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Where did all the public bathrooms go?

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Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#171

Post by leviathant »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #151
mym1990 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is maintaining public restrooms a "massive liability"? Surely its an inconvenience but massive liability seems a bit of a hyperbole.

Try hiring someone for a job where the job could sometimes be cleaning up bodily fluids and odors in a bathroom. Even the government deems it infeasible. Or, think about how much someone would have to pay you to do that job.

My first job was "stockboy" at Kmart in 1996, at 1996 American minimum wage, and part of the job involved cleaning toilets.

And, honestly? If more people had to clean toilets in use by other people, maybe we wouldn't have so many folks expecting other people to clean up after them. I see countless posts in my Facebook group about trash on the street. In the time it took to take a photo and post it to social media, they could have picked up the trash and taken it to a nearby bin.

But I suppose that experience goes two ways. Some people think they're above the human condition, to the point where they won't even clean up after themselves, even in their own homes. And other people recognize that it's actually not that hard to clean things up, if you just do it. We all have good and bad days.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#173

Post by ButlerianJihad »

jonshariat wrote: post #5

Something else I've noticed, garbage cans are disappearing. I had some trash in my car I needed to get rid of: McDonalds? None outside, Tacobell? none outside, CVS? none outside OR inside, The entire rest of that shopping center? nope. Luckily gas stations still have them but its sad to see these community service type things disappear.

One of the primary goals of the pandemic and lockdowns was to eliminate cost centers for every business.

If you notice how courtesy services disappeared, and many facilities were closed, because of a lack of staff or funds to clean them and maintain them.

It has actually been difficult to get into a restroom at certain restaurants, even now; sometimes I will find a handwritten sign there like “Employees Only” which is against health codes.

I rode a scooter to a “Drive-In” burger restaurant last month. Not a drive-thru, mind you, but a place where folks pulled up in cars and carhops served them, and they ate while parked. And this place had picnic tables, so I ordered a burger combo and tried to wash my hands.

There was no restroom available, and I contacted the order-taker guy and asked to confirm, and then I asked to cancel my order. He said “Your order is ready!” and I said hell naw, if you don’t have a restroom then you’re not serving anyone, so I got my refund...

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#174

Post by miltonlost »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #151
mym1990 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is maintaining public restrooms a "massive liability"? Surely its an inconvenience but massive liability seems a bit of a hyperbole.

Try hiring someone for a job where the job could sometimes be cleaning up bodily fluids and odors in a bathroom. Even the government deems it infeasible. Or, think about how much someone would have to pay you to do that job.

> Even the government deems it infeasible.

Because they are underfunded often.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#175

Post by Spooky23 »

prmph wrote: post #166
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worst toilet I ever saw was in China, but at 5000 meters in Sichuan, it was two slippery two by fours that you had to straddle on over a big open pit (don't slip or lose balance!). That was such an awesome trip circa 2005.

Well the worst one I ever saw was in New York City, of all places.

My favorite was a place in Chinatown with a curtain for privacy. Outside a couple of guys where killing a seemingly limitless collection of lives chickens.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#176

Post by paulpauper »

curtisblaine wrote: post #60

Fun that this article concentrates on gay sex restrictions and pressure by temperance advocates - two "enemies" that conveniently serve a certain social agenda - while public toilets, at least in Europe, died because of heroin users in the 70s and 80s (they used bathrooms to inject, often leaving their syringes behind, and that became a real problem and society-wide panic during the AIDS boom) and because of the incr…

drug users ruin everything. it's why we cant have nice things anymore

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#177

Post by lotsofpulp »

miltonlost wrote: post #174
lotsofpulp wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try hiring someone for a job where the job could sometimes be cleaning up bodily fluids and odors in a bathroom. Even the government deems it infeasible. Or, think about how much someone would have to pay you to do that job.

> Even the government deems it infeasible. Because they are underfunded often.

If the government is underfunded enough to not be able to hire bathroom cleaners, how can anyone expect a barely surviving retail business to afford it?

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#178

Post by mym1990 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #151
mym1990 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is maintaining public restrooms a "massive liability"? Surely its an inconvenience but massive liability seems a bit of a hyperbole.

Try hiring someone for a job where the job could sometimes be cleaning up bodily fluids and odors in a bathroom. Even the government deems it infeasible. Or, think about how much someone would have to pay you to do that job.

Yeah, I did this at 16 at a gas station and got paid 8.75 an hour, there are lots of people out there doing this type of work in the private sector. Its not glamorous thats for sure but supply/demand will dictate the labor market. The government doesn't deem it infeasible because hiring is difficult, its because they aren't willing to pay a reasonable wage for the work.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#179

Post by lotsofpulp »

leviathant wrote: post #171
lotsofpulp wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try hiring someone for a job where the job could sometimes be cleaning up bodily fluids and odors in a bathroom. Even the government deems it infeasible. Or, think about how much someone would have to pay you to do that job.

My first job was "stockboy" at Kmart in 1996, at 1996 American minimum wage, and part of the job involved cleaning toilets. And, honestly? If more people had to clean toilets in use by other people, maybe we wouldn't have so many folks expecting other people to clean up after them. I see countless posts in my Facebook group about trash on the street. In the time it took to take a photo and post it to social media, th…

Cleaning up trash, wiping tables, mopping the floor is one thing.

Cleaning up bodily fluids, which likely come from drug users, is a whole other thing.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#180

Post by gdevenyi »

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #89
xyzelement wrote: post #85

Lack of bathrooms has been called tragedy of the commons in this thread, but it's not the "commons" that are the problem. The worst 10% of society determine what we can and can't have. The "commons" aren't having public sex, shooting up drugs, or destroying the bathrooms with lack of... etiquette. The commons are victimized when these things happen and then there's eventually no choice but to shut them down unless th…

I tried to find a good term for this trend and the best I could do is "defining deviancy down" defined as "the tendency of societies to respond to destructive behaviors by lowering standards for what is permissible." It's like a behavioral Overton window that grows downwards.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/41212064
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