I would have asked to talk to the manager. Explained the mess, the rude customer and the crying child. Bet s/he would have replace them.

Are you asking what we would have done if we were the lady causing the breakage? I would have apologized and insisted on paying for replacements. I can't imagine causing such obvious damage and just walking away.

ETA: I probably would have stuck around, called the management to get the broken glass cleaned up to make sure there were no injuries.

The rude lady snould have replaced the glasses, imo. I would have asked her to replace the glasses for my child or spoken to the manager. Anyone with half a brain knows to check otherwise (like for feet) and not jostle a door like that to check for an empty stall. Geeze, what is wrong with people?!?

It was an accident. It's a bathroom. I'm sure she wasn't expecting glasses to be on top of the door...? I would have purchased two more glasses. If you have to go online to make the purchase...yeah...I would go online. Still would.......

To be honest, if it were important to have those mementos, I would have bought two more. Unlikely the seller would have been motivated (or maybe even allowed) to have them replaced with new ones.

Two good lessons for your kid, who did nothing at all wrong. #1, we need to always expect to interact with stupid, inconsiderate people, they're all around (as we've learned in recent years), and #2, when out in public, be careful and mindful about where you put things down. Think of what might go wrong and try to minimize such possibilities.

To be clear I meant the woman who broke the glasses.

They are already replaced, but how rude of her.

So sorry.

Obviously odd behavior, so it was smart to not confront her.

Can you get replacements and give them as a future surprise?

ETA Glad they were replaced.

Not meaning to sound mean but why didn't you tell her your daughter was in that stall. Maybe I miss understood something in your post. I may be reading it incorrectly.

What would have I gained confronting her? She probably thought she got away with it since the person in the stall couldn't see who did it.

But my question was, if you broke the glasses, however unintentionally, what would you have done? I think I would have offered to replace the glasses. Been far more profuse with my apology... Anything would've been an improvement. It's like she bumped my car with hers and didn't offer to do anything. In my mind. Yes, we would've said no problem. But shouldn't she have OFFERED to make her whole?

Definitley offered to replace the glasses, I would have felt horrible about breaking them.

If she could not see the glasses, then it was not her fault. IMO, they were placed inappropriately, and I would not hold her responsible. I do not think that she did anything that violates any enforceable rules. The woman did not willfully break the glasses. I just consider it an unfortunate incident, but I would not waste my energy or peace of mind by trying to blame someone for this.

I pretty much agree with Elmer's assessment.

If you put something in a precarious position that also cannot be seen, then it is on you and not her. Just because she did not need to do something does not mean that she is forbidden to do it. You have your way of checking bathroom stalls, and she has hers. You cannot impose your rules on her. That's how I would feel in this situation. She could have been frantically in need of a stall.

I would always be extra cautious in a touristy spot.

I would apologize profusely if I had been in that spot, but I also would not feel responsible, since I could not see the glasses.

I've had people break things of mine and not do anything about it. It's not worth getting upset about.

"But my question was, if you broke the glasses, however unintentionally, what would you have done?"

Most of us reading of this unfortunate experience would have, certainly. But, I suspect, not all.

Confronting the person would have accomplished nothing, I think you did the right thing. The cynic in me holds the general public in low esteem anyway. Sadly not everyone is considerate, good at heart and generous toward others. Just drive down the freeway or through a busy parking lot for a reminder of how little people think of or care about others, as shown by how they flippantly jeopardize others by operating their cars as if no one else were around.

"Hope for the best and expect the worst" is a trite saying but is often useful to remember.

Why are you assuming that the woman could lean over to look for feet? Did she react to the sound or is it possible that she was deaf?

I have a friend that has ear problems, she can't lean over or she gets dizzy.

Why did the child not have the door locked?

Why weren't you holding bag of fragile items?

Why does any of that matter? rob said it was open and feet were visible.

If the inconsiderate person heard the breakage and still moved on, would having an excuse have repaired the damage done?

I could see every stall without leaning over. If she'd bothered to look, she would've seen.

The entire bathroom turned towards the shattering sound. She knew.

I figured most people would've been at least more apologetic, and this thread reflects that. About right.

I would have felt terrible and insisted on buying replacements.

People are so rude. She no doubt twisted the scenario in her mind to make it your childs fault. I, like Elmer, tend to have little to no faith in the couth, manners, courtesy and home training of strangers in public, and do try my best to prepare for that mentally, so that I am not shocked when someone shows themselves to be a donkey.

I adopted that philosophy to deal with my coworkers. If you do not expect people to act with basic decorum, sense and common courtesy, you will not be angry when they do stupid, rude things. It has helped me tremendously as far as me getting angry or being startled at some of the things that happen.

It sounds like she was in a rush to find an empty stall and did it in the most expedient way possible. It seems it hasn't occurred to anyone that maybe she wasn't trying to be rude but simply couldn't stop to hash out the incident in order to avoid an unfortunate bodily malfunction. She could have a medical condition.

That said it would be nice for her to show a bit more remorse and empathize with your loss if she had the time to take. But it is your loss, your responsibility, not hers. You bought something fragile and you left it in harms way however unintentionally, just as she did something unintentionally with zero expectation something breakable would be on a stall door.

Again, why does any of that matter?

I had a football coach who had several favorite sayings, one of which was "An excuse is nothing but a weak explanation trying to excuse a mistake or a failure. Don't fail or make mistakes but if you do, own up to it and learn from it to avoid repeating it. Keep your excuses to yourself".

Am I the only one trying to picture how the glasses were on the door to the stall??

Around here there is usually a hook on the inside upper door area to hang bagged goods and purses.

Yes, because that is exactly the issue, how the bag was hung
🙄

I'm right there with you terriks.

Rob, can you explain how the glasses were on the door? Yes I know that's not your point. However I'm super curious anyway....

Yes, because that is exactly the issue, how the bag was hung

My answer to the actual issue, above:

I would have apologized and insisted on paying for replacements. I can't imagine causing such obvious damage and just walking away.

ETA: I probably would have stuck around, called the management to get the broken glass cleaned up to make sure there were no injuries.

But I think some are curious as to how the glasses were on the door.

I agree with Lars 100%!

The glass was IN A BAG. No need for a clean up. She may have been poor, no means to pay for broken goods. We just don't know this person....and not worth getting upset over.

Rob says: It was hung in a bag on the hook on the inside of the door......where people on the outside of the stall can't see it.

The glass was IN A BAG. No need for a clean up.

Once onlookers were able to see inside the stall, that is probably the case.

She jostled the door and all could hear glass crashing to the ground

She may have been poor, no means to pay for broken goods. We just don't know this person....and not worth getting upset over.

True. But the OP's original question was not what the lady should have done, it was what we would have done.

I would have been upset with myself for not holding the glasses while child was in the stall.

(I’d also be upset that the glasses weren’t packed better, and the venue didn’t have doors that wouldn’t shake when locked.)

Hindsight is usually 20/20, I would not beat myself up over any of the above. Stuff happens.

One thing I know, for sure, is that I should never expect a stranger to act the way I may in any given situation.

Yes, if I had been the person who accidentally broke the glasses, I would've reacted much more appropriately, I hope.

Rob, what did you do? Did you speak to the woman?

I didn't speak to the woman. It was righted.

No. It doesn't matter how it was hung. Or why she was jostling doors. Or in what way she was she was acting like she was. The result is the same. Destruction at her hand.

All of that is deflection. I wasn't angry. Disappointed to a really, super small extent.

I only wondered if her behavior was mainstream.

No, I belive she was a bit weird, and not mainstream.

It was an unfortunate accident and I'm sorry that your child was disappointed. I would not have said anything to the woman. And if I thought that I had caused the breakage I would have reacted differently. However I had a slightly different thought - since she was not able to see inside the stall it's possible she didn't know that she caused the glasses to fall when she pushed on the door. For all she knew the occupant dropped the bag while taking if off the hook.

.it's possible she didn't know that she caused the glasses to fall

Maire I'm not sure but it the following sounds like she said 'sorry' when it happened?

She jostled the door and all could hear glass crashing to the ground. Sorry! and kept going.

I just find the whole incident strange. Fragile glasses were in a plastic bag hung inside a bathroom stall? That seems to be a disaster waiting to happen. I kind of feel sorry for the lady that was jostling the doors! I'm sure she was completely startled - but how would she have known that SHE caused the breakage??

There is zero chance I would say anything to someone over a few broken glasses either. People seem to be way more on edge lately and just looking for a fight - and it's not worth chancing an altercation over some broken glassware.

If you're looking for humanity to do the right thing, you're going to spend a lot of time being disappointed. Sad, but sadly true. I use this same approach when driving, because there are a whole lot of idiots on the road these days - give everyone a ton of space and keep your eye on everyone, because you know sooner or later someone is going to do something insane.

I'm not sure that people are on edge but for sure I think there are far too many people around who are excessively passive in their dealings with others and as a result are too often victimized or taken advantage of. In public, at work, with "friends", etc.

I don't suffer from road rage, I don't honk my horn except in extremely dangerous situations with the selfish or stupid things other drivers do (other than a short toot when someone remains stopped too long when a light turns green). But when someone does something that causes a problem of some kind and then pretends like nothing happened, I may say something to let them know that in fact, something did happen and it was noticed. Or if someone tries to pull a fast one (cutting in line, doing something that's not okay in a work or business contact), if you don't speak up, you're giving permission for the selfishness or wrong conduct to continue and that you accept being on the losing end. I won't jeopardize my own safety in the process, nothing's that important.

Hard to generalize, it does matter what's involved.

Actually I think a lot of us can't say what we would do if we had broken the glasses because we wouldn't be rude enough to bang on doors like that in the first place. If I was Rob, I would not have confronted the woman, just purchased new glassware for the child. I have no desire to start something with a rude stranger.

My experience with public bathroom stall doors is that when they are closed and locked, they don't push very far. That is, if someone on the outside of the stall pushes on the door to check availability, the door doesn't really move much. And there are pretty much always hooks (or at least one hook) on the upper inside of the door on which you can hang your purse, or a sweater, etc. If a bag had been properly hung on the hook, I don't know how it would have come off if someone simply pushed once on the door to check whether or not it would open. If the person grabbed the top edge of the door and did a back-and-forth-back-and-forth motion with a lot of force, that's another thing altogether.

And, Robb, haven't you in the past said that your child is a young adult male?

I've also said my child is non-binary. Stalk farther

I didn't mean to cause conflict by asking how exactly the glasses were on the door! I was simply curious. If I had just purchased the glasses, or anything else, I would have probably hung the bag on the back of the door too. I wouldn't have placed it on the floor.

It does seem like it would have taken quite a shove to knock them off the hook and onto the floor.

If it had happened to me everyone would have probably heard a loud "d@mmit" from my stall. 😉

Gosh, Robb, I don't read every word you post. I don't read every thread, and many of the ones I do read I only quickly skim.