Okay, these men were not lurking outside the restrooms. It's a bathroom with one toilet. Just one. The door locks from the inside. The door was not locked and it was ajar (on the most recent occasion), so I pushed open the door and entered just like I would any bathroom door that is ajar when I am going to use it.
So it's not like I'm walking into a bathroom with several stalls. It's a single toilet bathroom. The men's room is right next to it (with signage), and apparently it is free because someone always enters it while I'm standing there trying to figure out if I have opened the wrong door or not.
This has happened on three different occasions (different places), and it's starting to concern me. I now knock loudly no matter what and enter with caution.
Anyway, that's neither here nor there. They're not lurking. And they do come out, so I don't think they're in there waiting for someone to enter (gosh, I hope not).
If they'd just lock the door, it wouldn't be a problem. I just feel so embarrassed when I walk in. And I shouldn't be embarrassed, but I am.
I agree with the previous posters about how we are so overly-informed that we are starting to become paranoid. I'm all for getting as much information as possible, but I think sometimes we need to step back and consider that what we see and hear on the news is not the norm thankfully. If it were the norm, it wouldn't be news anymore. It's sad that there are people who will hurt children, and it's sad that parents have to be so worried about it. I wanted children and was unable to have them, and I honestly think I wouldn't have been able to rest easy if I were a parent. I'd worry constantly and probably make my kid wear a helmet while playing in the back yard on the grass. I'm one of those people who would buy knee pads for my kid as it learns to crawl.
Innocence is gone now, and it is kind of sad that it has to be this way.
