Have You Ever...

[♥ Lily ♥]

... walked into the wrong gender toilet room by mistake?

It happened to me this afternoon while I was walking a dog in a park for my workplace.

I found some public toilets inside the park and it's the first time I'd ever used them.

I went through a single main door with a little dog on the lead - and the mens, ladies, and disabled toilets were inside through separate doors within a maze of doors in the place.

Another door was already open and so I thought it would lead to some more doors, and I walked straight in... and then I saw a man inside the room I'd just walked into and he was doing up his zip to his jeans and he gave me a confused look. I'd walked straight into the mens toilet room by mistake.

I felt so embarrassed and blushed and I quickly apologised and left. I kept my gaze at eye level and didn't look down, but quickly turned on my heel a few seconds after walking in there after realising my mistake. I left the room feeling like an idiot. I hope I didn't embarrass the man.

Has it ever happened to you? If it did, how did you feel and how did other people react?

[♥ Lily ♥]

To make matters worse, there was a sign saying 'CCTV cameras are in constant operation in these toilet rooms'.

[Catarinense1998]

Never.Thanks god XD

[idioteque]

I have, but thank God it was empty. Friends got a good laugh.

[Marinus]

This happened to me once, I was quoting for a job in this old Victorian building where the health & safety office and infirmary for the area surrounding Keble College in Oxford is located.

I finished talking to the lady, asked if I could use the throne room for a no.1 and she kindly told me "through the stairs and straight", and through the stairs and straight I went, saw this white door, pushed it open, saw the stalls and went on to relieve myself.

Upon exiting the stall and heading for the sink to wash up, I hear the flush through the other occupied stall, the door opens and who do I see? "Oh my goodness!" is what I hear as a very confused sexagenarian lady gazes at me.

-"Well, you might as well finish drying off your hands, love" She says, as I apologise profusely.

It turns out that since this is an old house that was repurposed, it wasn't really built with the layout that best fits it today, and when that first lady told me to go through the stairs, she really meant it, go through all the way until you bloody well run out of stairs, then go straight.

The ladies was one floor beneath us and the gents was beneath that floor.

It was all good, we had a nice chuckle in the end.

[♥ Lily ♥]

This happened to me once, I was quoting for a job in this old Victorian building where the health & safety office and infirmary for the area surrounding Keble College in Oxford is located.

I finished talking to the lady, asked if I could use the throne room for a no.1 and she kindly told me "through the stairs and straight", and through the stairs and straight I went, saw this white door, pushed it open, saw the stalls and went on to relieve myself.

Upon exiting the stall and heading for the sink to wash up, I hear the flush through the other occupied stall, the door opens and who do I see? "Oh my goodness!" is what I hear as a very confused sexagenarian lady gazes at me.

-"Well, you might as well finish drying off your hands, love" She says, as I apologise profusely.

It turns out that since this is an old house that was repurposed, it wasn't really built with the layout that best fits it today, and when that first lady told me to go through the stairs, she really meant it, go through all the way until you bloody well run out of stairs, then go straight.

The ladies was one floor beneath us and the gents was beneath that floor.

It was all good, we had a nice chuckle in the end.

It's nice you were able to chuckle about it.

The experience I had today has left me feeling hopeless, stupid, awkward, uncomfortable and embarrassed. I can see the humorous side (slightly) but it's generally left me feeling very negative and depressed.

I've always been a very oversensitive person since childhood, and I feel very bad in myself and nervous for the slightest errors I make in life. (Maybe due to having such an extremely critical and strict father who demanded perfection all the time.)

Maybe because it's just another embarrassing blunder that I've made in a series of embarrassing situations recently.... such as walking along the pavement with a dog the other week - only to be stopped in the middle of the pavement by a big black workman who suddenly stood directly in front of me and he stopped me from walking, which took me by surprise.

Lots of cars were nearby in a traffic jam in the road and people were staring.

'Excuse me lady, but this area is forbidden to pedestrians.'

I felt so bewildered and confused. He was looking at me as if to say 'What the heck is she doing walking in this forbidden area?!?'

He then pointed to a huge sign to the side of the pavement: 'Warning! Tree cutting ahead. Do not enter!'

But I never saw the sign on the pavement as I was too preoccupied watching the dog instead (to check he wasn't trying to eat anything off the ground and watching the ground to check he wouldn't step onto any broken glass) - and obliviously walked straight into the workmens area without seeing the sign on the pavement.

I felt like such an idiot and then noticed that workmen were standing all around staring - and two of them looked down at the dog and they quietly muttered something to each other in annoyance - as the dog suddenly did a pee straight near their work tools.

I blame my medications for my poor concentration sometimes.

[Marinus]

It's nice you were able to chuckle about it.

The experience I had today has left me feeling hopeless, stupid, awkward, uncomfortable and embarrassed. I can see the humorous side (slightly) but it's generally left me feeling very negative and depressed.

Maybe because it's just another embarrassing blunder that I've made in a series of embarrassing situations recently.... such as walking along the pavement with a dog the other week - only to be stopped in the middle of the pavement by a big black workman who suddenly came and stood right in front of me and he took me by surprise.

Lots of cars were nearby in a traffic jam in the road and people were staring.

'Excuse me lady, but this area is forbidden to pedestrians.'

I felt so bewildered. He was looking at me as if to say 'What the heck is she doing walking in this area?'

He then pointed to a huge sign to the side of the pavement: 'Warning! Tree cutting ahead. Do not enter!'

But I never saw the sign on the pavement as I was too busy concentrating on the dog instead - and walked obliviously straight into the workmens area.

I felt like such an idiot and then suddenly noticed that workmen were standing all around staring - and two of them looked down at the dog and quietly said something to each other - as he suddenly did a pee straight onto their tree-cutting site.

I blame my medications for my poor concentration sometimes.

Ah, we all have our silly moments! Don't fret over it, trust me, what happened to you in that tree cutting incident happens to a lot of people, all the time, I've been in that place as both the workman and the unspecting pedestrian.

I understand how you can feel kind of hopeless when you add up all these little clutch moments in your head, and think to yourself "well, goddangit I can't do anything right!", but the more you think about these things the more you'll distract yourself thinking about them, it's a vicious cycle.

For a short while I had to take some stuff for anxiety and related problems, I know how much weight all these thoughts of everything emabarrasing and awkward you did place on your general disposition, how it affects your mood.

What I did, was distract myself with new experiences that I knew I had no skill in, but noone else in that same group had either, so everyone would embarrass themsleves in equal measure and learn to laugh about it. Those experiences were, cooking class, which I'll toot my own horn here, made me a pretty good chef! and the other was dancing lessons, which I'm still awful at.

I see that you walk your dogs regularly, that's great for the mind. Do you jog? or Exercise regularly? These, especially jogging in a park is like a miraculous drug for concentration and just feeling all round great.

[Marmara]

Never happened

[♥ Lily ♥]

Ah, we all have our silly moments! Don't fret over it, trust me, what happened to you in that tree cutting incident happens to a lot of people, all the time, I've been in that place as both the workman and the unspecting pedestrian.

I understand how you can feel kind of hopeless when you add up all these little clutch moments in your head, and think to yourself "well, goddangit I can't do anything right!", but the more you think about these things the more you'll distract yourself thinking about them, it's a vicious cycle.

For a short while I had to take some stuff for anxiety and related problems, I know how much weight all these thoughts of everything emabarrasing and awkward you did place on your general disposition, how it affects your mood.

What I did, was distract myself with new experiences that I knew I had no skill in, but noone else in that same group had either, so everyone would embarrass themsleves in equal measure and learn to laugh about it. Those experiences were, cooking class, which I'll toot my own horn here, made me a pretty good chef! and the other was dancing lessons, which I'm still awful at.

I see that you walk your dogs regularly, that's great for the mind. Do you jog? or Exercise regularly? These, especially jogging in a park is like a miraculous drug for concentration and just feeling all round great.

Thanks. I don't have any pets at the moment - but I've spent a lot buying lots of dog toys, dog blankets, dog brushes, dog equipment, etc, over the last few years - all ready for when I buy my own dog from a specialist breeder. (I walk and groom other peoples dogs and cats for them.) I think I'm subconsciously anxious about getting a dog, and keep delaying it by thinking that I need to buy even more things ready for a dog.

I do lots of hours of walking at work, in addition to a lot of standing and lifting whilst grooming large huskies, etc. I've done a lot of walking today in very cold rain.... and then washed, dried, brushed, and groomed the dogs afterwards - to prevent the dreaded Alabama Rot disease that's killing dogs across the UK after they've walked in wet or muddy areas. The machines are loud and noisy, and it gets very hairy and the dogs rarely keep still whilst sharp shaving tools and scissors are near them.

Years ago now, I used to do Chantraine expressive and therapeutic dance classes, Iyengar Yoga, pilates, gym, and balletcise classes on alternative evenings each week. I see loads of people jogging in the parks, playing tennis, etc, but I'm not one for jogging and I don't like tennis. I want to go back to yoga again.

I wake early each morning to feed wild birds who frequently fly up to my balcony windows outside and sometimes they fly into my home... and to clean out their bird baths and feeders that I bought for them. Interacting with birds each morning lifts me a lot.

I saw a dead bird on the pavement today whilst walking a dog, and it made me feel very sad with this world. Other people just casually walked past it after seeing it, and they carried on chatting and laughing - but I felt affected by seeing it's little dead body and the sad expression of its dead face laying on the ground.

I don't get much sleep and have been doing a lot of spring-cleaning in the evenings recently... early mornings feeding birds... and then not finishing work until 7pm some evenings... then vacuuming and housework... and studying over 200 dog breeds for an online canine course I'm doing ... inbetween watching dog safety videos, etc... also I do feel tired a lot with disturbed sleep at nights from nightmares. It affects my concentration.

Thanks for the helpful advice though, I appreciate it.

[Marinus]

Thanks. I don't have any pets at the moment - but I've spent a lot buying lots of dog toys, dog blankets, dog brushes, dog equipment, etc, over the last few years - all ready for when I buy my own dog from a specialist breeder. (I walk and groom other peoples dogs and cats for them.) I think I'm subconsciously anxious about getting a dog, and keep delaying it by thinking that I need to buy even more things ready for a dog.

I do lots of hours of walking at work, in addition to a lot of standing and lifting whilst grooming large huskies, etc. I've done a lot of walking today in very cold rain.... and then washed, dried, brushed, and groomed the dogs afterwards - to prevent the dreaded Alabama Rot disease that's killing dogs across the UK after they've walked in wet or muddy areas. The machines are loud and noisy, and it gets very hairy and the dogs rarely keep still whilst sharp shaving tools and scissors are near them.

Years ago now, I used to do Chantraine expressive and therapeutic dance classes, Iyengar Yoga, pilates, gym, and balletcise classes on alternative evenings each week. I see loads of people jogging in the parks, playing tennis, etc, but I'm not one for jogging and I don't like tennis. I want to go back to yoga again.

I wake early each morning to feed wild birds who frequently fly up to my balcony windows outside and sometimes they fly into my home... and to clean out their bird baths and feeders that I bought for them. Interacting with birds each morning lifts me a lot.

I saw a dead bird on the pavement today whilst walking a dog, and it made me feel very sad with this world. Other people just casually walked past it after seeing it, and they carried on chatting and laughing - but I felt affected by seeing it's little dead body and the sad expression of its dead face laying on the ground.

I don't get much sleep and have been doing a lot of spring-cleaning in the evenings recently... early mornings feeding birds... and then not finishing work until 7pm some evenings... then vacuuming and housework... and studying over 200 dog breeds for an online canine course I'm doing ... inbetween watching dog safety videos, etc... also I do feel tired a lot with disturbed sleep at nights from nightmares. It affects my concentration.

Thanks for the helpful advice though, I appreciate it.

Ah, you're very active already, that's great! As for jogging, runner's high, amazing feeling, really feels like you're high!

Poor sleep is veeeeeeeery detrimental though, I would hire someone to get the house clean and rest more, and I would try to sleep more, maybe even sleep 'till a little bit later and get a break from the early morning birds, if it helped my sleeping. Birds are sweet little creatures though, I can see why they cheer you up so much, they do that to me too.

But good luck, I hope you ace that course and get a nice break!