So I just made a post about bathroom rules in elementary school and it got me thinking about bathroom rules elsewhere and I have a lot of stories about people telling me not to go to the bathroom and my reaction. So I want to tell one in particular from middle school bc I find it funny.
I started middle school right as they merged two middle schools together, resulting in overcrowded classrooms, fights, etc. This meant there were several times when we would be put on what they called a soft lockdown. Basically, too many people had been caught skipping or fighting so they wouldn't let us leave the classroom.
Anyway, I was in math class and one of the school security gaurds was substituting because our teacher was fired, and I was on my period. So a boy asked to go to the bathroom and was told no, I wasn't paying attention to this as I was talking with a friend. Then I wind up needing to stand up because one of my pencils had been knocked off the table, and in doing so, Niagra falls starts and I can feel it start to leak through my pad.
So, I grabbed a pad from my bag and made my way to the security gaurd and said I was going to the bathroom. He went off saying that he had just told another kid no and that I didn't deserve special treatment, basically trying to himiliate me in front of my classmates. Then he basically said "show me something you think they'd accept as a pass".
Now, I was never ashamed to talk about my period, so I reach into my pocket and place my pad in his hand.
Chaos erupted immediately. Girls were laughing, boys were staring like it was a foreign object, my friends (most who I knew in elementary school and were there to witness me announce my period to my entire 5th grade class bc it was like my 2nd period and I just started) were unfazed, shaking their heads like this is exactly how they saw this going.
The security gaurd tells everyone to be quiet, then ASKS ME WHAT IT IS. So the conversation goes something like:
"A pad."
"What??" Now he understands what has happened, but I am a smart ass and he asked me a question.
"A pad, girls use them when they're on their period to collect the blood, then they wrap it in toilet paper and throw it away."
This man is staring at me horrified, desparately trying to give it back, but I did not take it.
"That is a private thing! You shouldn't announce it in front of the class! Go to the bathroom, GEEZ."
I slowly take the pad and leave the classroom. No one stops me on my walk there or back except for the nurse, who sees me holding a pad and asks if I'm ok.
I return to absolute silence. I sit down and resume conversation with my friends.
That security gaurd never spoke to me again. A few months after this incident we also shut down do to covid but sometimes I wish I were still that girl, then I remember I am, I did it twice in highschool and once at work when I was told I couldn't go to the bathroom. My Junior year I stopped asking if I could go and started telling them I was going. Only once did anyone try to stop me, but that's a story for another day.
