I've just read the other bathroom thread where a lot of posters felt the OP was unreasonable and it's made me question an experience I had last week. I was putting 3yo DS to bed and he'd had a bit of a tummy issue which meant he was taking forever to settle and he was a little hyper. I was reading him a story in bed when the doorbell rang. DS ran to answer the door extremely excited, if he hadn't I'd have tried to ignore it as DH works away during the week and I don't like to answer the door at night if I'm not expecting someone.
From what I could see as I approached the door I thought it looked like a male and female police officer and my first thought was that DH had been in an accident. (Which happened when DS was 3mo which is why it was my first thought.) When I answered the door, slightly panicked I was met by a couple asking to use my toilet. I took a few seconds to process as I had gone from expecting very bad news to what felt like a bizarre request. The woman said she felt sick and wanted to use my bathroom. I was uncomfortable with the idea but was about to reluctantly let her in, when I thought about how many stories about robbery start with some variation of 'they seemed nice so I let them in.' In the end I said no and the guy walked off in disgust calling the girl after him. As she walked away I nearly relented and called her back. I felt really guilty but ultimately I just wasn't comfortable with letting strangers in my house, especially after dark when it was just me and a toddler. So I let them go.
On thinking about I felt I WNBU. There are at least 4 restaurants/fast food places within a few minutes walk from my house that would have been opened. There is also a hotel with a cafe a couple of minutes away. My house was also a really one to knock at, as my drive is quite long and dark due to huge trees in my garden that block the light and hide the house from the street. My front door is also angled away from the gate, so you have to walk right into the dark to get to it. I love my front garden but it's spooky at night and I can't imagine a stranger choosing my house over all of my neighbours' normal bright, open drives. So I feel the whole thing was weird enough that I wasn't being rude or overly paranoid to not let them in.