This happened at a women’s restroom at a highway gas station in Utah. Three stalls. Our protagonist, thinking the handicapped stall is empty, opens the door.

It is not empty.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” says our protagonist and closes the door instantly.

Why couldn’t this have been what she saw?

Protagonist, a mannerly person, is dismayed. “I was so embarrassed” The other two stalls are occupied. (It is usually easier to know whether regular stalls are occupied than it is with larger handicapped stalls. Because feet. That is, without lowering your head to near ground level and peering up in an overly-inquisitive manner, don’t you find?)

Mortified, she leaves the bathroom, planning to return after people come out. Apparently she is too high-minded to consider killing all witnesses. She is studying the candy selections (seeking Look! bars), when the teenager who had been in the stall – young, with braces – comes up to her. “I’m so sorry about that,” she says gently. “Oh no, I’m sorry,” says our surprised protagonist.

She was impressed by the fact that someone so young was sensitive enough to perceive the other person’s embarrassment and want to make them feel better. “I don’t think it was her fault that the door wasn’t latched,” she says. “It did make me feel better that she was so nice.”

A simple Look! bar. Is that so much to ask?

Now, some may say this is an example of women apologizing too much. Instead of all the sorry-sorry-no-I’m-sorry, the protagonist, opening the door and seeing the stall occupied, could simply have cursed. “What the hell.” Later the occupant could have approached the protagonist at the candy rack and said something responsive like, “Do you have a problem?” And the protagonist could have replied, “Don’t worry about your privacy, missy, far as I can tell you don’t have anything worth seeing.”

I say the apology way is better.