Pay To Pee

[Minnie]

The restaurant owner is being flooded by calls from both the media and people who are pissed ( hiss boo) at the owner. Also, it seems like an abuse of privilege on the part of the Sheriff, to be seeking out and then giving the woman's information to the restaurant owner.

Link

When you gotta go, you gotta go — but, of course, most restaurants only want paying customers to use their restrooms. One restaurant in Tennessee opted to take this issue to a whole new level by charging fees for non-paying potty use.

Patricia Barnes recently rushed into a restaurant called The Flood Zone in Erin, Tenn., and asked a woman behind the counter if she could use the bathroom. She got permission and quietly did her business.

A few days later, she received a handwritten note from the restaurant in the mail. Barnes was stunned. "I don't feel it was a crime,” she said. "I've been into plenty of restaurants here in this town and other towns, and, you know, other states.”

The note mentioned a sign that specifically states the restaurant would charge a $5 fee to anyone who isn’t a customer. Barnes said she didn’t see the note until an employee approached her after she left the restroom.

"It was a little index card at the very bottom of the mirror. I didn't look in the mirror at all that day,” Barnes said.

The restaurant’s owner tracked Barnes down by writing down her vehicle license plate and having the sheriff trace it to its owner. (The bill was addressed to “Mrs. Edwards;" Barnes’ husband’s name is Randy Edwards.)

“I just thought it was unbelievable,” she said. “I’m like, what type of people are these?”

Barnes went back to the restaurant and offered to pay the $5, but the owners refused. She then mailed them a certified money order, but that came back. The owner apparently changed her mind about the bill, saying she only wanted to make a point.

[troutman]

In many places in Europe there is a bathroom attendant, and their job is to had out toilet paper for a fee. Parents must be proud.

[burn_this_city]

What a waste of law enforcement time tracing a license plate for a $5 bathroom charge.

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

What a waste of law enforcement time tracing a license plate for a $5 bathroom charge.

That the restaurant owner then refused payment of.

[Komskies]

Ryanair tried something like this a couple of years back:

http://www.boston.com/travel/blog/20...r_moves_a.html

Ryanair confirmed that it is working with Boeing on design changes that will allow the discount carrier to install pay toilets on 168 planes.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

haha, paid bathrooms are the norm in southeast asia. Except they only charge like 2 cents cdn. haha.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by troutman

In many places in Europe there is a bathroom attendant, and their job is to had out toilet paper for a fee. Parents must be proud.

Except that those same attendants also (or are supposed) to keep the bathroom clean/kept. Every such bathroom I used in Europe was very clean, even if it was in the "middle of nowhere" or roadstop.

Many of the other tourists I ran across during my trip didn't mind paying a bit for that.

[First Lady]

The name of restaurant made me giggle...

"The Flood Zone"...

[valo403]

Paid bathrooms are pretty normal in many parts of the world, and it's not that unusual to have a customers only policy anywhere. What makes this newsworthy (barely) is the follow up, particularly the sheriff getting involved.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by troutman

In many places in Europe there is a bathroom attendant, and their job is to had out toilet paper for a fee. Parents must be proud.

In many bars in Calgary there are guys wearing sunglasses, bluetooth ear pieces and leather jackets selling cologne and handing out paper towels. They get really pissed off if you don't take their towel and/or walk out without giving them money.

In some of the classier bars there are toothless 80 year old women giving gummers.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by fotze

Where is that?

Almost every night club I went to in Calgary had one in the bathrooms. Even in Victoria a few of them have them sitting in there. Most also offer a bowl of condoms.

[OffsideSpecialist]

I've seen the guys giving out paper towel. He did it for tips. I'm pretty sure I somehow ended up tipping him like $10 once I was too intoxicated. That was an expensive night...

[polak]

Paid bathrooms are every where outside of North America.

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by OffsideSpecialist

I've seen the guys giving out paper towel. He did it for tips. I'm pretty sure I somehow ended up tipping him like $10 once I was too intoxicated. That was an expensive night...

Those are those nights where you start with $200 in your wallet and wake up with a loonie in your pocket.

[homestand]

In 1963 when we were kids we moved to Calgary from Sask. We were suprised to see that it cost a dime to use a public bathroom stall. We found out there was a musical ditty that played on that theme

Here I am broken hearted,
Paid a dime and only farted.

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by troutman

In many places in Europe there is a bathroom attendant, and their job is to had out toilet paper for a fee. Parents must be proud.

I had to buy something to get change to use the bathroom in McDonalds because I didn't have any change and didn't want to pay 20 Euro's to use the bathroom.

[Jimmy Stang]

In England, you still hear people (usually old people) say that they need to "spend a penny" when they really mean "piss like a racehorse".

[Vulcan]

They used to have those stalls where you had to pay a nickle. Being 5 years old I'd duck under the door and keep my money. Sometimes they'd have a stall that was free but it had no door on it, those were ugly days.

[Bill Bumface]

[Yakbutter]

Yeah I suppose business can charge people for using the washroom if they want.. But I personally would consider them to be cheapskates and never do business with them again.

Half the time the washrooms are disgusting anyways.