The lack of available public restrooms

[slo town]

Passing on the morning coffee will give you more bladder range and decrease the chance of an indecent exposure arrest. < On second thought never mind, it's Ca. But if I remember your vocation correctly you probably have a get out of jail free card?

I forgo coffee before long range driving or flying.

No get out free card for me based on my past occupation. I was a systems engineer for well known Silicon Valley company.

Being a hardcore road cyclist who does fast, challenging riding 5 to 6 days a week, I also drink a lot of water. I try to drink a gallon a day. But I do forgo the water before driving up north.

Scott

 

[slo town]

OP here. Another thing, I do think things have relaxed a bit since COVID first started. Some of you mentioned restrooms being closed because of the homeless. I think this may be the primary reason some public restrooms are closed now.

Just saying,

Scott

 

[PandaBear]

OP here. Another thing, I do think things have relaxed a bit since COVID first started. Some of you mentioned restrooms being closed because of the homeless. I think this may be the primary reason some public restrooms are closed now.

Just saying,

Scott

COVID is just an excuse. They want to ban homeless using bathroom but cannot due to PR disaster reason.

 

[earlyre]

mc donalds, at least around here, have all been drive through only since the pandemic started... doors locked to all but staff...
when I used to take the annual long distance drive to/from my brother's house in TX (before he moved back to OH) I knew the "good" restrooms along the route, spaced just about as far as my bladder would go.
some times it was too far. not afraid to admit i have peed myself doing 75mph down the HWY.

too many times in fact. I've lost the ability to not HAVE TO PEE NOW! when the feeling comes on. when i've mentioned t to my doc, he doesn't act concerned...
I did however start wearing "Male Guards" in my undies if I know i might be unable to reach a restroom for more than 2 hrs. gotta catch those spurts and dribbles..
which is a sad admission for a 41yr old...

 

[y_p_w]

mc donalds, at least around here, have all been drive through only since the pandemic started... doors locked to all but staff...

Depends on where. Around here a few locations have installed tokens and will only give them to paid customers. A Burger King near me only allows people to enter if they're buzzed in via a button at the front counter. One of these McDonald's was near what was a long stream of people primarily living in RVs parked on the street. It was technically illegal but the city kind of let it slide. I heard something about there being a designated place where the city wouldn't kick out TVs. I don't know if this is a problem unique to my area, but the weather makes it a bit easier. I was at a McDonald's once with my kid when the police were called to eject a woman who looked to be homeless. She wasn't really hurting anyone, but it didn't look she bought anything either. Also a different location where someone had a cup and was sitting at the counter, but where manager came out and told him he had to leave. He showed the cup, but the manager said that he just brought in a used, empty cup.

That being said, I remember when San Francisco first started to install their fancy French designed automated toilets. They're free now, but back when they were first installed they were either a quarter or a token that were generally provided by businesses or local homeless services. They don't quite have a problem with cleanliness because they self-clean and dry after each user, which takes about a half minute.

 

[RazorsEdge]

The way people are trashing public bathrooms,I myself do my absolute best to avoid as much as possible.

If it's any indication of how clean people are by judging how messy the gym bathroom / locker-rooms are, I just can't imagine how messy their house is

 

[y_p_w]

The way people are trashing public bathrooms,I myself do my absolute best to avoid as much as possible.

If it's any indication of how clean people are by judging how messy the gym bathroom / locker-rooms are, I just can't imagine how messy their house is

The worst I've ever experienced was at a public pier where one could go fishing without a license. The stench was unbearable.

Not quite like doing it on a "vault toilet" where it was just that toilet seat hung not breaking that was keeping me from falling 8 feet down into a pit of assorted liquids, deodorizers, etc. A few of the ones I've used over the years were solar powered where they claimed that fans helped to break down waste without using chemicals.

 

[Ihatetochangeoil]

Way back in 2017, I was driving for work from St. Louis to New Orleans on a weekly basis; 1120 miles one way. I got to be absolutely professional at using a male hand held urinal "camping" container without disengaging the cruise control. Of course I would do this with no one behind me as far as I could see. Now that it's 2021, I have new road skills.

 

[atikovi]

Truckers always carry a few empty two liter pop bottles for that reason.

Unless you're 6, I don't think will work too well.

 

[Wolf359]

If it's any indication of how clean people are by judging how messy the gym bathroom / locker-rooms are, I just can't imagine how messy their house is

You need to go to a nice gym like Equinox. Their bathrooms/locker rooms are some of the cleanest I've ever seen in a gym, but they always seem to have people cleaning all the time, other gyms you never see anyone doing it.

 

[RazorsEdge]

You need to go to a nice gym like Equinox. Their bathrooms/locker rooms are some of the cleanest I've ever seen in a gym, but they always seem to have people cleaning all the time, other gyms you never see anyone doing it.

The gym is nice and clean but when you have pigs for members,it doesn't matter how clean it is it doesn't last long. Just recently they put up signs saying,you don't put the weights back,then you must not value your gym membership They catch you on camera, you can get kicked out of your membership.

 

[Chris142]

The gyms here are still locked down.

 

[Wolf359]

The gym is nice and clean but when you have pigs for members,it doesn't matter how clean it is it doesn't last long. Just recently they put up signs saying,you don't put the weights back,then you must not value your gym membership They catch you on camera, you can get kicked out of your membership.

Oh yeah, I guess that's the other thing with Equinox, considering what they charge, there aren't too many pigs there. It keeps out the riffraff.

 

[y_p_w]

No get out free card for me based on my past occupation. I was a systems engineer for well known Silicon Valley company.

Being a hardcore road cyclist who does fast, challenging riding 5 to 6 days a week, I also drink a lot of water. I try to drink a gallon a day. But I do forgo the water before driving up north.

Scott

The year that Greg Lemond won the Tour de France by 8 seconds, there was a notorious photo of runner up Laurent Fignon on the side of the road taking a leak.

Still, what I see here is somewhat of an insulting caricature, like everyone in the south uses an outhouse. I grew up the the Bay Area and life is actually pretty good. I take my kid to the park and there aren’t any homeless, nobody pees in public, and the (open) public restrooms are clean. I guess it’s easy to paint an area where a 3 bedroom home goes for $1.2 million as some sort of cesspool. It’s not without problems, but it’s actually quite nice most of the time.

 

[AZjeff]

No get out free card for me based on my past occupation. I was a systems engineer for well known Silicon Valley company.

Being a hardcore road cyclist who does fast, challenging riding 5 to 6 days a week, I also drink a lot of water. I try to drink a gallon a day. But I do forgo the water before driving up north.

Scott

My mistake, was thinking you worked in the courts. I hardly ever had to go when I was riding on the road a lot but now I'm 100% mountain bike and drinking lots while riding I go every 45-60 minutes. Lucky for trees, bushes, and cactus.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

It CA it’s another Covid excuse. A lot of gas stations and restaurants closed their restrooms. Makes zero sense. People still need to go, how is peeing behind the building more healthy?

 

[y_p_w]

It CA it’s another Covid excuse. A lot of gas stations and restaurants closed their restrooms. Makes zero sense. People still need to go, how is peeing behind the building more healthy?

The places I've seen have completely closed their dining rooms. Some might allow ordering inside, but I've seen a few go to drive-thru only. Some McDonald's around here have installed windows where one could order from outside. It's really strange too as there was a McDonald's that already had a plan to install an order window at the sidewalk. They had posted a public notice of their intent and I guess it was subject to public comment.

Strangely enough, what I remember about many fast food places when I was a kid were that the restrooms were usually accessed from outside like what was typical at a gas station. I'm under the impression that a lot of these closures aren't about anything other than an excuse to not have to provide the upkeep of operating a restroom open to paying customers.

 

[PandaBear]

The way people are trashing public bathrooms,I myself do my absolute best to avoid as much as possible.

If it's any indication of how clean people are by judging how messy the gym bathroom / locker-rooms are, I just can't imagine how messy their house is

Homeless, what do you expect.

 

[y_p_w]

Homeless, what do you expect.

Well - I've been to parts of Asia where some parents still have their kids wear open-crotch pants. Saw a parent direct a kid to just do it right in an extremely busy tourist area. In fact right into what some might think was a priceless artifact.

 

[Leo99]

Well - I've been to parts of Asia where some parents still have their kids wear open-crotch pants. Saw a parent direct a kid to just do it right in an extremely busy tourist area. In fact right into what some might think was a priceless artifact.

I saw similar in the Forbidden City. One of the reasons I vacation often in Vegas is the huge number of clean public restrooms.