As I pushed open the solid white door I had a feeling something wasn’t quite right. There was an unfamiliar smell. However, it was relatively early on Saturday and I was in my third European country this week so you have to make some allowances. I moved through the small anteroom with its hand basins and into the next room. It was odd that there were only two, both vacant, cubicles but it was a small place in an out of the way corner of the Dusseldorf airport so it is possible they just used the space wisely. I pushed open the door to the nearest cubicle and locked it behind me. Once inside I looked around and realised that even in a European toilet, a disposal unit for feminine hygiene items was not normal in a man’s lavatory.
Oh boy! Now I was in trouble. I’m in a ladies toilet in a German Airport. But I was sure I had passed the door to the ladies right next to the door I had just come through. Regardless, my major concern was now ‘How was I going to get out of here’? Should I just do what I went there for and the leave? Then I realised I had my camera-phone with me – how was that going to look? There was nothing for it but to just try and get out immediately. I unlocked the cubicle door just in time to hear the click of high heel shoes approaching through the anteroom. I shut and relocked the cubicle door. Holding my breath I heard the door to the stall next to mine open and shut followed by the rustle of clothes. I decided it was ‘now or never’; I certainly didn’t want to hear anymore. I grabbed my backpack and burst from the stall. Two steps to the door and back into the small ante room - six steps across that and out!
I half expected a gaggle of people to be waiting outside laughing but luckily no one seemed to notice. Moving away from the door as quickly as possible I just had a chance to glance at the door next to the one I had just emerged from and it too was a ladies toilet.
Dammit! Caught by the old two-toilets-the-same-next-to-each-other trick! Cunning people those Germans.
Auf wiedersehn
<Enter stunningly witty and clever tagline here>
Bazza
There is always the chance that the high-heeled shoes belonged to a man. Really, why be so worried? It comes out the same for everyone...
ReplyDeleteI (male) once quickly walked into a restroom at the auto show at McCormick Place. I walked past a lady standing at the sink, who gave me a funny look. I continued in, still not comprehending that I was in the ladies room until I realized there were no urinals. Bing! Uh-oh. I quickly turned around to walk out, and as I passed the same lady at the sink, I just said "I sure walked into the wrong room, didn't I?" Luckily she didn't scream for the police.
ReplyDeleteThere has been more than one occasion where girls couldn't wait in line any longer at the ladies room and came into the men's room. I didn't scream.