A different kind of bathroom emergency

Don't worry, this isn't one of those "I was running and had a sudden urge..." stories. No clothes were soiled in this incident. (Ugh, TMI even though it's not real? Sorry.)

Anyhow, this afternoon Rod and I were lounging by the pool for a while. The hotel has two really nice pool areas. Not only are the poolside lounge chairs nicer than typical, the larger of the two pools has a whole outdoor room area, with couches and chairs and reading lamps and tables, even a big-screen TV and wireless internet access. You could squat there if you didn't have a hotel room... assuming you didn't get caught and thrown out.

The restrooms are really nice too, roomy stalls with tall wood doors.

So, shortly before we were about to leave I took a quick trip to the bathroom (I drank a lot of water at lunch, hence didn't want to wait to go back to the room.) I popped into a stall, flipped the latch, and did my thing.

Then I flipped the lock open, pushed the door, and...nothing. Thinking I was confused, I turned the lock the other way, and tried again. I did this several times. Needless to say, my pushing grew harder each time. No luck. The door would not budge.

I was trapped in a bathroom stall with an 8-foot tall door that went all the way to the ground.

I started pounding on the door and yelling to try to get someone's attention. This lasted quite a while before a woman came in to find me. (Apparently she worked there, though I didn't know at the time.)

She went and got a maintenance guy and they both wasted some time messing with keys. Obviously, no luck there.

Then the guy went and brought back a ladder. How exactly I was going to get up the 8-foot inside of the door and out the other side where the ladder was, I am not sure!

While I was in there waiting for the ladder to arrive, the woman went out to tell Rod what was going on. Apparently she started with "Kristin is going to be okay..." That may have sounded a little ominous! But once he had the whole story (she advised him not to mock me), he decided to pass the time by taking a swim.

So, back in the fortress. The maintenance guy thought better of trying to have me hurdle the door, and gave me a screwdriver to remove the deadbolt. Then the door handle. FINALLY the locks jiggled loose and I was free!

The whole episode took about half an hour, I guess. It could have been much worse. What if there had been fewer people around? I wonder how long Rod would have waited before coming into the ladies' room? (He had thought I was...er...indisposed.)

It really is a nice restroom, but if I use it again I may just take my chances and leave the stall door unlocked!
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