Journalist 'disgusted' by message on toilet seat

NZ Herald

27 Sep, 2021 09:37 PM3 mins to read

The message left Sian Bradley shocked. Photo / SianBradley, Twitter

A British journalist has revealed she could have been "tipped over the edge" by a message left scrawled on a toilet seat at a cafe she visited.

Sian Bradley took to Twitter to share the message - and the devastating effect it had on her.

Bradley found the message written in red marker on the underside of a toilet lid at the Vintage Rooms Cafe in London, which she was working from.

It read "Smile, you're losing weight" complete with a smiley face.

"I was working from Vintage Rooms Cafe in Brick Lane yesterday," Bradley wrote in her Twitter post.

"I went to use the toilet and was greeted with this."

She said that the message could be highly damaging to those battling an eating disorder.

"If I had found this while I was purging, because anorexia recovery scared me, it would have tipped me over the edge.

"I'm disgusted."

TW: Eating disorders

I was working from Vintage Rooms Cafe in Brick Lane yesterday. I went to use the toilet and was greeted with this. If I had found this while I was purging because anorexia recovery scared me, it would have tipped me over the edge. I’m disgusted pic.twitter.com/mwC6nXpmXb
— Sian (sh-arn) Bradley (@sianabradley) September 23, 2021

Bradley found some support online, with one person commenting: "This is horrendous! So sorry that you had to see this and that it exists in the first place."

Another said: "This is the worst I've ever seen."

Others said that the message was clearly meant as a joke and Bradley's own personal trauma shouldn't mean it was not funny.

"Eating disorders are real and serious and I totally get that, but this stance is equally petty and irrational," one user argued.

"By this logic, all comedy must be banned because there will always be those who are offended. That's not how it works."

It later emerged that the message was deliberately left there by cafe staff.

In a statement, Vintage Rooms Cafe said: "We have been made aware of this and have taken appropriate actions to remove the writing from the toilet seat, though we would like to put forward the toilet have numerous positive messages that have not been shown.

"We did not intend to cause any harm to any of our customers, in fact the whole café is full with positive quotes, we do apologise for any harm this may have caused, it was never intentional.

"We fully support anyone suffering from anorexia and would not want to exacerbate the situation in any way shape or form."

The cafe said the messages at the cafe were all "written with the intention of pure humour and not to cause any discomfort to anyone".

"We have taken measures to educate our staff on this issue going forward," they added.