Woman yelled at me in public toilets

[empee47]

Went to Tesco yesterday and visited the loo. Washed my hands and turned on the hand dryer and another lady started yelling at me that I was upsetting her daughter because of the noise. Daughter looked to be about 3 and was visibly distressed. Had they asked me not to use the dryer until they’d left the sink area and explained why, I wouldn’t have done. Apparently I can’t possibly be a mum myself as everyone knows kids are scared of the noise. Happens that I have 2 kids myself and the noise has never bothered them. It was the aggressive way she was bellowing at me in public that annoyed me and the sense of entitlement that everything had to run her way.

She’s ridiculous
don’t give it any more thought

I mean I wouldn’t use hand dryer because they’re woefully unhygienic but yeah the noise is also horrific
maybe just take your own tissues next time

Silly cow. She needs to learn to use her words.

how the hell are you meant to know her DD is scared of the hand dryer? She is expecting you to automatically know? Ridiculous. It reminded me DS2 used to hate the dryer, but I certainly didn’t expect other people not to use it. She sounds unhinged.

Yeah, she was being ridiculous. My own kids were frightened of hand dryers when they were small but it was my responsibly to warn them that the hand dryer would be noisy and advise that they covered their ears.

What happened to the courteous request ‘ do you mind not using the dryer until we’ve gone …now hurry up small child we are keeping the lady waiting’.

It’s a sad world now.

It was the aggressive way she was bellowing at me in public that annoyed me and the sense of entitlement that everything had to run her way.

If this is the attitude she's modelling for her daughter, then she's in for a fun ride when she hits the teen years!

MAD woman! HER kid has an issue with hand-dryers - HER responsibility to manage that.

Don’t give it a second thought, OP. Sorry you got shouted at.

YANBU. Your world doesn’t revolve around someone else’s child. If you’d been asked not to use it (I have in the past as the child was autistic) then that’s a different matter.

She sounds unhinged.

If your DC are terrified of hand dryer noise then it is your responsibility as a parent to manage that, not assume that no child should be exposed to the noise and shout at people. Neither of mine were remotely upset by hand dryer noises. If someone asked me not to use them because of their DC I’d respect that, but I wouldn’t not use them simply because there are DC in the space.

YANBU and I had two DC who were terrified of hand dryers when they were little and it was really difficult going to public toilets. It was my job to avoid that situation or deal with it, I’d have never expected other people to know and not use the hand dryers. I hope you just gave her a confused expression in response to her outburst and walked out. She was obviously just upset that her child was upset and looking for someone to blame other than herself.

Was she just yelling because you were using the hand drier at the time?
Was she shouting over the noise maybe?

She shouldn’t have yelled at you. And she can’t control others use of the hand driers, my dd also doesn’t like the drier noise but I would never tell anyone not to use it.

And why do you think they are unhygienic? I see so many silly women in public toilets flapping their hands around and not looking at the instructions for the dryer then getting out a couple of tissues from their bags (or even using toilet paper) - this isn't designed to do the job

Were you there? What a ridiculous post. 'We' are supportive of other women and don't accuse them of making things up.

Sorry OP, this is a stupid post. The woman was clearly being OTT.

Get a grip. It's a public toilet with a hand dryer, the OP did nothing wrong. How you dry your hands in public loos is your business.

If the child of the aggressive woman is sensitive to noise then her mum needs to speak up in a civilised manner before allowing a situation to arise which causes her child distress and then shouting at people in public.

I'll wager the child was also equally upset and distressed at her mother shouting. I really dislike a lot of noises (have hyperacusis) and so my childhood was full of distressing sounds until I learned how to avoid or deal with some of them, but a parent shouting would also have made me stick my fingers in my ears and wail, so I think her mother handled it badly.

Because a lot of the older style ones (such as supermarkets) recycle air from the toilets, you are aware of what air in toilets with no ventilation is like right? 💩

😘

i never forget these women tutting angrily at dd for using the drier at the loos at gatwick airport
totally unreasonable,
as is the mother in this case!

This exactly.

Utterly irrelevant whether someone else uses hand dryers or find them hygienic or not

They are there to be used if one so chooses. She does not need to use tissue /hand towels if she doesn’t want to.

It’s perfectly ok to use the hand dryer provided.

ETA: I see @Funkeh has responded to this with a laughing emoji. I assume giggling at their own foolishness on show 🤷🏻‍♀️☺️

I am one of those silly women. I find the hot air dries my skin out and normally let my hands air dry. Wouldn’t use a tissue though.