Hamburg And Munich are constantly bad, but smaller stations are fairly reasonable. I never used the one in Berlin, but I'd assume it's also not that fresh.
I’m guessing the fact that you have to pay to use the bathroom is supposed to be for upkeep/ janitorial services? If they’re that gross then why the fee? It’s not something I’m ware is a thing here in the US but I’m basing that solely off the fact that they don’t charge for bathroom privileges where I live. No clue what New York or some like that might charge.
EDIT: I appreciate the upvotes however I haven’t really replied to the responses to this post because there are simply too many. It feels like well over 50 replies since I posted a couple days ago. As much as I appreciate everyone’s insight please understand that it’s a lot for me personally do read & respond to everyone & I do apologize for that but it’s simply too much. Keep posting if you want but just know I probably won’t get back to you. Thanks again & everyone stay safe
Pay toilets largely disappeared in the US after a 1970s campaign by two young women who successfully argued that they were sexist because it's easier for men to sneakily urinate wherever
its to pay for the janitorial services, and keep junkeys out. but in major citys 3 women from the balkans on minimum wage just cant keep up,
besides that the audacity to demand payment to use the only dirty toilet in the area provokes extra vandalism.
ultimately its a business, i dont know if they are payed by the station to operate the toilets as well, but rail&fresh is an company making money of the fees.
you pay around 1€(you get back an 50c voucher that can be used inside any store in the station. but cant be combined and expire within 24h)
to shit into an steel prison toilet, with fecals of 150 other people in it.
the people i knew that junked out on things they shoot up in a public toilet have become poor rather quickly if they havent been before.
munic is majorly a city full of cokeheads, richkids doing lines arent usually the clientel that mess up public bathrooms,
whereas we had some serious problems with H especially in the 80s-90s with a lot of deaths in public toilets.
The worst of the “normal people” was always older ladies in my experience. Bits of paper all over the place and pee and shit on the toilet, it’s amazing really how bad they can get.
That's the idea, but janitors will usually only service the bathrooms every X hours, and are often assigned multiple as a cost saving measure, so if you are lucky to go after it's just been cleaned it's usually fine.
But then a new CEO join and decides to cut costs by having the bathrooms only be cleaned twice a day. Then once a day. Then you use unqualified cheaper labour so the cleaning isn't even that good.
And you keep raking in money because using a filthy toilet is probably still better than leaving the station to go to a different one and risk losing your train
Not only do you have to pay...You have to use a third party to pay, you can't just pay them...You have to pay Mastercard too. God forbid a transaction happens where they don't get a cut.
I’ve never seen a for charge bathroom in NY. There are tons of places where they’ll only give you a code if you’re a paying customer but in general it’s just long lines, gross bathrooms everywhere, especially at the train stations.
Compared to the utter disgusting health menace that is free autobahn toilets (unless you get there within ten minutes after they've been cleaned. Not blaming the caretakers, but the visitors) the paid toilets are absolute heaven.
Although it's infuriating they cost money at all which is technically not allowed. Which is why you get a 1€ coupon to spend in a shop where everything is about 300% overpriced. Wow.
You used to be able to use multiple coupons per transaction. So I'd just collect them until I had enough to buy a coffee using only coupons. Obviously that was too customer-friendly and they changed it. Fuck tank&rast.
I used to make it cheap to get in and wait until the park was packed. Then I sold off people favourite rides, erased the paths out, raised prices on everything, and deleted sections of rail on the coasters when they had cars full of people hurtling through them.
In retrospect, it was pretty messed up the way I let my god-like power in that game corrupt me.
I once took a shit in front of a gas station after they insisted they had no public restrooms while I was having a legitimate #2 emergency. It was there or in my pants and I wasn't going to choose the latter, especially when there was a bathroom right there with the door open that I had wasn't allowed to use.
At a certain point every human should understand there but for the grace of God...
Thought I could make it to the next metro stop, it's just 5 minutes. The train got stuck mid tunnel and I didn't get to the next station for 45 minutes. It was the looooong stair one. I get to the top and rush to the first Starbucks and the bathroom was legitimately broken and closed. Sweating panic I get to the next convenience store across the street and I'm feeling muscles spasm I didn't even know could do that.
Thank God no one was in the stall because I don't think I looked or would have cared at that point.
I was out in the boonies picking up a product from an online Marketplace and I need to stop and charge my car so that I can get back home. I went to three or four different businesses trying to find a bathroom to use and none of them had one that was available and so I ended up shitting my pants. Luckily I was charging in front of City Hall which is right on the waterfront, so I walked right into their Lake and scrubbed my ass clean in their pristine lake.
We don't really have a lot of truly public toilets though. At a park or a beach or in a public transportation place sure but otherwise it's really a private business that can restrict access. If you are in urban area with a lot of homeless people you will absolutely encounter toilets with a code or a key or token or a buzzer and the employee has to let you in. You don't have to directly pay for the toilet but basically they can say it's for customers only.
Almost every single public toilet I have been in here (in Japan) has visual instructions on how to use it and basically *not* shit on the floor.
That being said, I absolutely have seen some rank ones. Squat toilets where there was an accident in balance too.
It’s also uncommon to have soap in washrooms here and even a rinse is “optional”.
I mean… sure, but there is practically zero privacy. The top is mesh and the bottom is open. Floor covered in years of crystallized pee and it really smells like strong piss. [Pee curl (Amsterdam)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pee_curl?wprov=sfti1#)
Bot copying [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/1d7t2kt/cant_use_the_bathroom_without_a_creditdebit_card/l71nily/). Note how it has nothing to do with the comment it's replying to, and the profile's other comments are asking where to buy something, which another bot replies to with a sketchy link.
I'm Canadian and I can't imagine having to pay to go to the washroom. That's just crazy. What if you have an emergency and you have no money/card on you? Just shit on the floor outside the washroom?
Edit: after 600+ upvotes, apparently Vancouver is the only Canadian city because it's the only one people mention. Yes, I get it, there aren't any there.
Yeah I was thinking that too, but also most SkyTrain stations don't actually have washrooms aside from Waterfront. Most have close proximity to malls and things so it's only mildly inconvenient, but we're still lacking washrooms where Europeans would pay for them.
PSA to non-Vancouverites: Skytrains aren’t flying trains. They’re just regular low to medium speed trains on an elevated platform. Don’t let Ken Sim’s propaganda fool you.
looks like it would be easy enough to just force your way in. thats probably what id try first, although id be hesitant to actually break it if others are watching.
i live around san francisco where its extremely hard to find public restrooms. most of the city does not have actual public restrooms, its all restrooms inside businesses and many of them require a purchase to use them. some businesses only require this purchase if you look like you might be homeless, poor, or on drugs, while upper class put together white people are let in.
SF is covered in shit and piss. we even have the "sf poop map". when i was a broke teenager i pissed all over that town. when you have no money and nobody will let you use their restroom, eventually you just have to pee somewhere. every public transit station in the city reeks of piss all the time. the elevators handicap people need to use to get down to the station are usually the worst and often have shits in them.
Yep, this is a major problem all restrooms should be regulated at the state and federal level to need to be free exactly to avoid people possibly spreading diseases. Proper fecal waste management is important for keeping populations healthy. And once that is done businesses can find reasonable ways to solve the problem. Like for instance just making a public restroom every so many stores on a block. The last think you ever want is people choosing to piss or shit in random places that will not go through property sewage treatment. I think somewhere in CA they had issues with hepatitis because of that.
> I'm Canadian and I can't imagine having to pay to go to the washroom.
Oh, we used to!
I recall pay toilets in Canada as a kid. I'd stand by a door waiting for someone to leave. 10c was important to me back then.
A lot of places in Germany you pay say, €1 to take a shit (If I'm paying I'm pooping) but you can take the receipt to an onsite store and use it to purchase stuff. Many motorway places give a 1:1 rate (so the toilet is effectively free with a purchase), some it's 0.5:1. But I am not sure if the train station is one of those places where you get that offer.
It's also worth noting that, outside of travelling many publicly accessible toilets are free in European countries (Shopping malls, bars, supermarkets, restaurants etc). Even some of the German rest areas have free toilets, but they will not be cleaned that often, where as the pay ones tend to have the seat cleaned between every set of cheeks (auto cleaning seat) and also the toilet paper that is above 400 grit.
My workaround in Germany was to find a train laid up on the platform with open doors that wasn't departing for at least 15 minutes and just use the on-board toilet.
idk I just had the misfortune of using the bathroom in a random German train station (Hannover) a few days ago and the paid station bathroom was absolutely disgusting, definitely worse than the train.
The downside of the 1:1 toilet token is that everything in rest stops is extremely overpriced! Sure I get my 50c back, but only if I use it to buy a €6 coffee
Exactly, and even if the shop's wares *aren't* that overpriced, the 50¢ voucher often has a minimum spend limit of €2.50 or so.
*If* you were already planning on buying e.g. a €3 sandwich anyways that voucher comes in handy of course; but if you weren't planning to buy anything you'll either end up throwing away the 50¢ voucher, or wasting an additional €2 on a snack you don't need.
IME you pay 1€ and get a 0,50€ voucher (sometimes only for coffee). But im most cases the cheapest thing you can buy is 3€, so it's cheaper to not use it most of the times.
I used Apple Pay in Germany before any German banks supported it. Everyone was looking at me like I’d just hacked their card machine, it was funny but kinda awkward.
Also, for a country that loves cash, there are never any cash machines?!!
I never have a problem finding a cash machine in Germany. They're not outside like in the U.S., but go in any bank and they're there, and there are plenty of banks around.
That's my biggest takeaway. Was in Germany in March and there wasn't even a way to pay in the bus with card. They only accepted cash. This is a 180 on that experience.
“Why is everyone’s obsessed with race in America”?”
> turns on European soccer game and sees fans making monkey chants and throwing bananas at black players
My favorite thing about comparing it to tipping is that tipping is 100% optional. You absolutely do not have to tip if you don’t want to, but apparently you have to pay to take a leak in Europe. The comparison is so bad.
American here. I’d call it classist if this existed in the states. Not everyone can afford to own a debit card, primarily the homeless.
On the flip side, I bet those things are clean.
I lived in Stockholm for a year, you have to pay there as well. The central train station bathroom is not as clean as you'd expect for having to pay. Buc-ee's in the US is superior. Stand alone bathrooms were disgusting.
Yeah I would get slaughtered if this existed in the states. I'd pay more for restroom fees than food. I cannot survive with more than 2 hours between a restroom visit.
Pay toilets used to exist in the states. The movement to ban them was started by 4 students in 1970.
A similar argument could be made in Europe if someone had the gumption to take it to the human rights court.
Let’s be honest. Reddit is mostly smug Europeans and self-loathing Americans shitting on America and placing Europe on a pedestal, moral and ideological standards be damned.
Its very true beyond that too. A lot of opinions on reddit are frequently not how the rest of the world feels in reality. From video games to food to politics. Reddit is its own ecosystem.
Reddit is nothing but this. It's exhausting, but I'm glad more people are starting to realize this. Reddit comments are someone's little opinion bubble and in no way represents the real world.
In my home state (WV) this was made illegal in like the 50's or 70's because it was sexual discrimination. They put the coin charge on the toilet doors, not the bathroom entrance, so urinals were always free. I guess it was discrimination since only men could pee for free? I feel like they just wanted to make it illegal and find an excuse, lol.
Probably aimed at drug users more than the homeless. The Mall of America has a problem with users shooting up in their bathroom(s) near the outside doors.
So what about people with a disability like Crohn’s where they may urgently need to use the bathroom. If they forget their card they are just shit out of luck?
This happened to me like 3 weeks ago in the same spot. My card wasn't working and didnt have any cash..i had to ask for money to an old lady that was nearby.
Paying to not soil your pants is a crime against humanity
The responses to this are hilarious. If it was America where you had to pay and Europe where it was free, people would be reeing so hard about how shitty America is. But instead they are like, "oh it keeps the bathrooms cleaner! And it's a private company that owns the bathroom, so they can do what they want!"
Europeans use the exact same rhetoric to justify bad shit in their society that Americans do. I just saw someone saying that it keeps homeless people from doing undignified things in public bathrooms. I guarantee that that same person will shit on America whenever there’s a post about anti-homeless architecture (ie hostile design.)
That is so true, I should know, I am German (living in the U.S.), and I find charging for a basic human bodily function you can’t control quite outrageous. This was not a thing when I lived in Germany, and I have hated every minute of it every time I visit since.
I honestly cannot believe that any government would find this to be legal. Providing restrooms free of charge if you want a business license and your amenities already have them should be a requirement.
It's always hilarious to me the things that Europeans will wag their finger over, but when they deserve a finger-wagging, they'll explain why it's actually better their way.
But America Bad and Europe Good so therefore hopefully you can see why this is good (Europe does it) and if America did the same thing it would be bad (because America was doing it)?
Yeah it's all a sham. In American public mall-like places, all the businesses are paying rent, and part of the rent goes to the upkeep of the public restrooms. This could be done in Europe also. But they don't.
The reason is because the real point of paying is to keep out the homeless/poor people, so they don't take up residence in the public spaces.
people will dunk on the US for a lot of things, but at least we have free public restrooms everywhere
EDIT: for the people who aren’t quite understanding, I’m saying ‘free restrooms’ in the way that you are not paying for the access. having to be a customer doesn’t apply since you get something in addition to restroom access. but there are no places that charge only for the restroom in the United States. It is ILLEGAL, end of story.
I'm from Germany and I don't think I ever saw a public toilet that ONLY accepted card payment, so at least from my experience this seems to be the exception.
In germany there is a politic push to go cashless.
Young people especially are for it.
This is my personal: Im with the Boomers on this one moment.
I think its not a good idea to rely on credit card payment only.
It gives the goverment to many opportunities to gather information that can be used against you
I was born with a GI disease and pay toilets put me in a terrible spot. I have to completely change my diet and increase my meds to accommodate a pay toilet situation.
One of the stations near Amsterdam is like this and my Canadian card didn't work when I was there.. I started to walk away super defeated and a kind woman behind me paid to let me go. I've never been so grateful for charity in my life.
The London termini have recently removed the pay gates at their public lavatories. So that’s something. It is a bit of of a zoo down there some evenings though…
I realize that many/most of Europe’s public restrooms are pay toilets, but I’ve never seen one before that didn’t take cash. That was usually the best way of getting rid of your small change when traveling. The Munich Hauptbahnhof is a big station with lots of traffic. I guess they’re trying to push for a cashless economy.
I can assure you Munich is not pushing for a cashless economy. Go walk around and see how many places don't take cash at all(not many), and see how many are cash only (plenty)
>I realize that many/most of Europe’s public restrooms are pay toilets
It's a nightmare for handicapped people. While handicapped toilets should be free of charge, I have had a lot of time places still trying to get my money.
It doesn't help, that I look like a healthy young man. Except I have extreme weakness, me/cfs and also full incontinence.
I have had situations when I had to travel (mostly to doctors, as my mobility sucks) and because of the inaccessibility of handicapped toilets I couldn't change my protection (aka diaper).
I know about my rights as handicapped, but people's ignorance of invisible disabilities is chipping my sanity piece by piece.
As someone who rarely has coins because I'm always emptying them into my piggy bank, I welcome the option to use my card at the public restrooms... but if I remember correctly, there is another set of restrooms close to the Arnulfstraße exit where coins can be used 😉
Tried using one of these in Munich recently. Card payment didn't work. Downloaded the app, registered my credit card in the app, used the "toilets near me function", was offered exactly one toilet on the map. Not the one directly in front of me, but one 600 km away in Berlin.
In Italy I couldn't use the McDonald's toilet without buying something. The door had a number pad lock next to it and the passcode was on the receipt. At least you get to buy something though and aren't simply paying for toilet access. I remember in Poland there were people waiting outside the toilets collecting entrance fees for toilets, I was kinda confused the first few times, hard to get used to lol. The public park even had a built in booth where the person was sitting like it was a carnival ride or something.
had an even worse experience in Germany: was stopping at a rest stop on an Autobahn because I had to pee (and it was really urgent)
The toilet accepted card and cash...had no cash on me so I tried to use the card but it didn't recognize it (maybe because it was foreign)
Had to pick up a 10,- bill from an ATM and paid 6,- in fees on top...most expensive piss of my life.
And you probably got a 50 cent voucher that was totally useless because stuff at those stations is overpriced as fuck.
Welcome to Germany, you haven't truly been here unless you had the Sanifair experience.
Yep and most of the cash accepting toilets took exact change only. Really frustrating when you get off the train having to take a piss and you only have 2CHF coins and the machine needs exactly 1.50.-
In my experience, not in Germany. Maybe having better facilities for mentally ill people also helps, as well as having less homeless people.
I'm Dutch, and when I'm on holidays in Germany, I don't mind paying a small fee for clean toilets. Most people feel the same, although some greedy Dutchies squeeze themselves through the kid's gate.
I’m in South Korea right now. There are free public toilets everywhere and they are almost always extremely clean. Some even have fancy bidets. There’s no reason they can’t be free if the country/ community makes it a priority!
Ah the old "rail & fresh"
But it's never fresh :(
Hamburg And Munich are constantly bad, but smaller stations are fairly reasonable. I never used the one in Berlin, but I'd assume it's also not that fresh.
I’m guessing the fact that you have to pay to use the bathroom is supposed to be for upkeep/ janitorial services? If they’re that gross then why the fee? It’s not something I’m ware is a thing here in the US but I’m basing that solely off the fact that they don’t charge for bathroom privileges where I live. No clue what New York or some like that might charge. EDIT: I appreciate the upvotes however I haven’t really replied to the responses to this post because there are simply too many. It feels like well over 50 replies since I posted a couple days ago. As much as I appreciate everyone’s insight please understand that it’s a lot for me personally do read & respond to everyone & I do apologize for that but it’s simply too much. Keep posting if you want but just know I probably won’t get back to you. Thanks again & everyone stay safe
Pay toilets largely disappeared in the US after a 1970s campaign by two young women who successfully argued that they were sexist because it's easier for men to sneakily urinate wherever
Well and also only stalls had the coin locks in the US. In europe you often pay to get in at all.
Ah, the 'ol 'stalls cost, horse trough of piss is free'
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I don't think that second part is accurate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_to_End_Pay_Toilets_in_America
its to pay for the janitorial services, and keep junkeys out. but in major citys 3 women from the balkans on minimum wage just cant keep up, besides that the audacity to demand payment to use the only dirty toilet in the area provokes extra vandalism. ultimately its a business, i dont know if they are payed by the station to operate the toilets as well, but rail&fresh is an company making money of the fees. you pay around 1€(you get back an 50c voucher that can be used inside any store in the station. but cant be combined and expire within 24h) to shit into an steel prison toilet, with fecals of 150 other people in it.
> and keep junkeys out Not all junkies are poor, and not all poor people are junkies. It just keeps poor people out.
the people i knew that junked out on things they shoot up in a public toilet have become poor rather quickly if they havent been before. munic is majorly a city full of cokeheads, richkids doing lines arent usually the clientel that mess up public bathrooms, whereas we had some serious problems with H especially in the 80s-90s with a lot of deaths in public toilets.
Speaking as a retail employee, lots of customers who don't do drugs also mess up the can.
The worst of the “normal people” was always older ladies in my experience. Bits of paper all over the place and pee and shit on the toilet, it’s amazing really how bad they can get.
That's the idea, but janitors will usually only service the bathrooms every X hours, and are often assigned multiple as a cost saving measure, so if you are lucky to go after it's just been cleaned it's usually fine. But then a new CEO join and decides to cut costs by having the bathrooms only be cleaned twice a day. Then once a day. Then you use unqualified cheaper labour so the cleaning isn't even that good. And you keep raking in money because using a filthy toilet is probably still better than leaving the station to go to a different one and risk losing your train
They're starting to install self-cleaning ones. They dont self-clean very well lol.
I saw a couple self cleaning bathroom pods in Iceland, and they just seemed to be wet and filthy instead of dry-ish and filthy inside.
Not only do you have to pay...You have to use a third party to pay, you can't just pay them...You have to pay Mastercard too. God forbid a transaction happens where they don't get a cut.
I’ve never seen a for charge bathroom in NY. There are tons of places where they’ll only give you a code if you’re a paying customer but in general it’s just long lines, gross bathrooms everywhere, especially at the train stations.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee\_to\_End\_Pay\_Toilets\_in\_America](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_to_End_Pay_Toilets_in_America)
The Rail & Fresh in Schwerin, a fairly small station, would like to disagree. Never seen such a shithole.
The worst smell I have ever smelled was in Essen Central Station. It was worse than poultry manure.
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Oh no the poop knife. 🤣
that's the biggest scam about it, same with the Autobahn toilets :(
Compared to the utter disgusting health menace that is free autobahn toilets (unless you get there within ten minutes after they've been cleaned. Not blaming the caretakers, but the visitors) the paid toilets are absolute heaven. Although it's infuriating they cost money at all which is technically not allowed. Which is why you get a 1€ coupon to spend in a shop where everything is about 300% overpriced. Wow.
This stupid coupon is like a nice "fuck you" to go.
You used to be able to use multiple coupons per transaction. So I'd just collect them until I had enough to buy a coffee using only coupons. Obviously that was too customer-friendly and they changed it. Fuck tank&rast.
In my experience, the paid Autobahn toilets are at least clean
Here I sit broken hearted, Paid to shit but only farted.
Last time thought I’d take a chance. Saved my cash but pooped my pants.
Next time I'll run home to drop my log in, When I start to feel it prairie-doggin'.
Plans for future past and present aside, In this toilet stall I leave my pride behind.
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Here I strain, buttcheeks flexin Giving birth to another Texan
Arms to knees, on the white throne Paid a pound to fart and moan
Someone else is next to me And they won't leave, despite my plea
I paid my penny, shut the door, Yet I will linger moments more Though I shelled for gut relief From the world outside I take reprieve
This new Diddy track is Fire!
Oh no, I shouldn't have had Chipotle, Guess I'll just shit in this hallway.
in German, Jetzt sitz ich hier, mein Herz zerrissen hab nur gefurzt und nicht geschissen
I may be a broken man, but I can't help but hear this in my head in the voice of the singer from Rammstein
Here I sit broken hearted Paid a nickel, only farted The next time I took a chance Saved five cents but shit my pants
Here I sit and hesitate, Should I shit or masturbate?
One for r/TwoSentencePoetry
Lol reminds me of when I used to charge to use the bathrooms in Roller Coaster Tycoon. Npc: "I cant afford to use Bathroom stall 2" :(
Free drinks and $20 bathrooms!
VALUE VALUE VALUE
"our drinks contain a special ingredient, LAXATIVES!!"
$50 umbrellas, still sold it's raining boyyy
I used to make it cheap to get in and wait until the park was packed. Then I sold off people favourite rides, erased the paths out, raised prices on everything, and deleted sections of rail on the coasters when they had cars full of people hurtling through them. In retrospect, it was pretty messed up the way I let my god-like power in that game corrupt me.
Lmao I’m picturing the NPC doing that running motion they do when they have to go to the bathroom really bad
You're a monster
Pay2Poop
Pay2Pee
TapToPee
Time to get schwifty
Right? You want it in a toilet, I just need it out.
And it becomes your problem after that
user name relevant.
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I once took a shit in front of a gas station after they insisted they had no public restrooms while I was having a legitimate #2 emergency. It was there or in my pants and I wasn't going to choose the latter, especially when there was a bathroom right there with the door open that I had wasn't allowed to use.
At a certain point every human should understand there but for the grace of God... Thought I could make it to the next metro stop, it's just 5 minutes. The train got stuck mid tunnel and I didn't get to the next station for 45 minutes. It was the looooong stair one. I get to the top and rush to the first Starbucks and the bathroom was legitimately broken and closed. Sweating panic I get to the next convenience store across the street and I'm feeling muscles spasm I didn't even know could do that. Thank God no one was in the stall because I don't think I looked or would have cared at that point.
I was out in the boonies picking up a product from an online Marketplace and I need to stop and charge my car so that I can get back home. I went to three or four different businesses trying to find a bathroom to use and none of them had one that was available and so I ended up shitting my pants. Luckily I was charging in front of City Hall which is right on the waterfront, so I walked right into their Lake and scrubbed my ass clean in their pristine lake.
Giving back to the city, a cultured citizen.
The door was open? I'd just use it and ask forgiveness (or tell em to get bent) in your situation. Not shit in front of an open bathroom.
Nothing is free in Amsterdam. They might only charge you 50 cents but you still gotta pay to pee. The only exception are the public urinals.
Japan has the right idea. Free public toilets all over the damn place.
Australia too
also much cleaner than in Germany
America as well.
Yup! I've never seen a toilet that you *must* to pay to use.
We don't really have a lot of truly public toilets though. At a park or a beach or in a public transportation place sure but otherwise it's really a private business that can restrict access. If you are in urban area with a lot of homeless people you will absolutely encounter toilets with a code or a key or token or a buzzer and the employee has to let you in. You don't have to directly pay for the toilet but basically they can say it's for customers only.
People there don't tend to shit on the floor and wipe it on the walls
That's true, but I'd rather have filthy public toilets than filthy streets.
Almost every single public toilet I have been in here (in Japan) has visual instructions on how to use it and basically *not* shit on the floor. That being said, I absolutely have seen some rank ones. Squat toilets where there was an accident in balance too. It’s also uncommon to have soap in washrooms here and even a rinse is “optional”.
>The only exception are the public urinals. They are used for other purposes too ... \#letsgooutside
I mean… sure, but there is practically zero privacy. The top is mesh and the bottom is open. Floor covered in years of crystallized pee and it really smells like strong piss. [Pee curl (Amsterdam)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pee_curl?wprov=sfti1#)
Bot copying [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/1d7t2kt/cant_use_the_bathroom_without_a_creditdebit_card/l71nily/). Note how it has nothing to do with the comment it's replying to, and the profile's other comments are asking where to buy something, which another bot replies to with a sketchy link.
Take off your pants and your panties
Shit in the floor
*On* the floor. You can only shit in the floor if you have a prybar.
I'm Canadian and I can't imagine having to pay to go to the washroom. That's just crazy. What if you have an emergency and you have no money/card on you? Just shit on the floor outside the washroom? Edit: after 600+ upvotes, apparently Vancouver is the only Canadian city because it's the only one people mention. Yes, I get it, there aren't any there.
Yeah I was thinking that too, but also most SkyTrain stations don't actually have washrooms aside from Waterfront. Most have close proximity to malls and things so it's only mildly inconvenient, but we're still lacking washrooms where Europeans would pay for them.
PSA to non-Vancouverites: Skytrains aren’t flying trains. They’re just regular low to medium speed trains on an elevated platform. Don’t let Ken Sim’s propaganda fool you.
As a nova scotioner, at least there are commuter trains.
Ken Sim propaganda? They’ve always been called skytrains
looks like it would be easy enough to just force your way in. thats probably what id try first, although id be hesitant to actually break it if others are watching. i live around san francisco where its extremely hard to find public restrooms. most of the city does not have actual public restrooms, its all restrooms inside businesses and many of them require a purchase to use them. some businesses only require this purchase if you look like you might be homeless, poor, or on drugs, while upper class put together white people are let in. SF is covered in shit and piss. we even have the "sf poop map". when i was a broke teenager i pissed all over that town. when you have no money and nobody will let you use their restroom, eventually you just have to pee somewhere. every public transit station in the city reeks of piss all the time. the elevators handicap people need to use to get down to the station are usually the worst and often have shits in them.
Yep, this is a major problem all restrooms should be regulated at the state and federal level to need to be free exactly to avoid people possibly spreading diseases. Proper fecal waste management is important for keeping populations healthy. And once that is done businesses can find reasonable ways to solve the problem. Like for instance just making a public restroom every so many stores on a block. The last think you ever want is people choosing to piss or shit in random places that will not go through property sewage treatment. I think somewhere in CA they had issues with hepatitis because of that.
I live in Vancouver and my first thought was "at least they HAVE washrooms"
> I'm Canadian and I can't imagine having to pay to go to the washroom. Oh, we used to! I recall pay toilets in Canada as a kid. I'd stand by a door waiting for someone to leave. 10c was important to me back then.
I had to laugh at this when I encountered it. Gotta pay to pinch a loaf but your heart transplant will be free!
A lot of places in Germany you pay say, €1 to take a shit (If I'm paying I'm pooping) but you can take the receipt to an onsite store and use it to purchase stuff. Many motorway places give a 1:1 rate (so the toilet is effectively free with a purchase), some it's 0.5:1. But I am not sure if the train station is one of those places where you get that offer. It's also worth noting that, outside of travelling many publicly accessible toilets are free in European countries (Shopping malls, bars, supermarkets, restaurants etc). Even some of the German rest areas have free toilets, but they will not be cleaned that often, where as the pay ones tend to have the seat cleaned between every set of cheeks (auto cleaning seat) and also the toilet paper that is above 400 grit.
My workaround in Germany was to find a train laid up on the platform with open doors that wasn't departing for at least 15 minutes and just use the on-board toilet.
Risky if business takes longer and you end up in Gelsenkirchen
Haha yeah this doesn't work as well for pooping.
My workaround when traveling through Germany was to just skip the payment and walk past.
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idk I just had the misfortune of using the bathroom in a random German train station (Hannover) a few days ago and the paid station bathroom was absolutely disgusting, definitely worse than the train.
The downside of the 1:1 toilet token is that everything in rest stops is extremely overpriced! Sure I get my 50c back, but only if I use it to buy a €6 coffee
Exactly, and even if the shop's wares *aren't* that overpriced, the 50¢ voucher often has a minimum spend limit of €2.50 or so. *If* you were already planning on buying e.g. a €3 sandwich anyways that voucher comes in handy of course; but if you weren't planning to buy anything you'll either end up throwing away the 50¢ voucher, or wasting an additional €2 on a snack you don't need.
IME you pay 1€ and get a 0,50€ voucher (sometimes only for coffee). But im most cases the cheapest thing you can buy is 3€, so it's cheaper to not use it most of the times.
They should pay me for using those gross ass motor way toilets tho
This is pretty unexpected, considering this is Germany land of cash money.
I used Apple Pay in Germany before any German banks supported it. Everyone was looking at me like I’d just hacked their card machine, it was funny but kinda awkward. Also, for a country that loves cash, there are never any cash machines?!!
I never have a problem finding a cash machine in Germany. They're not outside like in the U.S., but go in any bank and they're there, and there are plenty of banks around.
also... there are cash machines all over. it's a land of banks.
That's my biggest takeaway. Was in Germany in March and there wasn't even a way to pay in the bus with card. They only accepted cash. This is a 180 on that experience.
From the Netherlands here, but the only things I use cash for are shady. I haven't used an ATM in 1.5 years.
If this was America, there would be an endless train of people talking shit about capitalism.
Redditors love to conveniently forget that Europe is also capitalist.
That is also who we learned bigotry from
“Why is everyone’s obsessed with race in America”?” > turns on European soccer game and sees fans making monkey chants and throwing bananas at black players
"We have no racism in Europe and Gypsies should all be buried alive."
We had a Moroccan cab driver in Amsterdam and he said the racism he experiences is crazy and normally Americans are the nicest of his customers.
Instead there's an endless train of people smoking cope by comparing it to tipping for coffee.
My favorite thing about comparing it to tipping is that tipping is 100% optional. You absolutely do not have to tip if you don’t want to, but apparently you have to pay to take a leak in Europe. The comparison is so bad.
American here. I’d call it classist if this existed in the states. Not everyone can afford to own a debit card, primarily the homeless. On the flip side, I bet those things are clean.
I lived in Stockholm for a year, you have to pay there as well. The central train station bathroom is not as clean as you'd expect for having to pay. Buc-ee's in the US is superior. Stand alone bathrooms were disgusting.
Knowing lots of people with overactive bladders and IBS this would be unfair to them. I really don’t like that notion
Yeah I would get slaughtered if this existed in the states. I'd pay more for restroom fees than food. I cannot survive with more than 2 hours between a restroom visit.
Sometimes when you pay it’s cleaner but every public bathroom I’ve been to in Germany isn’t clean whatsoever despite costing money to use
Pay toilets used to exist in the states. The movement to ban them was started by 4 students in 1970. A similar argument could be made in Europe if someone had the gumption to take it to the human rights court.
And endless Europeans lining up to be openly xenophobic. It’s a classic Reddit pastime.
Let’s be honest. Reddit is mostly smug Europeans and self-loathing Americans shitting on America and placing Europe on a pedestal, moral and ideological standards be damned.
Its very true beyond that too. A lot of opinions on reddit are frequently not how the rest of the world feels in reality. From video games to food to politics. Reddit is its own ecosystem.
Reddit is nothing but this. It's exhausting, but I'm glad more people are starting to realize this. Reddit comments are someone's little opinion bubble and in no way represents the real world.
> self-loathing Americans China, Russia North Korea etc. troll the fuck out of reddit to reinforce that view, it's not organic.
And if you ever have spent significant time in Europe, you’d realize that many places are just as, if not more, racist than the US.
In my home state (WV) this was made illegal in like the 50's or 70's because it was sexual discrimination. They put the coin charge on the toilet doors, not the bathroom entrance, so urinals were always free. I guess it was discrimination since only men could pee for free? I feel like they just wanted to make it illegal and find an excuse, lol.
It doesn't sound like they had to find an excuse. Men peeing for free while women have to pay is clear discrimination.
One way to keep poor people out.
Not so much poor, but specifically the homeless. (Who then proceed to have the most horrible diarrhea right around the corner.)
Probably aimed at drug users more than the homeless. The Mall of America has a problem with users shooting up in their bathroom(s) near the outside doors.
So what about people with a disability like Crohn’s where they may urgently need to use the bathroom. If they forget their card they are just shit out of luck?
They use the free disabled toilets that are usually right next to the paid ones. At least that's the case in the Netherlands.
This. People defending this with like "well this isn't a problem for ME so its not a problem at all" and im like "but its not about you"
Imagine your card gets declined or the service goes down... Whoops, too bad!
This happened to me like 3 weeks ago in the same spot. My card wasn't working and didnt have any cash..i had to ask for money to an old lady that was nearby. Paying to not soil your pants is a crime against humanity
I would piss on the wall outside the bathroom
Relieve myself directly on the card reader
I find having to pay for toilets to be both classist and sexist. I don't have a penis. I can't just hide in a corner and stealthily pee.
Bathrooms are a human right
The responses to this are hilarious. If it was America where you had to pay and Europe where it was free, people would be reeing so hard about how shitty America is. But instead they are like, "oh it keeps the bathrooms cleaner! And it's a private company that owns the bathroom, so they can do what they want!"
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Pray reddit never learns about tipping the bathroom attendant...
As an American. I’m just here to say “hi” and wish you a good day !
Yeah, the duality of reddit.
People rarely recognize their own hypocrisy
Europeans use the exact same rhetoric to justify bad shit in their society that Americans do. I just saw someone saying that it keeps homeless people from doing undignified things in public bathrooms. I guarantee that that same person will shit on America whenever there’s a post about anti-homeless architecture (ie hostile design.)
That is so true, I should know, I am German (living in the U.S.), and I find charging for a basic human bodily function you can’t control quite outrageous. This was not a thing when I lived in Germany, and I have hated every minute of it every time I visit since. I honestly cannot believe that any government would find this to be legal. Providing restrooms free of charge if you want a business license and your amenities already have them should be a requirement.
It's always hilarious to me the things that Europeans will wag their finger over, but when they deserve a finger-wagging, they'll explain why it's actually better their way.
As a Belgian I fucking hate paid toilets. They're not even clean. Just gives me third world vibes.
But America Bad and Europe Good so therefore hopefully you can see why this is good (Europe does it) and if America did the same thing it would be bad (because America was doing it)?
Yeah it's all a sham. In American public mall-like places, all the businesses are paying rent, and part of the rent goes to the upkeep of the public restrooms. This could be done in Europe also. But they don't. The reason is because the real point of paying is to keep out the homeless/poor people, so they don't take up residence in the public spaces.
There is a free bathroom option for the public as well. It’s just not as nice and well maintained as this one
people will dunk on the US for a lot of things, but at least we have free public restrooms everywhere EDIT: for the people who aren’t quite understanding, I’m saying ‘free restrooms’ in the way that you are not paying for the access. having to be a customer doesn’t apply since you get something in addition to restroom access. but there are no places that charge only for the restroom in the United States. It is ILLEGAL, end of story.
I thought Germany was a very cash centric society. It is surprising to see card required for public facilities.
I'm from Germany and I don't think I ever saw a public toilet that ONLY accepted card payment, so at least from my experience this seems to be the exception.
In germany there is a politic push to go cashless. Young people especially are for it. This is my personal: Im with the Boomers on this one moment. I think its not a good idea to rely on credit card payment only. It gives the goverment to many opportunities to gather information that can be used against you
This is one public restroom in that station, the other one takes coins
I think you mistook this sub for r/mildlyinfuriating
I was born with a GI disease and pay toilets put me in a terrible spot. I have to completely change my diet and increase my meds to accommodate a pay toilet situation.
I had a bad digestive situation for a year. Flying was terrifying.
This sounds dystopic.
One of the stations near Amsterdam is like this and my Canadian card didn't work when I was there.. I started to walk away super defeated and a kind woman behind me paid to let me go. I've never been so grateful for charity in my life.
~~Pay~~ Pee it forward! *hol' up...*
I remember having to pay to use the toilet in a coffee shop there despite being a paying customer
This. This isn't friendly to travelers.
Your PeePal :)
Poop, pee and water seem like the most basic needs and I don't agree in paying for.
Damn straight. Here in America, the poop is free. You can take as much as you want.
Europeans will die on this fucking hill, it's insane
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And it's annoying. In Denmark they don't work outside working hours, which is more annoying
Just piss on the sidewalk 🤷
One of the things America gets right
The London termini have recently removed the pay gates at their public lavatories. So that’s something. It is a bit of of a zoo down there some evenings though…
As a German: absolutely! Credit where credit's due
indeed. and not in toilets!
I realize that many/most of Europe’s public restrooms are pay toilets, but I’ve never seen one before that didn’t take cash. That was usually the best way of getting rid of your small change when traveling. The Munich Hauptbahnhof is a big station with lots of traffic. I guess they’re trying to push for a cashless economy.
I can assure you Munich is not pushing for a cashless economy. Go walk around and see how many places don't take cash at all(not many), and see how many are cash only (plenty)
>I realize that many/most of Europe’s public restrooms are pay toilets It's a nightmare for handicapped people. While handicapped toilets should be free of charge, I have had a lot of time places still trying to get my money. It doesn't help, that I look like a healthy young man. Except I have extreme weakness, me/cfs and also full incontinence. I have had situations when I had to travel (mostly to doctors, as my mobility sucks) and because of the inaccessibility of handicapped toilets I couldn't change my protection (aka diaper). I know about my rights as handicapped, but people's ignorance of invisible disabilities is chipping my sanity piece by piece.
As someone who rarely has coins because I'm always emptying them into my piggy bank, I welcome the option to use my card at the public restrooms... but if I remember correctly, there is another set of restrooms close to the Arnulfstraße exit where coins can be used 😉
That's more infuriating than interesting
well technically you will be making a deposit
Lol what are kids who aren't accompanied by an adult supposed to do?
Tried using one of these in Munich recently. Card payment didn't work. Downloaded the app, registered my credit card in the app, used the "toilets near me function", was offered exactly one toilet on the map. Not the one directly in front of me, but one 600 km away in Berlin.
In Italy I couldn't use the McDonald's toilet without buying something. The door had a number pad lock next to it and the passcode was on the receipt. At least you get to buy something though and aren't simply paying for toilet access. I remember in Poland there were people waiting outside the toilets collecting entrance fees for toilets, I was kinda confused the first few times, hard to get used to lol. The public park even had a built in booth where the person was sitting like it was a carnival ride or something.
had an even worse experience in Germany: was stopping at a rest stop on an Autobahn because I had to pee (and it was really urgent) The toilet accepted card and cash...had no cash on me so I tried to use the card but it didn't recognize it (maybe because it was foreign) Had to pick up a 10,- bill from an ATM and paid 6,- in fees on top...most expensive piss of my life.
And you probably got a 50 cent voucher that was totally useless because stuff at those stations is overpriced as fuck. Welcome to Germany, you haven't truly been here unless you had the Sanifair experience.
I actually prefer this to cash only because I rarely have cash with me these days.
Yep and most of the cash accepting toilets took exact change only. Really frustrating when you get off the train having to take a piss and you only have 2CHF coins and the machine needs exactly 1.50.-
You want people to shit on your floors, this is how you get people shitting on your floors.
In my experience, not in Germany. Maybe having better facilities for mentally ill people also helps, as well as having less homeless people. I'm Dutch, and when I'm on holidays in Germany, I don't mind paying a small fee for clean toilets. Most people feel the same, although some greedy Dutchies squeeze themselves through the kid's gate.
I’m in South Korea right now. There are free public toilets everywhere and they are almost always extremely clean. Some even have fancy bidets. There’s no reason they can’t be free if the country/ community makes it a priority!