Community Chat

[Sooner]

In a town south of Oklahoma City where a friend lives, what was described by the OP is happening.  The city council there is doing all they can to house homeless people and making places for them

Now they have drug users camped out in the downtown, people avoid that now, and cars are ransacked nightly, crime is way up, and it is turning into a place where people are afraid to go out especially at night.  

It is a huge issue, and people are stunned that athis has happened so quickly.  The people who are a problem know where cities will allow this, and go there from other less cooperative states.

It is a sad situation.  She is really distraught about it.  

[On It]

I clearly remember those pay stalls. In our area they were mostly in large public areas with some free and some pay. I always paid and they were cleaner.

As for the current state of our society, I have no suggestion that would change nasty adults. However, early in my teaching career we taught manners, hygiene, and health in the elementary grades. It was gradually removed and the focus became skills and testing of those skills. Less emphasis needs to be placed on testing every child at the level of becoming a research scientist or professional writer.  Instead we need to focus more on their becoming a whole, well-balanced individual.

Some of today's parents have no experience with good parenting, and the schools need to be given some time each day to teach common courtesy and good hygiene practices. Driver's Education needs to be put back into the public school curriculum. (Have you ever known anyone to fail Driver's Ed?) It was a semester and taught by a coach in most of the Texas schools. If you screwed up, the coach got your attention. They are trained to teach physical skills like driving or passing a ball. Driver's Ed was taken out of the public schools, and kids who want an early license have to pay for private instruction. I am not feeling that these private programs are very rigorous. It is also a hardship on families who can't afford private classes.

[BlueFinch]

Yes, I'm seeing more of this too. I avoid public BR's unless it's a dire emergency.

What's with people who just throw their trash on the floor, when four steps away, there are trash cans, or they fail to flush the commode. You may even see sanitary napkins on the floor.

I've even seen some of this behavior in the hospital, where housekeeping can't keep ahead of the nastiness. There are very few who don't know better. That's why I see it as a purposeful disregard for others. 

I have no solutions. Btw, I remember the coin operated stalls. I also remember some people small enough crawling under the doors to avoid spending a dime. Can you imagine, on a public BR floor?

[kitcat51]

Never experienced filthy & drug ridden public bathrooms.  Pay stalls walls would need to be floor to ceiling or people would climb over & crawl under, also the coin boxes would be broken in no time to steal the money inside. If I need to use a public bathroom I head to the nearest church, it's usually the one I attend. 

[vsm]

@J Town Girl People who would do to a restroom what you describe would not be deterred by having to pay to use it. They would destroy the coin device or the door it's affixed to.The real problem is cities/towns that have eliminated vagrancy laws, or that have such laws on the books but either bar the police from enforcing them or refuse to prosecute violators when the police issue a citation or make an arrest. Mayors, city councils, and district attorneys who  promote such policies were put in power by voters and can be kicked out by voters.  You get what you vote for.

[SilleeMee]

The worst and I mean THE WORST restrooms I have ever seen in my life were south of the border. Those make the grossest ones here look clean and I'm not exaggerating. 

[proudlyfromNJ]

I didn’t  realize this was a political post. I try and stay away from them as they are against community standards. My mistake.

[Mj12]

I remember pay stalls at rest areas on the Autobahn. It was cheap - a Euro or something.  Cleanest public restrooms I've ever seen.

[gertrudecloset]

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@J Town Girl wrote:

Before anyone starts to say negative things about this idea just read our experience from yesterday.

My husband and I were in a department store and he wanted to use the restroom.  He went in and came out in just a few minutes.  I wondered why.  He said both stalls were being used by what he assumed were two drug users.  He said he could see filthy dirty clothes on the floor and both of them had thrown their used needles on the floor.

Needless to say he immediately got out of there.  We mentioned this to an employee and he said it happens all of the time.  The stores just cannot control who uses their restrooms and they have to periodically close them and totally clean them of drug paraphernalia and dispose of all of the filth they leave behind.  

After our shopping trip my husband said I'm going to stop for gas and use their restroom.  When he went in to use it the clerk told him he couldn't because she had just disinfected it because someone had totally used the floor for a toilet and she had to bleach the entire room.  She told him I'm usually alone here and when these people come in she's afraid to tell them they can't use the bathroom.  She said she fears what they might do to her.  

Our final stop on our way home was to our pharmacy to pick up a prescription.  Usually we use the drive-thru but for some reason it was closed.  My husband said while you are getting your meds I'll use the restroom.  Nope again!  Both the men's room and the ladies room were closed.  The clerk told us that management has permanently closed them because of the things that go on in them.   He told us they have had to call the police to remove people who have set up housekeeping in them and refuse to leave when they are told too.  For a while they tried to keep them open by using a code that you had to get from the clerk but people became irate and the store feared for the safety of their employees.

By now it sounds like we live in a crappy area but I can assure it that we do not.  We live in a very middle class area of a nice suburb of a large city.  It is not a rundown area and our police try to keep the bad folk out of the businesses but their hands are tied and they move them out and within a short time they are back.

After seeing how bad restrooms have become in our stores I told my husband that perhaps we need to go back to pay toilet stalls.  Most of you are probably too young to remember them but you had to deposit money to get into the stalls.  

I know that sounds extreme but perhaps it would keep out the objectionable people who are intent on ruining everything for the good decent people.

I'm to the point where I don't even want to use a public restroom.  I have seen so many disgusting things such as used needles and used sanitary products just thrown on the floors of the bathroom stalls.  

I'm a compassionate person but it really saddens me to see the way society is going.  Perhaps we need to go back to the ways of the past.  I wouldn't complain of paying a small amount if it meant that we could be sure our public restrooms were clean and  drug free and safe for us to use.

For those of you who live in other part of the country do you encounter the same problems in your stores and public areas?

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It might sound just awful to you, but men can do what they need to do (sometimes) without a stall.  I hope you get my drift.  Depending on where one lives makes it very practical especially if you drive.

The use of pay toilets might work for a while to hinder bad actors.  They will eventually break them though and cause damage to the property.  Trust.... @J Town Girl 

Invest in one for your vehicle

[gertrudecloset]