A photo of a kid apparently peeing into a garbage bin in a shopping mall in Richmond, B.C. sparked outrage on Twitter Thursday.
The picture shows a woman holding a toddler as he stands on the edge of a garbage canister in the middle of an aisle in Richmond Centre mall. The child is peeing into the bin.
Local blog Vancity Buzz posted the photo and asked readers, “What happened to public etiquette?”
The comments section exploded and a Reddit thread soon popped up with a strongly-worded debate comparing cultural norms in Canada and mainland China. Many posters shared their own sightings of similar behaviour that shocked them.
“Feel bad for the janitor,” wrote a forum user named boatcaptain.
In an emailed statement to CBC, Richmond Centre mall said they were looking at ways to prevent similar situations occurring in the future. "Given that we have these facilities throughout the common areas of the mall, we don't have any formal regulation or signage warning customers not to urinate, defecate or expectorate on the property," the statement read.
Racial assumptions aside, Reddit user Live_loce_and_laugh thought the act just doesn’t jibe with our Canadian ways.
“If I saw someone doing that, White, Black, Asian Hispanic, whatever, don't care what your background is I would walk over to you and tell you that is incredibly inappropriate and disrespectful to those around you.”