41–50 of 52 posts
How can this happen?
By giving the most desperate people in our society some dignity, and better places to hang out than in bus stops and public restrooms.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
At least for government employees, if not all non-office workers, government should simply mandate to that any building open to the public must allow use of its bathrooms.
This is actually a result of the opioid crisis more than anything. If you leave your bathrooms open then you'll get a lot of people using then to use drugs. And a lot of them will overdose in those bathrooms (which is a serious problem for staff).
So the story goes.
To make things worse, gyms are shutdown. They were a reliable 24/7 location if the driver had membership. There needs to be infrastructure for true public restrooms in urban areas. Uber et al needs to make mandatory access to its drivers a condition of doing business with the food service.
The infrastructure can easily be created by not outlawing pay toilets. As a bonus, and unlike what you see with free toilets, those tend to be kept clean.
They should treat it like the Supreme Court recently treated homeless people camping on the sidewalk. They have a biological need for somewhere to sleep; if the city cannot provide enough places for them to sleep, they must allow them to camp on the sidewalk. In this case, if there are not enough public restrooms, public businesses (i.e. open to the public, not publicly traded) must allow non-customers to use their restroom.
It seems crazy to me that a) we know everyone needs to use the bathroom, b) there are no requirements for access to restrooms (beyond ADA stuff), c) urinating or defecating in public is illegal. I don't find it crazy that urinating or defecating in public is illegal; I find it crazy that we've put ourselves in a spot where it is possible to be put in a position where there is no legal means for you to carry out a biologically required task.
These poor drivers are just getting caught in the crossfire of the class war between restaurant owners and delivery companies, and are being deprived of human dignity as a result.
I think there's also an unintentional sexist effect here. The article keeps talking about people peeing in Gatorade bottles. I'm a male, so I could be wrong here, but that doesn't seem like a viable option for women. Women have another needs for the bathroom as well. I can't imagine putting in or changing a tampon in the car is an easy or pleasant experience.
And lastly, do you really want your food delivery driver to be making a choice about whether they want to pay $1 to use the bathroom where they can wash their hands, or just peeing in a bottle and going around with dirty hands? I would strongly prefer that wasn't a choice they considered. I will happily pay another $0.25 or whatever that goes to the restaurant to cover paying for the water, toilet paper and soap they use to remain hygienic.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A few years ago I was doing granite work. On installs, if the customer's plumbing wasn't hooked up, we'd have to find a bush somewhere...or so I thought. One day, I was digging around in the back of the truck looking for some acetone and grabbed out a bottle of some yellowish brown liquid. Suddenly, head installer starts freaking out a bit going on 'no no don't touch that.' After a moment or two it dawned on all of u…
It makes sense, especially if workers are on a project in a residential area. I've heard of drunk people being threatened with the sex offender list when they were caught urinating on a bush after dark. People might take drastic steps if strange men are urinating in the lawn adjacent to where their kids are playing.
But I do see the point.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The infrastructure can easily be created by not outlawing pay toilets. As a bonus, and unlike what you see with free toilets, those tend to be kept clean.
Pay toilets have to be the most capitalist dystopian thing I've ever heard of. I apologize for the strong response, and don't mean it to reflect on you as a person at all, but the idea of charging someone for something that is literally part of the biological definition of life is kind of shocking. They should treat it like the Supreme Court recently treated homeless people camping on the sidewalk. They have a biolog…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The infrastructure can easily be created by not outlawing pay toilets. As a bonus, and unlike what you see with free toilets, those tend to be kept clean.
Pay toilets have to be the most capitalist dystopian thing I've ever heard of. I apologize for the strong response, and don't mean it to reflect on you as a person at all, but the idea of charging someone for something that is literally part of the biological definition of life is kind of shocking. They should treat it like the Supreme Court recently treated homeless people camping on the sidewalk. They have a biolog…
You also, and for the same reason, object to selling food, right?
> Uber and DoorDash said they do not have any specific rules about bathroom access. Grubhub, Seamless, and Instacart did not respond. Can anyone familiar with policy making in gig economy companies explain why the spokesperson wasn’t told to say, “We think it’s not okay. Going forward, the first offense for a restaurant that denies bathroom access to a driver will be a 24 hour ban from our platform.” Courage is conta…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It makes sense, especially if workers are on a project in a residential area. I've heard of drunk people being threatened with the sex offender list when they were caught urinating on a bush after dark. People might take drastic steps if strange men are urinating in the lawn adjacent to where their kids are playing.
True enough. Though, any jobsite we were on lacking indoor plumbing also typically didn't usually have children actively living in them when we were there working. But I do see the point.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The infrastructure can easily be created by not outlawing pay toilets. As a bonus, and unlike what you see with free toilets, those tend to be kept clean.
Pay toilets have to be the most capitalist dystopian thing I've ever heard of. I apologize for the strong response, and don't mean it to reflect on you as a person at all, but the idea of charging someone for something that is literally part of the biological definition of life is kind of shocking. They should treat it like the Supreme Court recently treated homeless people camping on the sidewalk. They have a biolog…
> Uber and DoorDash said they do not have any specific rules about bathroom access. Grubhub, Seamless, and Instacart did not respond. Can anyone familiar with policy making in gig economy companies explain why the spokesperson wasn’t told to say, “We think it’s not okay. Going forward, the first offense for a restaurant that denies bathroom access to a driver will be a 24 hour ban from our platform.” Courage is conta…