Been seeing a lot about how the government passes shitty laws, lot of mass shootings and expensive asf health care. I come from a developing nation and we were always told how America is great and whatnot. Are all states is America bad ?
Been seeing a lot about how the government passes shitty laws, lot of mass shootings and expensive asf health care. I come from a developing nation and we were always told how America is great and whatnot. Are all states is America bad ?
Our tap water is in crisis. What hasn’t been privatized is either being operated with outdated technology, or being polluted, and EPA protections are being weakened by the Supreme Court.
And, in most of America there aren’t freely available public restrooms. They are all located in businesses that will outright deny you access, or force you to make a purchase. Their policies allow them to discriminate against the unhoused, and the disabled.
I am an American, but I’m not going into I get into the broader discussion here, just had to respond to your two points, as they don’t seem grounded in reality.
Walk around in a major city and you’ll notice there are outright no bathrooms available to the public, or paying customers only.
You just have to go to a place that’s big enough not to care. Want nice bathrooms, go to a nice department store, or oddly enough, Home Depot. On the road, stop at McDonalds. I’ve ever been forced to buy something at places like this, the big places like department stores and Home Depot won’t even notice. The only places where you have to worry about customers only are tiny places that have 1 tiny bathroom and you have to ask about. Do to places where you don’t need to ask, you just go.
The first bathroom I ran into in London required payment to go in. Not having local currency yet, I just had to hold it. That sucked. It was in a park, I’ve never run into pay bathrooms like that in a park in the US. I’ve always seen them be free. Eventually in London I just started treating it like the US. I’d walk into a bar, look for the toilets sign, use them, and leave.
I guess the one argument for “public restrooms” is rest areas along major highways and restrooms in public (usually national or state, not little municipal) parks.
So we do have public restrooms…they’re just nowhere near 99% of the population most of the time.
At least we don’t have to tip someone to get a square of paper lol
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You just walk into a starbucks or a gas station. They’re all in businesses, but saying you have to make a purchase is straight up false.
Even when you CAN do this, it’s usually because the employees are either kind enough or inattentive enough to let you do this. And if you are clearly unhoused or poor, your chances of being able to do this are much, much lower than if you can fit in in a middle class white area. (Restaurants with predominantly poor clientele or many homeless people nearby tend to be much stricter about this.)
There are reasons for that. If some middle class looking person goes to use the bathroom, they are probably just going to use the bathroom and be out in a couple minutes. If a homeless person is going in there, they might be setting up shop, be in there for quite a while, and may require more clean up.
I was at a train station in Chicago and had to use the bathroom, but when I went in every stall was taken up by homeless guys. They had blankets up around the doors and stuff, it was very obvious it wasn’t just some dude taking a dump. All the stalls were like that. I waited and waited, but they weren’t going anywhere soon… I had to hold it, leave and find somewhere else. I had to no go a nicer place that wouldn’t let people in that situation in.
Businesses don’t want their staff of customers to not have a bathroom because some guy is in their doing his whole morning routine, or sleeping.
Starbucks is iffy but I’ve traveled nearly every state and never once have I been to a gas station that required a purchase to use the restroom.
Here’s what everyone isn’t getting.
Public bathrooms are accessible to those that contribute to society.
Not saying this is right, it’s just how it is. Even places that have a “purchase policy” don’t care, the policy only exists to keep problems to a minimum and is usually only enforced against those that look like they might cause problems.
YOU have never been TOLD a gas station bathroom required a purchase. Likely because you pulled up in a vehicle and look normal enough. But I’m willing to bet money if you wander up on foot and look homeless you’ll find out they actually do have that policy.
I’ve been on all sides of this. As the strung out homeless kid that just wanted a quiet warm “nice” place to do my drugs. Then the struggling young adult having to wash blood, hair and literal shit off every surface in there. And then the manager having to enforce these policies because if I don’t my employees (or myself) have to go deal with whatever problems are created in the bathroom (and the WILL be a mess to clean up 98% of the time).
In Switzerland, you have to pay $2 to use the restroom in gas station. But I totally prefer using those compared to the sanity standard of your average american gas station. I can be picky.
Fair enough, gas station bathrooms in the states range from really good to don’t fucking touch anything.
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