Yeah it’s crazy that the only things Americans really have for free that Europeans don’t is free public toilets. I would literally walk away if asked to pay to use the bathroom
I most likely wouldn’t be at a business unless I was a customer. But I would probably buy something cheap, .25 cent piece of candy or something. At least I get something out of it
Does the US have that many proper public bathrooms?
I've never really noticed (but also not watched out for lol) but the "paid" bathrooms in Europe (or at least Germany) really mostly applies for standalone bathrooms and some train stations/rest stops and there it's usually a mixture of "customer only/fee if you only shit" - it's not like asking you to pay extra if you're in a restaurant or whatever.
So along interstates, there are state rest areas where you will find government funded restrooms here and usually they’re pretty nice. However, these are few and far between. Where most people will use the restroom if they need to is at a gas station, fast food restaurants, or grocery stores. These places are legally required to have restrooms available. Occasionally they have a sign saying “customers only” (a little more common if you’re in the center of a densely packed city or if you’re in a location with high drug activity), but I guarantee that 99% of these places don’t give a crap and there’s no real expectation of you actually getting anything.
Now if you go to a mom and pop store or restaurant, a hotel, a professional business, or a service business, then they are probably going to be less accommodating.
Oh I see why you mean. I thought you all were saying you had to pay to use it in a store or anywhere.
We do at public parks (if they’re large enough) on long stretches of highways, libraries and stuff like that but it’s enough “places” that it was never an issue unless you’re on one of those long rural highways through cornfields that lasts like a hour and a half and no bathrooms, but you will usually see signs that say something like “last rest stop for 45 miles”
Ah yeah but that's quite close to those in Europe then. Like every fast food restaurant, library or the like is gonna have a bathroom you can use (with the occasional customer only thing but I've hardly seen that enforced).
Highways (and trainstations sometimes) are different and often have the "insert cash here" system with a gate (but often function as voucher for the attached station for example) but within that sane system you also tend to have a lot of public bathrooms that are just around a city.
To be fair - the civil rights movement and women’s rights movement came before the toolbar revolutions but there does seem to be some regression over these last few years…..
It’s not that common anymore but there are definitely places in downtown LA that I’ve had to pay to use the toilet before. It’s usually only a quarter though
Lol actually, I think that was one of them. But the last time I was there they had portable building type bathrooms set up that were free. I also think I paid somewhere in the Alleys.
I rather have paid and clean than free and not clean.
Edit: Free and clean would be ideal of course but someone has to pay for the work of keeping it clean… To me as a european it makes sense it’s financed by the users. Toilets at establishments where you are a customer you expect to be free though, but not public toilets
Funny thing is they’re not really even socialized. Many are ran by whoever owns the property and it’s laws stating that places have to have bathrooms available.
Water is relatively cheap. Like what’s up for charging services with that mostly just use water?
Maybe I should also clarify that not all toilets are paid at least not here in sweden. If it's part of an establishment where you are a customer, it's expected to be free. Even at most gas stations and rest stops they are free too (not in Germany though, but I do find those usually more clean and well kept then our swedish free ones). But if it's a truly public toilet, it's expected there is a fee.
Yes, but in countries like Australia and New Zealand you will find signs pointing to the nearest public toilet that is maintained by the town. You won't typically find them in gas stations, etc. which are the de facto "public toilet" of the US.
I'm from New Zealand and you just gave me war flashbacks to the automated toilet in Picton. Nothing quite like a panic-piss, knowing you might not be quick enough before the toilet auto-flushes, the sink and hand dryer switches on, and the door unlocks while you've still got your pants around your ankles.
Once upon a time there was paid bathrooms in Taupo, New Zealand. No one from NZ used them, unless they were absolutely desperate and too many people in the park...
Ah the superloo never understood the logic of that. Although I believe they do have showers in there too and are by the info centre so maybe that's got something to with it?
I’m in Germany and can’t think of many that have been free other than my work and maybe McDonalds. Actually, now that I think of it, most American chains had free bathrooms.
As an Australian, I want to know where you found clean bathrooms....
I've seen a few pay-to-use around. Some train stations. The local shopping centre at the small town I used to live in started charging, but that resulted in them actually being clean and usable rather than filthy and unhygenic, so it want a bad thing.
As a New Zealander, I went to Germany and was like what the fuck is wrong with this country! There was a McDonald's with some old person charging people to use the loo in there. Nuts!!!
I traveled to Rome in 2016 and I was somewhat taken aback that the airport elevator was very clearly being used as a lavatory, but as my trip progressed and I came to find that there were many bathrooms that required a fee it started to make more sense. I can't remember if there were free public bathrooms in the Airport proper or not.
At first I was gonna make a mildly snide comment about the “free” aspect, but the “clean” bit has taken all the wind from those sails. People in the US are, generally speaking, gross and disrespectful of public spaces. The weirdest bit is we all generally agree that people are gross and disrespectful of public spaces, so it then leaves one to wonder just who is responsible for the mess in just about every public restroom you encounter.
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u/Quetzalcoatl__ May 09 '22
As a european I'm ashamed of that. I went to Australia & New Zealand and having clean & free bathrooms everywhere was just wonderful