Request met with mixed reaction from praising its frankness to pointing out the impossibility of it.
On 22 March, an image was posted on Twitter that sparked a debate about proper convenience store toilet etiquette. It was a photo of a note attached to the toilet stall in a Daily Yamazaki convenience store somewhere in Osaka Prefecture.
▼ The header reads, “Please!” and two silhouetted figures
can be seen bowing deeply. (Message translation below.)
“Recently when people have been using the toilet there is a noisy buree-buree sound at the moment they pooh, and we are getting complaints from other customers.
Every time the buree-buree sound is heard, the customers doing their shopping feel uncomfortable.
People who pooh, we ask for your cooperation by keeping the volume of your buree-buree sounds as low as possible.”
Many saluted the message defending the comfort of shoppers who don’t want to hear sounds emanating from other people’s anuses. Fans were also impressed with Daily Yamazaki’s choice of poop-sound onomatopoeia which deftly balances on that razor thin line between gritty accuracy and playful exuberance.
“That’s freaking funny.”
“They had me at ‘buree-buree.’“
“The ‘buree-buree’ is great, a lot more illustrative than just saying ‘sounds.'”
“Aaaaaaaah! Buree-buree-buree-buree! Bucchi-bu-bu-bu-chi-chi-chi-chi-bu-ree-ree-reeee-bu-bu-buuuuh!”
On the other hand, many felt the store was out of line with such a request and felt that they should bear the burden of this problem.
“Is it even possible to do that?”
“I cannot control that sound, but the other customers can control the volume of their complaints. So please ask them to lower it.”
“That store must be horribly designed if they have this problem.”
“The shop should also take measures to reduce the buree-buree sound.”
I have been to a few Daily Yamazaki’s in the Osaka area, and while each store’s decor varies greatly, I’ve come across a few so cramped that I could definitely see this being a problem.
That being said, there are numerous ways to reduce the buree-buree sound. Many washlets come equipped with sound effect boxes designed to mask impending noises. If customer comfort is truly an issue than such a device would be a sound investment.
Again, convenience store toilets never fail to conjure up debates over bathroom business ethics, but regardless of what side of the issue you fall on, we should all do our best to make buree-buree sounds sparingly if possible. None of us are perfect, but even a little restraint can go a long way.
Source: Twitter/@monster_s15, Yahoo! Japan News, Hachima Kiko