DEAR ABBY: My husband and I were getting ready to leave after dinner at a restaurant we've patronized for 15 years. I went to the ladies' room and was washing my hands when a waitress I don't care for came barging in, got in my face and started yelling at me. I tried to leave, but she wouldn't let me out of the restroom. I asked her several times to let me out, and she kept telling me no. When she finally let me go, I told the man in charge what she did.
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My husband called him later, but the manager believed the waitress, who said that I started it. Another waitress who calls me her "sister" didn't answer the texts I sent her. I am very hurt that she ignored me. Clearly, she believes the waitress, too.
The restroom encounter left red marks all over my arm, but the manager didn't care. The offender has left town and moved out of state. I'm 74 and was tempted to go to the police but didn't. Now I wish I had pressed charges. Should I have? -- BEATEN UP IN CALIFORNIA
DEAR BEATEN UP: There is probably more to this story than what you have written, but yes, you should have notified the police. You were assaulted and falsely imprisoned in that restroom. Had you contacted the police and gone to an emergency room about the marks on your arm, you would have had proof about what the woman did to you.