I received a call from a very agitated tenant from a small office building that I managed.  She reported that men were coming into the locked women’s restroom and it was no longer safe for any woman to go into the restroom alone.  She was very upset and said some of her staff members were refusing to come back to work until we resolved this problem.  She said the whole building was upset and they had already called the police to make reports.  I went over to meet with her and the police to find out more about what was going on.

When arrived I found a group of people gathered in a conference room waiting to talk with the police.  There were representatives from nearly every tenant in the building.  There were women crying and hugging each other in the hallway when I walked through the place.  The atmosphere was very emotional and tense.

While we waited on the police to arrive, I talked with the group gathered in the conference room to try to find out what was going on.

Me:  I’m sorry if this will be upsetting but can anyone tell me what happened here?

This was met with everyone loudly talking at once about men in the restroom and assaults and safety concerns and demands that we get security in the building and so on.

Me:  Hold on!  I can’t understand when everyone talks at once.  Can I start with asking who saw a man in the bathroom?

This was met with silence and everyone looking around.

The original caller piped up and said:  “I don’t know if anyone actually SAW a man in there.”

Me:  So no one actually saw a man in the restroom?  Was anyone confronted by a man in the restroom?  Hear him in there?  See him coming out?  See anything?

This was again met with shaking heads and silence.

Me:  So no one was assaulted in the restroom?  No one actually even saw a man in the restroom or near the restroom?  Can anyone tell me why we’re all here?

Original caller:  We don’t have to see any men to know they’re in there!   We know men are going in the restroom because the toilet seats are up!  Every single day when I go in there the toilet seats are up!

A few others jumped in to agree that they find the toilet seats up too.

Me:  Are you finding the toilet seats up in the morning?  Only in the morning?

There was some mumbled agreement and nodding of heads.

Me:  So we are all here now because of raised toilet seats?  Is that the only reason the police are coming?  Not because anyone actually saw a man in the restroom or even near the restroom?

I’m asking because, as you all know, the janitorial crew comes in each night to clean the entire building including the restrooms.  They sanitize the toilets and leave the seats up when they’re finished so that the supervisor can follow behind and confirm that they did the toilets.  I think you’re finding the toilet seats are raised in the morning because they were cleaned the night before and not because men are coming into the locked restrooms. This is a cleaning practice that we’ve had in place for years so I’m not sure why it’s suddenly an issue?  Who started this whole claim about men in the restroom?  Did anyone actually verify anything before organizing this gathering and calling the police?

The room was silent for a bit and then all hell broke loose.  There were some who refused to concede that they were possibly mistaken about the unseen men in the restrooms.  They demanded security measures and locks to be changed and that the police set up surveillance.  The police arrived and went through the same process that I did.

Who saw anything?  No one.

Did anything bad happen at all?  Nope.

Why are you all freaking out?  Because of raised toilet seats.

On the way back to my office I called the janitorial company and asked them to put down the toilet seats when they’re done cleaning at night.  Never heard another peep about men invading the restrooms.