Can't help here. Only been to France, and they had flush toilets everywhere I went.
But my wife worked as a long-distance language-assistance operator for a major telecom for quite a while. (She's Okinawan.) She told me a lot of stories about employees who didn't know they weren't supposed to stand on the john and squat over the bowl, so . . .
Once upon a time, somewhere in the middle 80's, I attended the AutoMechanika trade show, which is held every other year in Darmstadt, Germany. Nine huge exhibit halls are used, and some have correspondingly large toidies at the ends.
So there I was, working a urinal that reached to the floor in front of me, when something banged quite smartly into the side of my foot. I looked down and saw the head of a mop as it whacked my shoe a second time. I followed the handle up and met the eyes of a charwoman who, by golly, wanted me to hurry up and get my ass out of the way so she could mop the floor she was nearly causing me to piss on.
That is one of the hardest points to make to folks who have never been out of the States. Within 10 feet of the American border there are people who live in cardboard shanties. Hundreds of millions of people can only dream of the amenities that our poor take for granted.
I have stayed in Parisian hotels that only have only one unisex bathroom per floor. Not a hole in the floor, but also not up to the standards of even a Motel 6. In the Philippines a hotel shower consisted of two kids with buckets full of water heated over an open fire, many places used the trench in the back as the toilette. I have been throughout Asia, Mid and South America and the Caribbean Islands. American poor are blessed in comparison to the rest of the world. This is only one of the facts that make the United States the best country in the world.
Tourists don't always see the whole picture...of course not all pots are pits, but our U.S. expectations are not universal, in the loo or anywhere else.
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JS-Kit/Echo comments for article at http://smallestminority.blogspot.com/2008/09/another-females-take.html (8 comments)
Tentative mapping of comments to original article, corrections solicited.
Well, as much as I agree with the sentiment, I must point out that everywhere I've been in Europe, eastern & western, has flush toilets.
Poorly designed, cheaply built, and barely functional toilets, attended by sandpaper butt wipes, true, but flush toilets nonetheless.
Can't help here. Only been to France, and they had flush toilets everywhere I went.
But my wife worked as a long-distance language-assistance operator for a major telecom for quite a while. (She's Okinawan.) She told me a lot of stories about employees who didn't know they weren't supposed to stand on the john and squat over the bowl, so . . .
Good pull quote.
Once upon a time, somewhere in the middle 80's, I attended the AutoMechanika trade show, which is held every other year in Darmstadt, Germany. Nine huge exhibit halls are used, and some have correspondingly large toidies at the ends.
So there I was, working a urinal that reached to the floor in front of me, when something banged quite smartly into the side of my foot. I looked down and saw the head of a mop as it whacked my shoe a second time. I followed the handle up and met the eyes of a charwoman who, by golly, wanted me to hurry up and get my ass out of the way so she could mop the floor she was nearly causing me to piss on.
Interesing place, Germany ...
That is one of the hardest points to make to folks who have never been out of the States. Within 10 feet of the American border there are people who live in cardboard shanties. Hundreds of millions of people can only dream of the amenities that our poor take for granted.
I have stayed in Parisian hotels that only have only one unisex bathroom per floor. Not a hole in the floor, but also not up to the standards of even a Motel 6. In the Philippines a hotel shower consisted of two kids with buckets full of water heated over an open fire, many places used the trench in the back as the toilette. I have been throughout Asia, Mid and South America and the Caribbean Islands. American poor are blessed in comparison to the rest of the world. This is only one of the facts that make the United States the best country in the world.
Toilets are one thing - but the state of roads is a good indicator of the state of a country as a whole.
Italian roads are closer to the Indoneasin ones than German or British roads...
Thanks so much for the plug!
Tourists don't always see the whole picture...of course not all pots are pits, but our U.S. expectations are not universal, in the loo or anywhere else.
It was an excellent piece. You're welcome!
Note: All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost; references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>