Excuse me, where is the toilet?

Ayu stepped out of the car with two of her children. They were doing their usual Wednesday morning grocery shopping and suddenly her daughter needed to use the washroom. Since it was almost impossible to get parking in that area, her husband just dropped her and her two children off while he drove round the car park looking for parking space.

Upon entering the shopping center, Ayu approached the security guard and asked him,

“Excuse me can you tell me where the toilet is?” She asked the question politely with a smile of course. After all we were brought up not to be rude.

So the security guard walked them to the woman’s toilet which is at the very back of the building. The area was somewhat deserted but Ayu’s daughter really had to go. So they quickly went into the cubicle to get the business done.

After that they went to the sink to wash their hands and Ayu noticed that the security guard was still waiting at the door of the toilet. She merely smiled politely at him and proceeded to help her children wash their hands.

And then she noticed that the security guard was approaching them. Closer. And closer. And then he tried to kiss Ayu. Ayu was shocked. She told her two children to scream and quickly run out to the car to look for daddy, as she quickly pushed the security guard away. It was just a huge blur, but luckily they managed to run quickly out of the shopping centre, saw that her husband was waiting in the car in front of the building, jumped in and asked him to quickly drive away.

So this story became a cautionary tale which we shared amongst our friends. Do not attempt to go to toilets in that area especially if the woman is alone.

My husband related this story to his work colleague, lamenting how difficult it is for them (the men) to rest on the weekends as they had to physically accompany their wives when the wives are shopping. And then it was revealed to him.

“You mean you didn’t know the code?”

“What code?”

“Well she used the code. That is why the security guard followed her to the washroom.”

“Huh? What code are you talking about?”

Well as it turns out, the area where Ayu was shopping that morning is a centre for a secret prostitution ring. Unfortunately for us, there are some Asian women who came here working legitimate jobs in the day also moonlight offering sex in exchange for money in that area. And it turned out, the invitation for offering such services was coded, and one of the codes was an invitation to the toilet.

Since Ayu did not protest or chase him away, he was assuming that she was offering the service, despite the fact that she was with two children. And she had inadvertently used the code.

I have to say that it is sad that even a simple smile here is considered a suggestion or an invitation to a man. Which is why some of the non local women have resorted to wearing the face covering.

So be careful when asking for the toilet ;) You might be using the code and is offering a service that you might not be interested in providing.