw
The decal on the toilet door at Toyworld Ms Horrobin saw

Ms Horrobin said she approached "the most senior looking shop assistant" to complain about the image. 

"He just laughed and said it had always been there" she told Newshub. 

"I've never seen anything like that on any toilet before. I thought it was really inappropriate". 

The door to the customer toilet is on the main floor of the shop, among shelves of toys children are likely to browse. 

Ms Horrobin said her grandson had been disturbed by the image, and asked if it was possible for people to climb over toilet cubicle walls. 

Rebecca Bloomer, a member of the 'Feminist Mothers Aotearoa' group where the picture was first posted, said members of the group were "pretty shocked". 

She said one commenter was particularly upset, as the action displayed by the decal had happened to her when she was 14, leading to a sexual assault. 

"This is up at a place with little kids and some poor mother is going to have to justify to her child what it means," Ms Bloomer said. 

Phillip Bramley, owner of Toyworld Palmerston North said that the image has now been taken down, "now that the issue has been brought to my attention". 

He acknowledged that the sign was inappropriate, but said "we didn't mean to offend anyone". 

"It was just a decal placed on the door by the staff - all it was meant to do was show where the toilets were."

He said that if there was an issue at the time, it should have been brought to the duty manager. 

"We certainly apologise unreservedly." 

Newshub.