I was out for lunch earlier and went to wash my hands before eating. There was a mum and little girl, maybe about seven or eight, washing their hands at the same time as me. I heard mum tell the little girl that there were no paper towels and to just shake her hands dry. I went and used the hand dryer. Little girl jumped and mum shouted, actually shouted, at me to stop. I did and looked at her before asking if everything was ok. The mum told me that the little girl was scared of the noise and that I should have dried my hands on my clothes or waited for them to leave. She was really annoyed at me and my confusion and unwillingness to apologise seemed to make her angry.
I understand that she might have been scared of the noise but mum was completely overreacting by shouting at me and then having a go at me for not checking it was safe to use the dryer. If mum had asked me to stop I would have and maybe apologised to the little girl saying I didn't realise she would be frightened. Also she only jumped at the noise, she didn't cry or look upset.
I just looked at this mum and asked her if she was being serious and then when she went off again I told her that I was going to dry my hands and suggested she left the toilets. I waited for them to leave before using the dryer again, although my hands were mostly dry by now, as I didn't want to scare the little girl.
Really though, who does that to a stranger in toilets? Was I being unreasonable to not apologise?