PAYING TO TAKE A PISS IN POLAND, it's BIZARRE

I live in Canada and couldn't get over the custom of paying to take a goddam leak when out in public. Why is this done? North Americans must hate that cr*p. I know I did. I understand the French also have this custom. Did the Poles pick it up from them?

What other EU countries make you pay to take a p*ss?

You are paying for the use of a clean toilet. I don't see why people have problem with this.

and the urinals still have dirty puddles of yellow p1ss in them. That bugs me.

I don,t think that paying to use the toilet is such a bad thing , unless you don,t have any money on you which can be a bit of a pain...As an Englishman i did find it a little strange at first , but not as strange as walking into a Russian mens toilet and finding a woman in an office opposite the urinals ready to take your money.....

Don't know if is is still the same but it was like that also in France and Belgium a few years ago. I also remember walking past the mens toilets in a large supermarket and all the urinals were in view to anyone who went past the open door.

Its when they ask you at the entrance whether it is a pee or a dump you want - prices vary for each.

If you live in a place you learn where the free ones are so you can avoid the extortion. As a tourist it is not as easy. Try Malls, Restaurants and Airports etc for the best chance at free...the train stations and undergrounds in Warsaw at least are all pay. And yeah somehow in places where you don't have to pay the toilets still get cleaned. Public toilets are never sparkly though.

I think it's a good idea. It keeps the bums from going in for nothing and making a mess.

WB, that's not a fault of the system. Maybe u just went in when they hadn't cleaned it yet. People are still wayward with their aim, whether they pay or not.

This is not Trainspotting toilets we are talking about.

I can see this being an issue in the Warsaw underground etc but as I said I have seen free toilets in plenty of other places I have been outside of Poland and they are not destroyed just like most places don't have armies of security guards in every shop and people are not running out the doors thieving all day long(in fact all I have ever seen 'Ochrona" people do is harass homeless guys once in a while and stand around looking angry). I think it is because it is 'the way we have always done it' coming from the communist days when everyone got a job and lots of things like this were created to justify something.

I agree gtd, communistic times were different and greatly so. I didn't want to suggest that all toilets will be vandalised or made dirty. TBH, when I was writing, I had Katowice in mind. Let's say the 'station dwellers' are so uncoordinated that they will leak everywhere and not think about cleaning up after themselves. It's a sorry sight, I kid u not. Urine, I'm out, LOL

Its the fault of the pissee not pushing the little flush button on the top of the urinal, do you have automatic flushes down there in Gliwice?

I have to agree the behavior of male users of public toilets here is less than polite. I feel bad for those old women who have to clean up after these gits. Actually even the free one's in the mall that are not automatic are the same. There must be a flushing aversion. I wonder if they do the same at home?

In Tesco, yeah. I was gonna put my hand against the panel on the wall but it flushed automatically. Generally, the button in the middle of the cistern tho.

Pissee? Wouldn't that be the golden shower recipient? LOL Surely it was the pisser u meant to say

Well I have walked into a fair few toilets to find a logger just floating there. The flush systems on the older toilets cant handle the shite, also many Poles save money on water this way. Many Poles also attach magnets to their water meters, stops the needles turning.

Golden shower recipient! yes, i suppose it would. Pisser or lazy bast#rd will suffice.

I have never in 4 years seen this in someones flat.


Off to the shops to get a magnet ;)

When ur landlord pays all the bills, u don't have to pull any fast ones, LOL

just going to spend a penny...

Magnets, lol. That was like us crafty Scots who, em, not so cleverly tried to fox the inspectors who came to check if a TV was BW or colour. We just turned the colour off.

Known in the UK as a Manchester crocodile...

If you after a few beers which cost minimum 7-8 PLN each, cannot spare 1 PLN to go to the toilet - now that it is very sad.

I perfectly understand the pub-owners who see all these people coming on, who do not drink even a glass of water but use the sanitary (for which the pub-owner pays for the maintenance).

Nobody said they can't spare it...just that they dont want to pay to ****.

Lot's of places manage without a full time bathroom attendant and entry fees. It is just another money making scam like a lot is in this world.

A beer cost 5PLN here.
And I have never seen this in a pub, just public toilets.

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Taken the p1ss by not payin for the p1ss

For once I agree with you and half the time they are not cleaned anyway.

Thats 12% of your beer fund straight down the pisser.

Let's look it at it this way.The old lady who you pay your 1 PLN to, has most likely a pension of 600 PLN or so, has to take a degrading job like this (after a hard life in PRL Poland) in order to be able to survive... and then you think that to pay that 1 PLN is a scandal.

So we should compensate for a shi t system ???

Or you can just avoid the pay toilets as there are always alternatives if you look. In the Warsaw underground there is a pay toilet about 30m from the Zloty Tarasy mall which is full of free toilets which are MUCH cleaner but people line up at the filthy pay one often. Restaurants and malls are good bets for a free loo.

Sure, and you get to do it with... shi t! LOL

Still mystifies me why such a big fuss is made about what is basically peanuts in your weekly budget. If you have to make a *** just do it. If you have to fork out a meagre 1 PLN, so that is too bad and I guess you will survive more or less.

If you want to walk half the city just to avoid that, that is also your choice.
Personally I think it is a very cheapskate attitude, that is all.

It's principle not a financial issue. I am also not sure but I would bet those old ladies only keep half and fork the other half over to the owner who makes a little profit for nothing.

Why not charge for walking on the sidewalk or walking into a shop or looking at the window display?

You are taking something that is free in most places and slapping a tariff on it and it irritates some people.

If I have to pee and it's all there is I pay...but if you can walk 30m for free and have a cleaner bathroom why not? You also arent limited as to how much paper they allow you if you take a dump in the free ones.

It really isnt something I think people worry about all day...just irritating when it comes up and say you don't have change or want a clean toilet (and the paid toilets with attendants are NEVER clean at least in central Warsaw)