This sign spotted on a ground floor toilet at Marina Square leaves me with dismay.

It is harsh and arrogant.

Of course you want to uphold your image, but this is not the way to do it. You could:

(1) brief your guys behind closed doors that they have to use the staff toilet, and anyone caught using the public toilets would be penalised, unless one has a very valid reason such as severe diarrhoea that the staff toilet is out of reach;

(2) a second sign warning against the wearing of safety helmets and dirty boots into the toilet, and this sign should be placed next to the entrance of the male toilet (since construction workers are more often than not guys) to remind them.

Such reminders are done subtlety in other public places. At the entrance to the hotels within the same complex, there are signs on the glass doors leading to the hotel complex gently reminding: “guests must be appropriately dress.” On the entrances of banks there are symbols of sunglasses and crash helmets slashed - they are not to be worn into the premises. It doesn’t SCREAM at you. Clubs state: “Non-members are not allowed to use the facilities.” They don’t care about your economic status or your educational level or whatsoever distinguishing factors. As long as you don’t have a membership with the club, sorry, you can’t use what’s provided. These establishments employ face-saving gestures that are kind or neutral. The problem with the toilet sign is that it is demanding, and it targets a specific group within the mass of different people of different professions from different walks of life. It is not like, say, a school, where the Staff Lounge may explicitly state: “Students are not allowed.” Fine, because it’s a place where there are only a few categories of people within a compound where entry is limited. A shopping mall is a public space. Still if they want to limit people in certain areas, the signage could be less demanding and more amiable.