DESTIN, Fla. – Confusing signs on the bathroom doors at McGuire's Irish Pub have played jokes on customers for years — sending women to the men's room and vice versa.
But the father of a girl who was interrupted by a man in the women's room and Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation don't find the signs funny.
The agency recently threatened the Panhandle tourist landmark with closure for "Lack of signage properly designating bathrooms."
The state took action after the father filed a complaint, which said his 15-year-old daughter was embarrassed and left the restaurant crying after the bathroom incident.
General Manager Billy Martin has removed the signs at his Destin pub, but left them at his original pub in Pensacola.
"We're not trying to be malicious," Martin told the Northwest Florida Daily News. "It's an Irish joke kind of thing."
More than 3,000 pub patrons have signed a petition to bring the signs back.
The men's room sign has large print that reads "Ladies" and smaller text clarifying women shouldn't go in there because it's the men's room. The women's room has a similar sign.
The signs have been up for 10 years in Destin and 30 years in Pensacola.
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