or: The curious incident of the woman with the non-locking toilet door

There is a heart sinking moment when you are in a shopping mall, busting for the bathroom (some will call this the toilet, others the loo, or WC) to finally find one and all the stall doors are closed.

Painstakingly walking passed each one to check if the indicator is green and when one finally is, gingerly opening it because we’ve all been there with a toilet door that closes and doesn’t lock. When it opens, a little discrete leap of joy before going in.

This was me yesterday. I was in for a surprise.

Fourth stall along and the indicator was green, I slowly opened it just in case it was a non-locking one and the person inside needed the time to outstretch their legs or arm to stop the door from opening fully, with her heart in her mouth in case she didn’t make it in time, while saying something along the lines of “excuse me,” “it’s occupied,” or “just a minute.”

I had opened it through the leg / arm range and continued to open it to reveal a woman sitting there, pants around her ankles, head down watching her shoes, oblivious.

It was me with the “I’m sorry,” which was when she decided to raise her head.

I didn’t have time to catch her facial expression as I closed the door and walked away to start the queue for the next available stall.

This had me thinking, “am I in the minority when the toilet door doesn’t lock properly that I’m on hyper alert?”

To me, the toilet is the place where everyone is at their most vulnerable. Ok, maybe sleeping is a more vulnerable situation however I think you can alert yourself awake fairly quickly if needed. When you’re on the toilet and in the middle of doing your business, it’s very difficult to then stop, stand up and be ready for whatever defensive action you may need to take.

When the door doesn’t lock, this is the time for seeing how far limbs can stretch or wait for the next toilet where the door locks. As soon as it opens just a crack, or even when you see a shadow stopping in front of the stall, it is time for evasive action.

It is not time for watching your shoes.

Or am I alone in thinking like this?

 

Thanks to Arcade Fire for this tune.