Our bathrooms at home are cozy havens of respite where we can do our business while browsing our phones, reading air freshener spray labels, or singing in the shower for hours on end. However, workplace restrooms are anything but that, and are even worse if you work in fast food. They often carry an unsettling “Backrooms” atmosphere with a weird, sterile odor, and can even feel claustrophobic. And one Wisconsin woman had the misfortune of getting trapped in one as the door handle came clean off.
She wasn’t dealing with some lightweight, cheap-material door either. It was a heavy metal door that locked itself once closed with a deadbolt. The worker posted her dilemma to r/Wellthatsucks, where a few Redditors joked that she had a free break with her phone. Clearly, they would have felt very differently if they were in her shoes. “I was scared because it only had 28%!” she recalled in horror. “And the cell service in that bathroom isn’t great so I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get in touch with anyone.”
The desperate Wisconsin woman tried everything she could think of, even trying to pry open the heavy door with the coat hanger hook. Luckily, her co-workers were outside trying to help, but one friend ended up pulling out the handle from the other side, too. The maintenance man on duty wasn’t able to get the door open either, but just as they began to run out of options, a hero emerged.
“I’m free now btw! [The] science teacher came and saved the day,” the employee exclaimed happily. Many Redditors found it rather hilarious, yet expected that an expert adept in science knowledge would be able to get a handle on the handle-less situation. Fortunately, firefighters need to come out and break down or remove the door, but some commenters had a common question: “Why you so strong?!?!”
“Right?? Everyone at work better be scared,” the woman laughed in response. While it’s possible she might have jerked the handle a little too hard, you can’t blame her: that self-locking bathroom door is heavy. Not to mention, there must have been some loose screws or a malfunctioning mechanism to blame, not her super strength.
The employee was only trapped in the bathroom for roughly 20 minutes as well; though, one could argue that being trapped in a scary situation will make time feel slower. As many would probably agree when they saw the Wisconsin woman’s post, “I felt my claustrophobia scream when I saw that picture.”
