Sunday, January 25, 2009

A Man in the Ladies' Restroom!!!

We were eating at Chili's not too long ago and, unfortunately, had a bit of a scare there.

After placing our order, Jae (my youngest) and I went to the ladies' restroom to wash our hands. We try HARD not use public restrooms normally, but on this particular day, I felt that our hands needed more than my hand sanitizer. lol!

As we were washing our hands, a MAN came out of the last stall. What?!?!?!?! Yes, a man came out of the last stall in the ladies' restroom as big as day!!!!!

With total shock, and a bit frightened, I turned around and asked him why he was in the ladies' restroom. Okay, I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but this man knew as well as I did that his response was a LIE!!! He looks around and says, "Oh, I thought this was the men's restroom." "Okay????", I said. I thought that Jae was going to take off running from the fright on her face. I kind of pushed Jae behind me and then proceeded to the door to show this man that it clearly stated on the door, "Ladies' Restroom." After I showed him the door on his way out, he kept saying, "Oh, I am so sorry, I had no idea. I really thought this was the men's restroom." Yep, WHATEVER!!!!!

I should have followed him to his table (that's if he even had a tbale), but I was so shook up that I went back into the restroom to wash my hands all over again. Apparently, there was another lady in there who had heard the whole thing. She came out shaking all over. She said she had no idea that she was in there alone with this man. It's was a bit scary.

I was walking back to our table when I realized that this man's response was an obvious lie since there are no urinals in the ladies' restrooms. Before I could even tell Dirk and Morgan what had happened, the manager came to our table to apologize. Apparently, the other lady who was in there rushed to advise the manager. I'm glad that she did as, at this point, I had not even thought about advising a manager.

I have never let my girls go to the restroom alone at a young age because of fear of them being abducted or getting lost. It never even entered my mind that I needed to protect them from some moron man being in the ladies' restroom at any time.

Talk about scary! I bet this man was waiting for some young girl to come into the restroom alone. This is probably something that he does frequently. My biggest regret is not following him to see if he was actually eating at Chili's or if he just happened to walk in. Gosh!!!

In years past, I've seen many times when there have been young girls in the restroom alone. We need to be very careful about allowing this.

45 comments:

Wendy said...

Oh my, This gave me the shivers :-( That is sooo scary. no way could he have got mixed up!

Stacey said...

That's so scary. Was he old enough that he could have been confused?

Lindsay-ann said...

This is very scary. I have always thought about this happening. I do not like being in a lift on my own either with a strange man. It's a sick world we live in.
Lindsay

Lorrie said...

Oh my Daphine! I wonder if the man was still in the restaurant and if the manager found him and spoke to him. It's hard to imagine that he wouldn't have realized he was in the wrong place once he got through the door.

Brenda Heisler said...

That man knew exactly what he was doing!!

Yes Mothers, don't let your daughters go into restrooms by themselves. Even in a nice place. Things can happen.

Thanks Daphine for the story as a reminder. Sorry it happened to you.

Speaking from the Heart said...

Oh Daphine,

This is so scary. I have started to let Minnie to go the restaurants' restrooms by herself. I will not be doing that anymore.

Kristin said...

Oh my goodness....that is scary! I never thought about a man trying something like that.

That's just weird and considering the restrooms are next to each other, there is no way he could've been mistaken. Who knows what was in his mind to do. I'm glad you confronted him....maybe it will make him think twice about trying it again!

Unknown said...

What the heck. How creepy! I am so glad you didn't send her in by herself. I hate letting Kaish go to the bathroom to wash his hands when we are out. I wish he could come with me forever...

Anonymous said...

That is really scary! I would have been weirded out by that. I am glad that nothing serious happened to you and Jae.

April said...

Daphine,

I tell you, you just never know anymore how to tell between the "good" guys and the "bad" guys. I would have completely freaked out if a man had been in a restroom I'd gone in...or one of my girls! You really have to be on your guard, anymore, and you can't afford to let it down, either! I just don't allow my girls to go into public restrooms alone, for that very reason. I think I definitely would have had to follow him to see where he went! We live in real scary world!

Heather said...

wow that is scary! i think if he really made an honest mistake you would have been able to tell by his reaction, facial expressions, etc. The only reason I say this is because, my dad is going to die when i tell this story, but it's too funny not to tell. When I was in 8th grade, my parents were celebrating their wedding anniversary and took me & my little sister with them to dinner. it was a really fancy restaurant, we were all dressed up, my dad was in a suit, etc. Well my dad excused himself to go to the restroom and a few minutes later my sister needed to go. My mom made me take her of course. Anyway, I open the door to the ladies room and what do i see? the back of my dad, LOL. yes, he was standing there using the toilet. i backed up and did a double take on the door which of course had only a weird picture and the word written in another language. i had just assumed it was ladies. so my sister and i stood outside of the door until my dad came out and i told him, i thought he was in the ladies room. He almost had a heart attack. he was so embarrassed his face was beat red, he couldn't breathe and wanted to leave the restaurant immediately. He thought it was the men's room and apparantly some restaurants don't put urinals in the guys room, just normal toilets with stalls. that's what he thought was the deal here! Let's just say he was mortified that I walked in and that he was in the ladies room, BUT he was really glad some other lady didn't come in. He seriously would have had a heart attack then. Now we laugh about it, but you can tell it still bothers him. so maybe this guy really did make an honest mistake and just didn't know how to react or something.. let's hope.

Denise said...

That is beyond scary, so glad that God kept you safe. I love you.

Nicolle said...

That is so scary. I am glad you were all ok. But yes, it sounds like he was lying.

He & Me + 3 said...

I am officially creeped out. Scary that you can't even let your kids out of your sight for one second because someone might be prowling around...in the girls bathroom of all places...sheesh. Thanks for sharing...I will be double cautious now.

Alicia The Snowflake said...

Oh wow! That is scary. Unfortunately our world is not a safe place for children anymore. You have to be on your guard at all times. Thanks for sharing my friend!

Debra Kaye said...

Daphine,

First, thank God you and Jae and the other woman are ok.

Next, how scary...I shudder to think of what could have happened.

Last...You are so right..never let the kids go alone. And Jay never lets me go alone either..he always escorts me and waits outside. It's just too dangerous these days.

((hugs)) to you, my friend.

Beth E. said...

What a horrible thing to happen! I'm so glad that you and the girls are safe...Praise God!

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Daphine, I'm so thankful you all are okay! What a terrible thing to have happen! I'm glad the manager knew about it, and hopefully, it won't happen again.

XO,

Sheila :-)

Melissa Miller said...

OH MY THAT IS SCARY!

THANK YOU FOR THE HEADS UP.

Laura said...

Oh my goodness!!! How scary! Thanks for the reminder to never ever let my kids go into a bathroom alone. I never really thought too much about it (my kids are still too young to even think about leaving them on their own) but now I know to never even think about it. You just never know what kind of sickos are out there. I am so glad you, your daughter and that other lady were safe.

Anonymous said...

When I started reading this, I kinda thought it was funny.

I kept reading it and thought... Oh my! She has a point!!

Glad all turned out well.

Lee said...

Oh wow, that's terrifying, I'm glad everything worked out okay.
If something like that had happened to me I probably would've wound up crying back at my booth. Any sort of person out of line in my personal space scares me to death.
Men in general scare me, since I've been man-handled one too many times.

Michelle said...

Ewe....that's frightening!! I'm glad you are both okay and he wasn't some kind of weirdo to you guys!!

More Than Words said...

Oh, Daphine, I think you handled that very well!! It sounds like you were very bold,and that's what probably threw him way off!!

We never, ever let our kids go to the bathroom alone in public places. I heard one too many stories of things happening...even in boys bathrooms. We can never be too careful w/ our children...never!!

I'm glad that nobody was hurt!!

Christian - Modobject@Home said...

Eeeeeek! Wow! That IS scary... and it's possible he wasn't just waiting for a "young girl" but simply a vulnerable woman.

MamaHen said...

Very Strange. Thank you for the good reminder about keeping our girls and our boys safe in the restrooms.

Anonymous said...

Very odd. We were at a bar the other night and my friends came running back from the bath room to tell us that there was a guy in there and had to "do #2" and couldn't do it in the men's. They told him off and watched him when he left the bath room and he left the bar. He wasn't even hanging out there. He just came in for that. Odd.

God's Girl said...

Thank you for sharing this story! Eeeeek! It is so good to be aware of these kinds of things.

Melissa said...

ugh! that gave me the heebiejeebies! *shivers*

I kinda wondered though if maybe he went in there cause the women's bathroom is so much cleaner than the men's? I sure hope that's the reason and not the other one you had said, cause that's just so freaky!

I guess Kendra will be 20 before she gets to go to the bathroom by herself in public!

Katie said...

Thanks for telling us, this is just another story so us paranoid moms know that taking our boys into the bathroom with us is perfectly fine. I don't let them go by themselves at all. Creepy!!

Bay Jones said...

Oh my goodness that is very scary. Thankfully you were there with your daughter, there is no telling what he was thinking about doing. Thank God nothing happend.

michele said...

This is a good lesson for me. I have JUST begun letting my six year old son use the men's room... in certain public places, while I wait outside the door... and although this was a man in the ladies room it still makes me realize weird things and strange people are lurking. I need to keep taking him in the ladies room with me!

Jenn said...

Ok, I have to admit I have actually made the mistake of going in the men's restroom before (I guess I'll blog about it).

Anyways, you must have definitely been shook up because the Daphine I know would have gone STRAIGHT to the manager!!!....lol!!!!

I'm glad you were there to "chase" the crazy man out of there! You may have saved a little girl that day!

That makes me shudder. Samantha is NEVER going to the bathroom alone now!!!!

Edie said...

I would have been concerned too. My daughter lets my 10 year old grandaughter go to the restroom alone and it scares me to death.

I have heard of women accidentally going into the mens restroom. I don't understand how anyone could not notice if there was or was not urinals. But I suppose it is a possibility.

In either case, I'm glad you both were ok and nothing happened.

Jennifer said...

Wow...that is so creepy! I would never even think "a man could be in there!" Things are just so scary..

Brandi said...

That is so scary! When we were in Miami I had to use a public restroom that was practically deserted (in a basement) and Kenyon stood right outside the door in case someone wierd was in there. BUT, you would never expect that in a restuarant. Very scary. I will be more cautious. Thanks for posting this.

Robin @ The Rendered Nest said...

I certainly hope he was confused rather than doing something like that on purpose, but thank you for the reminder that we can never be too protective of our children.

Rebekah said...

Thanks for sharing this story. I don't like using public restrooms either, but eventually for some reason you just have to. It's easy to get too comfortable and feel too safe, and I need to be reminded to be alert at all times.
I'm so thankful God protected you and your daughter,as well as the other lady.

Jennifer said...

Now that is scary. Creepy.

Jill said...

What a horrible story. Since my daughter is still a baby I had never thought about something like this. I will definitely keep this incident in the back of my mind. You are probably right in that he was waiting for some poor innocent little girl to enter alone.

I hope the manager found him and kicked him out.

tincanlily said...

Yikes, that is a scary story. I am going to be very careful when I use public restrooms. Thank you.
denise

Anonymous said...

Actually, mistakes have been known to happen, especially these days when you have so many things on your mind at one time.
Quite awhile back, my daughter went to have lunch at Panera Bread. Before our food was ready I went to the restroom....when I came out of the stall and went to the sink to wash my hands out of the corner of my eye something unusual caught my attention. I turned and saw it was a row of urinals. I dried my hands really quickly and flew out of there. Luckily, there was nobody else in there! By the time I got to the table I was laughing. My daughter said..."Mom, what have you done now?"
It can happen!!!

Kim Hancock said...

I never let my kids go to the restroom alone for fear that someone will hurt them, abduct them, or take photos over/under the stall without them knowing. Don't regret not following him... I think people like that are unpredictable and you could have been hurt.

Anonymous said...

I personally think you're a little paranoid and that you need to rethink it. My husband entered a woman's restroom once at a chain restaurant and wondered why there were no urinals, but none the less used the toilet. A woman also entered after he washed his hands and asked if she was in the wrong bathroom, but he told her no and apologized profusely. Now I understand where you're coming from about the not letting your daughters go alone, I wouldn't do that either, but chain restaurants, from what I've heard, aren't allowed to let people just use the restrooms. My friend works at Carlos O' Kelly's and they aren't allowed to let people in for that and she also says that majority of restaurants are not supposed to do that.
I understand the scare, but think it over carefully and be happy that he didn't attack you, because if he was one of those people, he probably would have attempted to harm you.

Anonymous said...

It is possible that the man was some sort of pervert who has an bathroom fetish or whatever. Then again, it is possible that it was an accident as well. I know in the past when I wasn't wearing my contacts (everything is blurry without them) that I walked into the wrong restroom. If you gotta go, you gotta go and you aren't necessarily paying attention to what the bathroom looks like. It seems like if it was intentional, he would have stayed "hidden" until no one else was in there so he would be "caught". But I agree, keep yourself and your children safe.
I've heard stories of men following a single woman into the restroom, put a note on the door that says out of service or closed for repairs. Then when you are using the restroom, they pull a gun on you, make you strip, take your clothes, and steal your purse. Then you are left alone with no cell phone and no one is coming to your rescue because their is a sign on the door that says out of order. By the time police do arrive, the criminal is long gone.
This story isn't supposed to freak you out, but to keep you safe.