I'm not op. I've been in public restrooms smeared with faeces.
“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
It's not philosophy - I did no philosophizing. I am describing many years of experience.
You should look up the meaning of that quote.
As someone who worked in food service in a major city, we 100% had a homeless person who came in and destroyed the bathroom multiple times. Everyone who worked there knew him and felt bad for the guy, but we had to ask him to leave when we saw him come in because he would do things like what the other commenter described.
Do you see the irony?
Because someone cleaned it up before you saw it? I worked at Seattle’s 3rd and Pine McDonald’s back in the mid 90s (if you live in Seattle, you know the place). We had lots of unhoused neighbors coming in doing really horrible things to our bathrooms. When someone reportedly all we could do was put our bathroom out of order until someone (like me) could clean it up.
Unmonitored public bathrooms simply don’t exist in downtown Seattle because they can’t be maintained without someone to constantly clean them and lock them up if things get too bad.
Lots of other crazy things happened at that place. Seriously, anyone who doesn’t understand homelessness should try working at a fast food restaurant in the downtown of a big city. But it never got boring there, and the coworkers (mostly Filipino) were all cool to work with.
> anyone who doesn’t understand homelessness
Perhaps we just have different experiences, and we both 'don't understand' some things?
IME it's the reverse: if you aren't from those areas, it's easier to believe the negative hype. The people most terrified of cities don't live in them - the less contact they have, the more they believe these things. A very recent survey showed how Republicans, who are rare among urban residents, have by far the most concerns about cities. It was the NYC suburbs that voted Republican because of concern about crime - in the city where they don't live (and where people voted Democratic). It's easier to believe these crazy stories if you aren't there, about the 'other'.
Now I'm in cities that are, in places absurdly safe. Downtowns filled with people who are going about their days, not a care in the world. Yet I hear suburbanties say they are afraid to come downtown. It's laughable. And then I turn on cable TV or HN and read how dangerous it is, how crazy homeless people are - places I am and people I talk to daily.
It's like standing in the sunshine and hearing people insist that it's raining here. It's that absurd. I don't doubt others have different personal experiences, and I'm glad to read about them - the speculative, uninformed BS, not so much.
When you say "I figured", do you mean it is a complete fabrication, something that exists only in your mind? What should we take from that?
I've lived and spent my time in major cities most of my life. I've used many public urban bathrooms. Like many things in cities, they are used much more heavily and often are less clean. Some have been disgusting in places, but I've never seen what you imagine.
> some homeless
What does that mean? Are you saying you think all homeless people are essentially people who might do what is in your head? I interact with lots of people who appear to lack homes (I wouldn't know without asking), daily or a bit less. They are just people, just like you are people; they might express similar extreme stereotypes or imagine crazy things about some group; they might be just about anything or anyone.
If you really imagine these things, try talking to people. Just like every other stereotyped group, you'll find out they are just human beings (which are social animals).
EDIT: edited quite a bit