I wondered why this got bumped. 
This was around 1989-1990. I took karate lessons in the evenings after work. Some of my co-workers thought it wasnât appropriate for a woman to be studying karate. 
A few thought it was interesting and cool, including the co-worker in question. She wrote an article about me taking karate lessons for the workplace newsletter.
Anyway, I typically changed into my karate uniform at quitting time in the workplace bathroom and drove straight to my lessons. As usual, on the day in question, I held my uniform in my arms and walked to the bathroom door. I opened the door with my right foot on the kick plate at the bottom. I put my foot on the kick plate and pushed, just like youâd push with your hand on the hand plate.
The door opened a few inches. It was pitch black inside and I heard an âOw.â My co-worker had turned off the bathroom light and then reached for the door handle in the dark. Not too smart. At the time, she admitted that she shouldnât have done that. I apologized for hitting her with the door anyway. It would have happened if Iâd opened the door with my hand, too, with what sheâd done. Or if it had been anyone else besides me.
The VP of Finance had been walking down the hall and saw me push the door open with my foot. He said nothing about it and continued on his way.
When I went into work the next day, my co-worker had her arm in sling and was telling everyone how much it hurt. I asked her how she was. She told me that the VP of Finance told her that Iâd karate-kicked the door in on her on purpose. (I guess they also thought I had X-ray vision like Clark Kent and knew she was standing on the other side of a solid door.)
Well, I was the bad guy for awhile because some people believed her. It reinforced the opinions of those who thought that anyone taking karate was prone to violence.
She wore her arm in a sling for weeks and kept going on about how much pain she was in. After awhile, some people stopped believing her and the sympathy went away. People came around and admitted that they knew I wasnât the type of person who would do something like that.
Thatâs about it.
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Not a normal poster here, but have had the same problem, and had to have the bus stop moved to literally just one house down, on a corner. For all of the posters shaming this person for defending themselves : screw you. So what if theyâre a âget off my lawn personâ? You guys are clearly child worshippers who donât teach your children decency. This kind of shite attitude of saying âkids will be kidsâ is the same shite attitude of people who say âboys will be boysâ when the boys are really just acting like pigs/monsters.You should all be ashamed of yourselves for bullying someone about their personal property- and freedom of movement in their own damned driveway- that they worked hard for who is already being disrespected, neglected, and dismissed. Screw all of the posters who put this person through the wringer. Iâm a âget off my lawnâ person, and Iâm proud of it. Teach your damn kids some respect for others by starting with your damned yourselves. Youâre not cool parents, because cool parents teach their kids values. Youâre just lazy assholes. I work 40 hours a week teaching others how to be decent, respectful human beings. Maybe you and your kids should come to my classes. Youâre all ignorant, groupthink bullies. No one should have to put up with communal, mob bullshit like this every day of their lives. All of the bullies in this post need to apologise for making this person feel compelled to expose his/her entire self to prove to all of you he/she is a decent person while theyâre being disrespected and mistreated by not only neighbors but the effing school system and the city. Shame on all of you who do this. Your children are a reflection of your callous, cruel, indecent selves. Everyone can love their own damned kids. It takes a special kind of person to show decency to someone outside of their immediate genetic clone family, and admit to negligence. I really donât care if OP feels embarassed now. This is on the child worshipping trash parents who think neglecting their neighbors in order to assume no responsibility over bad kid behavior and shitty bus stop locales is perfectly acceptable citizen behavior.
A few thought it was interesting and cool, including the co-worker in question. She wrote an article about me taking karate lessons for the workplace newsletter.