Is it ever okay to take your pants off in a public bathroom? That’s the debate one man sparked after an unusual situation at a train station.
In a post on Reddit’s AmItheA——, a 27-year-old explained that the whole thing started when he spilled water all over his shirt and shorts.
“Not wanting to get on the train looking like I pissed myself, I went into the bathroom to deal with it,” he wrote.
Drying his shirt wasn’t a problem. “I stretched my shirt out to get it under the hand dryer and did a good job of drying that,” he said.
But his shorts were more difficult.
“I looked around to make sure no kids were in there (it was somewhat crowded but only adults), and slipped off my shorts to dry them more effectively under the dryer,” he explained. He added that he still had underwear on, so he didn’t think it was indecent.
Not everyone agreed. One man his age made a quick comment and gave him a few looks. Another man, who was about 10–15 years older, came up and told him to cover up, saying a public bathroom wasn’t the place for that.
“At this point my shorts were 95% clean but I don’t like being told what to do, so I dried them for about 15 more seconds before putting them on,” he wrote. As he walked away, the older man muttered an insult.
The original poster admitted he felt awkward afterward, but didn’t believe he had done anything too wrong. “It’s not like I was nude,” he argued. While someone outside could have seen him if they tried, he added, “If you’re peeking into a bathroom, that makes you a weirdo.”
He asked Reddit for their opinion: Was I in the wrong for doing this?
Most people sided with him. One commenter pointed out, “Don’t men already stand around in bathrooms to pee? How is being in your underwear any worse than that?”
Another wrote: “NTA. If I see a man in the bathroom wearing his boxers drying his shorts off under the hand dryer, I know his day has not been great and I’m not going to judge him for it.”
