Not all places and towns are so friendly. Many places love money so much that they'll say it's only for paying customers, not any customers.

maybe one of those unpaying customers shat up the walls. you think im being facetious but its surprisingly common in the first world

Or is doing heroin/crack in the bathrooms, which is also more common than people might believe.

Never seen that in a men's bathroom, but apparently women's can be vile.

I have :( Poor guy left his drawers right there on the ground like a lost cause. I almost quit my job but got 100 bucks and a free beer to take care of it.

I thought you were being fecetious

This is usually due to vagrants.

In the US a fast food place or Starbucks is your best bet - easy to find and they don't care.

This is rapidly changing.

Many places are now putting codes on the restroom door that you have to ask for. Whether or not they'll give you the code before buying something varies a lot by location and likely by how much the employee gives a shit.

I did this once in Paris and they told me to pay 2 euros.

Not paying for bathrooms is a distinctly American thing in the Western world. For instance, the McDonalds I used to go to all the time in Sweden actually has a credit card reader on the door.

The story on why it is free is quite interesting, as it used to not be this way in America either: https://psmag.com/economics/dont-pay-toilets-america-bathroo...

British slang for going to the toilet is (or used to be) to "spend a penny" since some public bathrooms required you to put a large pre-decimal penny to open the stall door lock.

I was genuinely shocked to follow signs to a WC in a Brussels train station and find a pay toilet. Stupid thing wouldn't take my CC so when nature calls... I stepped outside the station and was hit with a slap of piss stink. Makes sense! Added my own, what else am I to do?

I loved my time in Brussels but it really was gross how often I'd randomly smell piss.

There are open air urinals in a lot of Europe, including Brussels, so as long as that's what you need (and you're male)... I imagine stations are just so high traffic that it's partly an attempt to limit demand, and partly to fund the almost continual cleaning necessary to prevent them being completely disgusting. Kings Cross is paid too for example (but not (London) Waterloo, curiously).

> limit demand

I mean that's what I find hilarious about trying to do capitalism to toilets. People gonna poop and pee, there's literally nothing you can supply/demand about it. You can't do congestion pricing on a toilet, people will pee either way! You should just make it easy as possible to pee where you want them to pee, or they're gonna pee where you don't want them to pee.

I guess I shouldn't laugh, it exactly the same logic of trying to do capitalism around housing or feeding people...

King's Cross toilets are free, have been for a while. Victoria is free too now. Not sure when they changed. Possibly because of Corona, but maybe for longer.

This depends wildly on where and who you are.

I have a young child, and that is an absolute free pass to nearly any bathroom anywhere. My kid is very cute and charismatic to boot, so I'm half certain I could make our way into Area 51 or the Vatican archives if we found ourselves with a full bladder.