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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:
CrazyTimes123 · 03/04/2022 11:57

Ahh reminds me of school toilets that never had locks or would stay closed !

This is how women started going on mass to the ladies Grin

Realitea · 03/04/2022 11:58

I had this problem with my in laws bathroom! I was delighted to find for sale a portable lock which works on most doors. I take it with me whenever I go away now

RightOnTheEdge · 03/04/2022 11:59

I'm with you OP!
My parents don't have a lock on their bathroom door and it's quite a long bathroom with the toilet at the other end straight opposite the door.
I hate going to the toilet it makes me feel really on edge and more than once my kids have barged in even though I've shouted at them a few times to not do that if the door is shut and the light is on but they just do it without thinking.

Natsku · 03/04/2022 12:02

We don't have a lock on our bathroom door, and for about two years we had no light in there either so had to leave the door open to shower (and we still do leave the door open, because there's no heating in the bathroom so its too cold if you shut the door)
But the bathroom is in the basement, at the end of a hallway that no one goes down unless they are going to shower or to the washing machine so there's no need for anyone to worry about someone seeing them shower.

theamericanbream · 03/04/2022 12:03

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

This should be worthy of jail time.

chisanunian · 03/04/2022 12:04

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

Yeah we should definitely waste Parliamentary time on this sort of shit, and even more so the Police on enforcement - I mean the Police are always looking for more pointless shit to do aren't they?
As long as they can have their pointless shit in private. Behind a locked door, of course...
Hawkins001 · 03/04/2022 12:07

Carry a door stopper wedge with you, as these usual do the trick

Original poster
Oysterbabe · 03/04/2022 12:08

@theamericanbream

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

This should be worthy of jail time.

There's a pub in Bristol called the Rummer. I don't know if it's still the case, but when I went there about 10 years ago the cubicles in the toilets were made entirely from opaque glass. I mean, what the actual fuck?
OP posts:
Zonder · 03/04/2022 12:08

I'm afraid this wouldn't work enough in my place with a faint light in the hallway. And for OP, she'd have to carry it wherever she goes.

Good points @Gwenhwyfar so I need to make one with a kind of night light glowing frame and a fold up one to pop in a wash bag.
I've adapted the model now.

To think this should be against the law
Zonder · 03/04/2022 12:09

Probably not still the case OP. The owners are probably in jail now.

fiftyandfat · 03/04/2022 12:09

Those rubber door wedges are very good. I always take one when staying in hotels in case there is no chain on the door and tell my DD to do the same.

TheBolterdahling · 03/04/2022 12:12

If it open inwards a door edge in the handba, if it opens outwards hang your handbag on the outside of the door handle

TheBolterdahling · 03/04/2022 12:12

*door wedge in your handbag
Obviously take it out your handbag and use to wedge door when you go to the loo.

Lavenderlid · 03/04/2022 12:12

@Realitea

I had this problem with my in laws bathroom! I was delighted to find for sale a portable lock which works on most doors. I take it with me whenever I go away now
You can't post that and then not say what it is?
sanityisamyth · 03/04/2022 12:14

I tell my DS never to lock the bathroom door in case he slips in the shower or bath and bangs his head. I've taught him to knock if he needs to go in when I'm in there. Bathroom doors in private homes shouldn't be locked.

woodhill · 03/04/2022 12:14

I would hate that

Yanbu

fiftyandfat · 03/04/2022 12:15

"My bathroom door opens outwards. I'd be really grateful for any ideas that don't involve asking the landlord's permission and drilling holes into the wall.
It would be great if it opened inwards - I'd just have a weight by the door to keep it closed."

A bit of clothes line with a loop tied at each end. One round the door handle, the other round a tap. I have found lengths of clothes line very useful in the past. I have tied a car exhaust back on a couple of times for example.

Blossomtoes · 03/04/2022 12:16

😂😂😂😂

You’re two days late @Oysterbabe. Friday was 1 April.

zingally · 03/04/2022 12:16

You'd best not come to my house then!

SuperSocks · 03/04/2022 12:18

I'm still a bit traumatised by the time I went for a sleepover at a house where there WAS NO BATHROOM DOOR! My friend's dad was literally working in his study right opposite with his door open too!

sst1234 · 03/04/2022 12:19

Wow do people really expect house guests to drag furniture across the room to get privacy in bathrooms. And how do you even lock a door with a towel. You don’t have to argue to prove OP wrong just because you can. Just because we have badly designed houses in this country doesn’t mean we have to keep the ‘tradition’ going.

sst1234 · 03/04/2022 12:21

@sanityisamyth

I tell my DS never to lock the bathroom door in case he slips in the shower or bath and bangs his head. I've taught him to knock if he needs to go in when I'm in there. Bathroom doors in private homes shouldn't be locked.
What? This place gets weirder by the day. Bathroom doors in homes shouldn’t be locked with family member accidentally walking in on each other routinely?
placemats · 03/04/2022 12:23

In our house if the bathroom door is closed there's someone in there. If vacant then the door is open. Simple as that.

When I go to other people's houses they always close the door, so I'm forever knocking on the door asking if anyone is in.

However your FIL has no boundaries and this is quite alarming. How bloody dare he just walk into a bathroom like that. I bet he sits there waiting until you go in.

I would get a sign, homemade that says 'Occupied' and stick it on the outside. I doubt this would work with your FIL, who sounds horrible, and would get a heavy door stopper and wedge.

Or, just announce to everyone you are using the toilet and can no one please enter for the next 10 minutes.

tokyo1 · 03/04/2022 12:26

I have this fear at MILs 😩 they don't have a lock on the shower room and the lock on the toilet is dodgy. I wedge a chair infront of the door. Also make sure I announce very loudly the shower is occupied. I also live in fear of someone walking in on me when we stay there :(

Lavenderlid · 03/04/2022 12:27

Our bathroom door has a lock that can be opened from the outside with a coin.
No one except me in the family knows this! Maybe I should tell them in case I ever fall in the shower and pass out?