Everyone has embarrassing moments. They just happen, usually without warning. I had a moment like this not too long ago. I wouldn’t call it my most embarrassing moment ever, but it’s definitely up on the list! So it happened like this: Mom, Wesley, and I were on our road trip to Wisconsin, and we stopped at a McDonald’s restaurant to for a quick restroom break.

Now when taking road trips, we try to hit a McDonald’s for this type of stop because their bathrooms are typically cleaner. We had stopped at a different McDonald’s earlier that morning, so I knew the old routine. Walk to the entrance, past the ordering lines, past the tables of people eating, and – presto! – there are the restrooms! Ladies to the right, men to the left. Just as simple as that…or  so I thought.

Anyway, as we walked into this particular McDonald’s, I happened to be in the lead of our small group. As I walked along, I was contemplating some thought (I can’t even remember it now), and so I was walking mechanically towards the restrooms. I guess my mind remembered that in the McDonald’s we’d visited earlier that morning the ladies’ bathroom had been to the right, and so I walked into the bathrooms on the right. I tried a stall door, and it was locked.

Turning around, I took in a fuller view of the room, and then it hit me. I was in the men’s bathroom. Mom had just assumed that I was going into the right restroom, and so was right behind me. Wesley, however, realized the situation, and tried to warn us of our mistake. We hastily retreated out of the wrong restroom. To make matters worse, there were some elderly people sitting near the restrooms. They were “people watching” as they ate their breakfast, and had quietly observed the entire thing. I was stunned. But my dear Mom just laughed and laughed. Then I laughed too. Wesley said he could hear us laughing in the, ahem, correct bathroom.

Moral of the story: don’t ever assume that McDonald’s – or any –  bathrooms are the same. One simple glance to check whether those little stick figures on restroom doors are wearing a skirt doesn’t hurt anything, and it just might save you a most embarrassing moment ever. :)