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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this should be against the law

182 replies

Oysterbabe · 03/04/2022 09:59

I'm staying at my inlaws this weekend. They don't have a lock on the shower room. I have a lightning fast shower, terrified of FIL walking in the entire time. He wouldn't do this on purpose but my kids would fling the door open without a second's thought of anyone else being nearby.

I was at a BBQ last year with about 20 other people. No lock on the bathroom door. Had to wee as quickly as possible in fear.

I think a lock, or some other method of indicating the room is occupied, should be a legal requirement punished with a fixed penalty fine of £100 or unlimited fine and 3 months in prison if the lack of lock results in someone seeing your bum.

OP posts:
AfraidToRun · 03/04/2022 11:09

I have a tiny door stop on my keys, it's meant to be for wobbly tables but I wonder if it'd work on a bathroom door.

iklboo · 03/04/2022 11:10

Locks are no guarantee. DS opening the door of a portaloo in the park in the middle of a bloody festival while I was still on it with me kecks round me ankles. The sight of the door slowly swinging open still haunts me.

Original poster
Oysterbabe · 03/04/2022 11:10

@chisanunian

Seeing your bum would be punishment enough, they wouldn't need a fine as well.

Grin

This is true 😂
OP posts:
EveryFlightBeginsWithAFall · 03/04/2022 11:11

I'd like to say yabu but I've just remembered we don't have one due to youngest having asd and having an obsession with water, however that was when he was younger so I should probably get one now.

Even the cats are able to bash their way into the bathroom, and often do Blush

EveryFlightBeginsWithAFall · 03/04/2022 11:11

Yanbu even!

theamericanbream · 03/04/2022 11:12

I completely agree OP. I hate it when there is no lock on the bathroom door and that's just for a wee! If I need a poo then it won't happen if there is no lock and no way I'd shower. Hate it, hate it. Always think it's really inconsiderate , the exception being if there are toddlers in their house who could lock themselves in.

Never thought about rolled up towels to block door.

JuneOsborne · 03/04/2022 11:13

@Babadook76 is that your own drawing?

Marvellous.

Sparklingbrook · 03/04/2022 11:14

@felulageller

So what if someone sees you?

Everyone goes. It's not a secret!

I don't want anyone to see me. I don't think that's unusual.

When you have teenagers and they have their friends/girlfriends visit they really don't want anyone to see them. It's not for an audience.

HedgehogToes · 03/04/2022 11:15

We haven't got a lock and the bathroom door doesn't even shut properly 😂🙈

But we don't generally have guests, and your knees stop the door opening anyway!

HeArInGhandsgirl11 · 03/04/2022 11:15

I get it OP YANBU I think £1000 penalty

Readyforspring · 03/04/2022 11:17

Take one of them door wedges and put behind door when showering

NobblyBob · 03/04/2022 11:18

I got locked in the first floor bathroom at a party once, had to jump out the window. Landed on a bike and flattened it. Hobbled into the house, no one had spotted me. Phew. Unbeknownst to me, during my Houdini escape I'd also trodden in dog shit. Someone noticed the bike, open window and locked door. Followed the trail of dog shit, which lead to.. Me. I still double check bathroom locks to this day

teaandtoastwithmarmite · 03/04/2022 11:18

We don't because we live in a rented house where the doors have been painted over that many times they don't close properly. We had someone out and they confirmed it

Trainbear · 03/04/2022 11:20

The sight of my bare bum is worse penalty that £100.

itsgettingweird · 03/04/2022 11:23

@WhatHaveIFound

For a while after we moved into a new house we had a bathroom without a locking door.

We used a soft toy dog as a guard dog. If it was outside the door
the bathroom was in use. Kids loved it.

That's genius 🤣🤣🤣
dogsonrollerskates · 03/04/2022 11:26

YANBU. I would like to add 6 years hard labour for people who have locks that don't work.

MIL lives in a bungalow and the bathroom door is next to the kitchen, and the back door (which everyone uses) opens in to the kitchen. There is a small bolt on the bathroom door which I NOW know slips if anyone pushes on the door even slightly. She has had the bathroom expensively renovated recently but kept the 40 year old broken bolt.

CoffeeCappucino · 03/04/2022 11:27

Growing up in a household where I was subjected to 98% emotional abuse and 1% emotional abuse then 1% dm would randomly like once a year ne lovely to me ….one thing was no lock on toilet or bathroom door and I was allowed no privacy so I sort of get it OP even if this is a joke post

CoffeeCappucino · 03/04/2022 11:28

1% physical that should say

Wintersgirl · 03/04/2022 11:30

They should get a 'Do not disturb" sign like they do in Hotels.

Helenahandkart · 03/04/2022 11:30

The people who don’t have bathroom locks , why not?
It takes 5 minutes to fit a bolt, high up if necessary to stop children getting stuck. Why would you not do this so your guests aren’t stressed about going to the toilet?

CoastalWave · 03/04/2022 11:31

I agree. I think it's really bad hosting manners to be honest!

Clockstooforward · 03/04/2022 11:33

Errr just say you are having a shower🤷‍♀️

Norgie · 03/04/2022 11:34

@SpeedofaSloth You would hate using my bathroom / loo then, the door is opaque glass. 🙂

LakieLady · 03/04/2022 11:34

@TabithaTittlemouse

We don’t have locks. If the bathroom door is shut then the bathroom is in use.
That was the case at my parents' flat for years! Door was left ajar if it was unoccupied.

My mum got caught out once though. She didn't realise that I'd gone out, and that the bathroom door had blown shut. She nearly wet herself, thinking I was having one of my long baths.

Why she left it till the last minute before telling me to get a shift on, I have no idea.

This thread has reminded me that I need to put the bolt back on my bathroom door though. I took it off to paint the door, and haven't got round to putting it back on.

LoveSpringDaffs · 03/04/2022 11:36

@Fimofriend

I think that no lock on bathroom doors is a red flag signalling an inability to respect boundaries. I would get someone to guard the door while I was using the bathroom.
I think it's a signal that the people who live in the house don't need one & haven't thought about visitors.