A Series of Unfortunate Events

I was talking with a coworker today about weird/usual/unfortunate things that have happened to us. It was just a late evening, ready to go home, finishing up last minute-end-of-the-day work, and we were just keeping each other company as we were winding down the day. She was saying how somehow, someway, she's had her fair share of people that flash her. She started telling me a few different stories of times that she was out and low and behold, some whack-o stranger opened a jacket or pulled down his pants to flash her. Odd, isn't it? I mean, I have NEVER been flashed (thank goodness because it's never the attractive people that want to flash), and here she is going around life getting flashed now more than once. But although I may not have had the unfortunate experience of a flash, I'm the girl that has had the experience of finding men in ladies rooms on several occasions - performing a "self-help" program on themselves, using the liquid soap for other purposes then to wash their hands if you get my drift. I kid you not.

The first time I ran into this disgusting event was a few years ago when I was home one summer from college. Me and several of my old high school friends were all going out one night and stopped at Taco Bell for dinner (hey, we were poor college students that would rather spend their money on beer then on good food). Two of our guy friends went on out to the car and me and my friend Stephanie went to the restroom before we left. Inside the ladies room were 2 stalls, one of which was occupied when we walked in. Steph went to the empty stall first while I waited for my turn. She was finished before the other occupied stall finished, so I went in after her. While I was taking my turn, I looked down while "hovering" and remember thinking that the lady in the stall next to me had really large feet with white tennis shoes, but it didn't click in my mind then that there was anything out of the ordinary. I just assumed some big-footed women had had too much bad, fake mexican and was in there paying for it. So I finished and walked out to wash my hands. All of the sudden, the previously occupied stall door opened and a man started to walk out, pants down around his hips, holding himself in his hand! Steph, waiting on me to finish washing my hands, sees this, grabs my arm with her left hand, the door to the ladies room with her right, and she and I whoosh out in a sprint towards the parking lot, leaving the water running in the sink and soap all over my hands! We thunder into the back seat of the boys' car who were waiting for us outside. Concerned, the boys were trying to figure out what all the commotion was about, and why I still had soapy, wet hands. We relay the story and they.were.pissed!! Our friend Blake jumps out of the car and explodes back into the restaurant, looking to KO our offender while we wait in the car. He returns 5 minutes later and gets back in. He said he told the manager about the incident, and the manager had gone into the ladies room to check to see if the man was still in there, but it was empty. He'd gotten away. We carried on with our night, but not without telling everyone about the events in the women's restroom earlier that evening.

The second time that I've run into this type of thing was just 2 weeks ago...at the office! I was working kind of late one night and one of the last people still left in the office for the evening. I was ready to go home, but was going to use the restroom before I started on my trip to the house. I walked into the bathroom and hesitated as soon as I walked in. There was an odd smell in there. Not the typical cleaner smell. Not a bleach smell. Not even a bad bathroom smell, but it was a very recognizable smell. I thought to myself, "it couldn't be, could it?" I took 3 more cautious steps into the bathroom towards the stalls and with a few more whiffs of the air through my nose, decided that it was definitely the distinct smell of...well...um... I noticed in an instant that one stall door was locked, and a rush of anxiety came over me as I did a 180 and headed back out into the hallway. There is no doubt in my mind that there was a man in the ladies room that evening. I don't know who it was, but I wasn't going to wait around to find out, being one of very few still left on my floor! If someone's that hard up to do something like that, there's no telling what else they'd find enjoyment out of. I walked around and cautioned another female coworker of mine that was still there to not go in the restroom, told her what I had experienced, and I went home, holding it until I got to my house. At least I knew my bathroom was safe.

So with my coworker's tales of flashing, and my tales of men in the ladies room, I wonder if everyone has an unfortunate "thing" that the universe continuously throws in their life path? If so, what's yours?