Dad forced to change son’s diaper in ladies’ room, gets yelled at, asks if he was wrong to do so

It's no secret that most establishments do not have a changing table in the men's restroom. Women being in charge of rearing children is a stereotype that upholds patriarchy and so most establishments install a changing table in the women's restroom. One man was put in a dilemma when his 5-month-old baby needed his diaper changed and the men's room at a large store had no changing table. He decided to use the ladies' room to change his baby's diaper but ended up being screamed at by a woman. He faced a backlash at home as well, with his mother saying he was "100% in the wrong." He turned to the Reddit community to ask if he had overstepped the mark by going into the ladies' room to change his baby's diaper.  

"I am a 31-year-old man and was at a large store yesterday with my 5-month-old son when he did what babies do. I went over to the restrooms and saw that there wasn't a family/companion restroom, just a men's and women's. I went into the men's room and saw there was a cubicle and a few urinals, but no changing table. The sink didn't have a counter either," he wrote. The 31-year-old decided to check with an employee if there was a changing table he could use. "She said it was in the bathroom, and I asked where assuming there was a family/companion restroom on the other side of the store. She took me back to where I just was. I asked if there was another bathroom, and she said no. I told her I was just in the bathroom and there was no changing table. She asked if I was sure and suggested I look again," he wrote.

He had already checked but checked again to confirm. "I was annoyed, but I went back to the men's room. No changing table. When I came out the employee was gone. Keep in mind, my son has been in his poopy diaper this whole time," he wrote. "So I give up and head into the lady's room which sure enough had a changing table. There was a woman in there washing her hands, and she said 'wrong bathroom, buddy.' I gestured to my son and said 'no changing table in the men's room.' She laughed and said 'bro, that sucks.' Then she walked out."

He decided to speed up things so he could get out of the ladies' room as soon as possible. "So I rush to change him, hoping to be done before anyone else walked in. I'm almost done when a woman walks in and starts screaming at me. I tried to explain what I was doing, but she kept screaming 'Get out! You can't be here!' Then she ran out," he wrote. "I finished putting the diaper on and rushed out of the bathroom. I saw the woman talking to an employee and decided to leave without my stuff. The employee tried to wave me down and stop me, but I rushed out to my car, buckled my son into his car seat, and left." 

Once he got home, there was a mixed reaction to what happened. "My wife said I absolutely did the right thing, but my mom said I'm an idiot and was 100% in the wrong. My sister won't stop laughing at me and is no help at all," he wrote, before asking the community if he was in the wrong. The majority of the people sided with him and said the onus was on the store to install a changing table in the men's room. "That store is 100% to blame for this. I wouldn't be shocked if they've received complaints about this in the past and haven't done anything about it. Your mom was way out of line. You needed to change your kid. What'd she expect you to do, change him on the floor??? Drive home with him in a dirty diaper??? Your wife is right. You did the right thing and that lady was rude. Who does that?!? Screams at a father for changing his kid's dirty diaper," commented one person.

Another person who worked at McDonald's recalled how it worked when there wasn't a changing table in the men's room. "Had guys come to me a few times before for this same reason and what I did was make sure the ladies' room was empty, let the dude in, and wait outside till he finished, so I could let any women know the situation. The employee should have done that or something like it rather than insisting you were wrong and ditching you," they commented.