This is one of those things that I knew in the back of my mind would happen to me someday. For some reason, it didn’t keep me from going through it all the same.
I went to the library restroom and had to, um, sit down for a while. Now, I don’t think that I am unique in that I occasionally (ok, usually) use the spacious bathroom stall reserved for disabled bathroom goers. The stall is roomy, clean, bright, and relaxing - just the right atmosphere for making a grumpy. Now, whenever I find myself in this situation, I survey the other cramped, dingy, dirty, crowded, overused stalls and draw the conclusion that I was destined to use the disabled stall. I mean, what are the odds…
Well anyway, I spent a good 10 or 15 minutes making my business and did not notice anything that should have drawn my attention. However, when I finally cleaned up, gathered my belongings and opened the stall door, I encountered
an older gentleman waiting patiently in his wheelchair! I mumbled a humiliated and horribly guilty apology and streaked out of the bathroom.
I mean, am I the only one that has had this happen? I wish he’d knocked - well, maybe not…
I guess I’m going to have to stop using those beautiful stalls…
Ok, I’m gonna try and retract the snarkiness above - I never use a handicapped stall except in the gym at my previous place of work - which I used to change. There were actually no handicapped women in the office (only one handicapped employee, and he was male)
I see however that you have seen the error of your ways.
I prefer to use the handicapped stalls myself, but then I do avoid making a grumpy (my new favorite term for going poop, thank you very much) anywhere but home or work where it’s single bathroom. I am completely paranoid that a wheelchair user will come along when I’m in there each and every time. I always give myself a little pep talk that I didn’t see any wheelchairs our there in the Wal-mart and even if there was one, I will be done before they can even get to the bathroom much less have to wait. Then I go in, make a quick pee-pee and get out. I think if I had to “sit down for awhile” using the handicapped stall would be way too much pressure for me.
Wait, wait, wait. Those stalls are not “handicap-only” stalls, they are “handicap-accessible” stalls. Unlike the parking spots at the front of the store it is perfectly acceptable for anyone to use them. Of course, you should not shoulder the old man in the wheelchair out of the way to rush into the stall, but if you went to the bathroom and no one else was there you did nothing wrong.
I for one prefer the handicap stall because the toilet is the perfect height. I find most public toilets are too low to the ground for me, so I end up hugging my knees.
bayonet, I used to think the same thing—until one of our wheelchair-using Dopers pointed out that sometimes the disability involves not only the need for extra space, but also the need to get to a bathroom quickly when the urge strikes.
I end up in handicapped stalls a lot because I have to bring my daughter in with me. There is no room for her stroller in the regular stalls and there is no way that I am leaving her outside the stall!
I also want to re-iterate that those are handicap accessible and not handicap only… I certainly would allow someone handicapped to go before me if possible as I often allow women who have squirming children who obviously need to pee more than I do to go before me.
Scarlett… our posts were made at the same time so I missed yours…
People without wheelchairs have bladder problems too. I have a kidney disease and bladder problems that sometimes result in not having a lot of warning when I need to pee. Just because I am not also in a wheelchair does this mean I should pee all over myself to leave the handicapped stall open for someone who just may come in the room in the next x minutes?
Of course not, tanookie – I certainly didn’t mean to imply that. My father is disabled and uses a handicap vehicle permit, so I’m fully aware of the existence of nonvisible handicaps. I just meant that people should be aware that physical accessibility is not the only reason why the stalls exist.
Kalhoun, I thought I caught my mom doing this once, and I couldn’t believe it – my mom is as anal as I am about following rules. But then she pointed out that the “handicapped only” sign on the space had been “bagged” by the cops, making it a regular spot, for a special event (don’t ask me why – aren’t handicapped people going to come?).
I don’t have any problem using handicapped stalls (unless I see a wheelchair bound person in the vicinity—then of course they’ve got dibs). I don’t take up residence in the stall. I do my business and am out quickly. As bayonet1976 said, these are handicapped accessable stalls. It would be folly to have a bathroom stall that would only be used when the random handicapped person wandered in. Especially when you’ve got a long line of people who all have to pee desperately. I mean, seriously!
I am reminded of a somewhat amusing incident that happened a few years ago. My sister is handicapped (occasionally has to use a walker) and during one of our visits to Yosemite National Park, she was using her walker. We stopped at an isolated bathroom (near the turnout to go up to Glacier Point, not that anyone asked). Whenever I’ve used this bathroom, rarely is anyone else in there at the same time—it’s pretty isolated. So my sister struggles in there with her walker, and there is some poor hapless soul who was using the handicapped stall! She looked so mortified when she discovered my sister waiting to use the stall. I am sure this woman never anticipated anyone to be in that bathroom (since it is so isolated) not to mention a handicapped person!
It was just bizarre, I’m tellin’ ya. I guess you had to be there.
I hate to admit it but at work, we have normal washrooms and a seperate bathroom that’s wheelchair “accessible” (and for both females and males).
I use it when I need to do #2. I don’t make any excuses about it. No rules here about not using it at all. Of course there are no disabled workers here (and we have 1000+ people in this building) plus I know after 5:30 pm our public doors are closed, so we can’t get any “wandering” customers using these bathrooms (well, more like security won’t let them into my area anyways).
Dear Abby published a letter years ago from a wheelchair user who pissed herself outside the stall because a mother was using it to tend to all four of her children and ignored the desperate pleas from outside.
I use the accessible stalls also when I have a stroller with me.
I also use them sometimes because I have a slight toilet-related phobia (really!), and I’m more comfortable in a bigger stall. If the regular stalls are reasonably-sized and well-lighted, then that’s fine, but if they’re cramped and dark, I’ll use the accessible one.
I’ll make more of an effort to use the regular ones when possible, though, after reading this thread.
I wish they’d just put in bigger stalls and/or make them all wheelchair accessible. (Especially at the airport. I don’t understand why the bathrooms and newsstands at the airport aren’t sized with the fact that people have luggage with them in mind.) Anyway, maybe that’s wishful thinking, but a girl can dream.
Sometimes I have to take extended trips by air that, because of layovers for connections, can take more than two days. Recently, I had to fly via Paris, taking an overnight flight to get there, with an extended layover and another overnight flight the following night. Now I hate to go more than 48 hours without washing up. The most convenient place to take a sink bath is the handicap bathroom at the airport - there’s a separate, spacious, one-toilet room, not just a stall. (I hate to wash up in public in the regular men’s room - though I’ve seen guys do it.)
Anyway, I decided to do this at 10 PM. There are very few flights then, and the airport is almost empty. I looked around carefully, then slipped in when no one was around. I thought there was zero chance a handicapped person would need it at that hour.
So of course what happens? As soon as I get my shirt off and my pits lathered up, someone tries the door. Then there’s some furious muttered cursing in a female voice, and some pounding. Then some more cursing, and the sound of someone moving away.
Feeling horribly guilty that I had forstalled some handicapped person in their moment of need, I rinsed off quickly, put my shirt back on, and slinked out of the bathroom. There was no one there. But as I turned the corner, I saw a very angry-looking middle-aged woman, not obviously handicapped, striding quickly toward the bathroom I had just left.
I still don’t know why she wanted to use that particular bathroom, and I realize that not all handicaps are visible. But I did feel a lot less guilty about it.
Oooh, I read that, and boy did it make me see red! IIRC, the mother elbowed her way past the handicapped woman, who asked if she could please go first and was told to wait in line like everyone else!
I was thinking, jeepers, I’d always let the handicapped person go first! And if a handicapped person needed to use the stall and I was in there, I’d finish up as quick as humanly possible–they’d just have to ask.
And then, I thought, well, it’s kind of humiliating to make the poor person ask . . .
So, now I avoid the hanidcapped stall unless the bathroom is crowded. In that case, I figure I’m doing the hypothetical handicapped person a favor, 'cause I’ll gladly surrender the stall if asked, and if I don’t take the stall, who knows what kind of insensitive jerk will.
I generally only use the handicapped stall if there is a line for the bathroom, the only exception being when I go to yoga class here at work and change in the bathroom (there’s no locker room, and the regular stall are small enough that it’s a challenge to change in them). If there’s a line for the bathroom and there’s someone in line who obviously requires the handicapped stall (or might just prefer to use it because they have a walker ro cane or the like), I think it’s common courtesy to let them go to the front of the line.
