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[Sappho]

Today I got a receipt from a public toilet. I thought it was so awesome I scanned it and put it up on my blog. I hope you get as much enjoyment out of this as me.

Has anyone else ever seen anything like this? Or was a witness to a very special event?

[kaijyuu]

I've heard of people collecting weird things but this probably takes the cake.

[Sappho]

Hey now, one receipt from the toilet is not a collection. On the other hand, I have three of them (my third visit to this city for visa paperwork reasons) so maybe you have a point. At least I didn't keep the toilet paper?

[Lord Dullard]

50 cents to use the loo? Yeesh. Does Prague have sewage problems, or what?

[Sappho]

It has gypsy/homeless/junkie problems. Also massive budget problems in anything run by the almost hilariously corrupt government.

Also, this wasn't in Prague, it was in Rakovnik, a city about an hour from Prague and where I have to go to do my legal paperwork. :/ It's a bit of a dump. Also, 4 kc is only about 25 cents, so it's not so bad.

[RedKing]

If you fail to pay, do they make you take back your...you know what? Nevermind, I'd rather not know.

This actually reminds me of Douglas Adams' mention of the planet Bethselamin, where tourist-caused erosion became so bad that they passed a law that you had to excrete at least as much matter as you ingested while visiting. Which made getting toilet receipts absolutely vital.

[Sappho]

Hehe, well if you don't pay, you don't get any toilet paper. Maybe a bigger problem for women than men... But the price for the men's toilet is only 3 kc. Sexist bastards!

[JoshuaFH]

Does the toilet paper come out of a little machine, like it goes WHIRRR and then counts out the sheets one at a time like a ticket machine?

Or is there a person there that physically counts them out and hands them to you before you go in?

This is just the most arcane concept.

[Leafsnail]

Don't most pay toilets just charge you a fee to get in?

[Sappho]

There is a window when you're going in and an old lady sitting behind it. You give her the money, and she hands you a receipt and six sheets of single-ply toilet paper. It all feels a bit like communism still hasn't fully let go of Rakovnik, even after 20 years.

[JoshuaFH]

Wait, so basically you have to pay deposit to use it? Do they just not want poor people using the toilet?

[Sappho]

Yeah, the paying for public toilets thing is basically to keep homeless and junkies out.

[Karlito]

A lot of cities in the US have virtually no public toilets for exactly that reason.

[RedKing]

They could just take the Chinese approach: public toilets are basically holes in the ground with "stalls" that only go up to about waist height. Junkies and homeless aren't a problem because, seriously....suicide is a better option. And you have to provide your own toilet paper.

I had to use one in Sanlitun (one of the "bar districts" in Beijing) at like 3am one night, thanks to some sketchy noodles. The only thing I could think to compare it to was the "Worst Toilet in Scotland" scene in Trainspotting. Minus the toilet. 

[Johuotar]

I wish could get receipts from public toilet.