Anyone with IBS will tell you that sometimes when you’ve got to go, you really have got to go.

And this can present problems when you’re outside the comfort of your own home.

Not only can bathrooms often be tricky to find, then there’s the times when you arrive and there’s a queue, or the bathroom is out of order entirely.

That’s why people with bowel disorders like IBS are entitled to use accessible bathroom facilities.

But, as the person in this story found out, doing so can sometimes present unexpected complications.

Read on to find out how a bathroom trip turned sour.

AITA because I used an accessible bathroom stall?

I have IBS and had a nasty cold last week.

The doctor gave me tons of meds that gave me diarrhea.

As a result, I recently had to use the bathroom quickly, and went to an accessible stall.

On Monday, I went back to work after missing the last three days of the week last week because I was so sick.

I was still feeling a little tired and my stomach was bothering me, but I had to get back.

On my way to the office, it was clear that the cold meds were at war with my stomach.

Yikes! Read on to find out what happened next.

I work at a college and all of the buildings are connected by corridors or breezeways.

The bathroom I went to is in a building built in 1967, and has one accessible stall out of three – but the entrance door is not wide enough to be wheelchair accessible.

There are two signs on either side of the restroom entrance stating “Handicapped Accessible Bathrooms in X Building” directing people that need accommodation to the next building (connected by an indoor corridor).

It does not say “wheelchair” accessible but “handicapped” accessible.

Also, within 20 ft of this particular restroom is a staff/faculty restroom with a key pad that is a single fully accessible restroom.

But heading quickly to the bathroom was not as simple as it sounds.

I got into work, got my coat off, fired up my computer and then had to make my way to the bathroom, which meant I had to walk to another building and go down two long corridors.

In the first corridor there was an older woman who I did not know, using a walker and it looked like she was non weight bearing on her left foot.

It was just her and I in the corridor and I walked past her, with plenty of space, on her left because I urgently needed to use the bathroom.

This corridor had entrances to half a dozen classrooms and a student lounge.

Let’s see how this emergency trip to the bathroom turned dramatic.

I got to the end of the corridor, made a left to another corridor and ducked into the bathroom.

There was someone in the middle stall and the first open stall was the accessible one and I ran into it and was relieved to have made it in time.

I didn’t take the time to see if there was anyone else in the other stall or not. I was sick.

A couple of minutes go by and I hear someone coming into the restroom and rattling on my stall door, an exasperated expression and then loudly someone saying, “you know, if you have a choice, you shouldn’t use the handicapped stall!”

So, I took a beat and said in a monotone, “I am sorry, I am sick, I had no choice, I will be done in a moment.”

I finished a bit quicker than I should have and even though there was a sink in the stall, I washed my hands at the other sinks.

The encounter left the person full of self-doubt.

I don’t know if this older woman was faculty or staff, but if she was, she passed the single fully accessible bathroom.

The college also doesn’t consider the restroom in question a handicapped accessible restroom.

I was also in the middle of a big old IBS flair.

I handed over the (somewhat stinky) stall as soon as humanly possible.

Was I wrong to use the stall in the first place?

How was I supposed to know she was heading to the restroom?

This woman was totally presumptuous – not all disabilities are visible, and someone with a diagnosed bowel disorder has just as much right to be using accessible stalls as others with physical disabilities.

It’s totally unfair that, in the middle of an illness, this person was left feeling like they’d done the wrong thing.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.

This person agreed that the woman was wrong to assume.

While others suggested a more frank response could be in order.

And this wheelchair user showed their support too.

The woman was rude and totally out of order to shout her assumptions from outside the stall.

She did not even take a moment to consider that the person using the stall might have a genuine reason to be there, she simply made her judgement on looks alone.

They didn’t deserve this.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.