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Yeah, I lived in the Tendernob neighborhood of SF for almost 10 years. I’d always pass by a lot of what you’re talking about... - At one point I did a lot of

Yeah, I lived in the Tendernob neighborhood of SF for almost 10 years. I’d always pass by a lot of what you’re talking about... - At one point I did a lot of walking there and to keep myself entertained I started tracking PPM (poops per mile) - one day I walked by a woman peeing between two cars, and she noticed me & apologized. Later I walked back that same route and saw her again. She thanked me for not yelling at her, as she had no where else to go :( - one day while walking to work, a guy facing away from me pulled down his pants and leaned over. I had to dodge what he launched out the backside. It was maybe the most disgusting thing I’d ever seen. - I gave a beer to a homeless guy, and he chugged it & threw the can into the street. I asked him why he didn’t put it in the trash can right next to us, and he explained that he didn’t want the tiny Asian women who forage for recyclables to get stabbed by the needles in the trash cans, and that one of them would be along to get the can shortly. Sure enough, less than 5 minutes later, a woman pushing a shopping cart full of cans walked by, picked up the beer can, and continued on.

nomel 5y ago
I've peed in a bush in SF. I didn't want to, but that's what happens when you have humans with bladders and zero public restrooms. I tried to not pee in the bush. I asked around, went to a few grab and go restaurants, a gas station, but none had a public bathroom. My only option was to wait in line and pay cover to get into a bar, wait in line at the high end restaurants in the area, drive across town to Denny's for a cheaper pee, or drive 45 minutes to a saner city. I peed all over that bush, with a grin, as a fuck you to the idiocy of whoever decided to force me, and everyone else, to do it.
- devoutsalsa 5y ago
  My trick is to walk into a random shop, drop some change in the tip jar, and then ask to use the restroom. I’ve never been turned down. Sure, I don’t want to pay to pee, but they have to clean it at their own expense, so I don’t mind chipping in.
  - plank_time 5y ago
    Hotels, hospitals and restaurants with long waiting lines.
- narrator 5y ago
  The S.F bathroom problem is that heroin addicts go into bathrooms, they lock the door, they pass out, and die or have a psychotic break and break everything they can or smear shit all over the walls and then the store is liable for the wrongful death or they have to clean it up.
  - sneak 5y ago
    The bathroom problem is because there is a ban on charging for toilets, nothing more, nothing less. Most businesses would be happy to have another (minor) profit center, and most people would be happy to pay. There used to be lots available for a small fee. Instead, we get no public toilets at all because it is illegal to charge, and businesses decline to operate them at a loss. Your description is of the symptom, not the cause. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_to_End_Pay_Toilets_in_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_to_End_Pay_Toilets_i...
    - narrator 5y ago
      If they had a charge for using the toilets, that would keep severely mentally ill homeless people and junkies from using them, so you are partially right.
      - sneak 5y ago
        ...just as they are kept from using them now, along with everyone else, too.
        devoutsalsa 5y ago
        True. In fact... An elderly woman got evicted from the Tendernob apartment building that I lived in. Every night around 5p, she’d walk into the building, right past security, and into the bathroom. She’d lock the door and spend the entire night in there.
    - yesenadam 5y ago
      Australia here, Sydney. I would have assumed free public toilets are a government service, like they are here, in parks and train stations and dotted through the inner city on main streets. Are there no public toilets in the US?
- Qem 5y ago
  Holy Mother, the US put men in the moon but couldn't build some public toilets and now their streets are minefields? Now a small step for man can be just a big mess to clean later.
  - kodah 5y ago
    Calling this "the US" is incorrect. SF is not "the US" and hardly reflects the country in most ways, though carries a ridiculous amount of influence.
hitekker 5y ago
> - I gave a beer to a homeless guy, and he chugged it & threw the can into the street. I asked him why he didn’t put it in the trash can right next to us, and he explained that he didn’t want the tiny Asian women who forage for recyclables to get stabbed by the needles in the trash cans, and that one of them would be along to get the can shortly. Sure enough, less than 5 minutes later, a woman pushing a shopping cart full of cans walked by, picked up the beer can, and continued on. There's something unsettling about this story that I can't quite put my finger on.
- Rebelgecko 5y ago
  Like why didn't he just leave the can next to the trash can? I've saw trash cans in Germany with bottles ringed around them and was told that it was to make it easier for people that collected the deposits.
  - smegger001 5y ago
    If there are that many needles it sounds like more needle disposal receptacle are needed
- EForEndeavour 5y ago
  For me, it's all about the jarring contrasts in a fleeting encounter between distant social classes. The guy's homeless along with thousands of others in one of the richest and most technologically advanced regions of one of the world's richest countries. Actively throwing litter into the street comes off as antisocial, until it's revealed to be motivated by empathy for his fellow destitute community members. That woman spends her waking hours collecting empty cans and avoiding needle-stick injuries on the streets of a city in which other people who aren't so different from her spend their time rearranging electrons in very specific ways that entitle them to safe and secure housing, as well as food, drink, and information imported into their homes from across the world.
Balgair 5y ago
Friend of the family was on her way to her HS Prom at City Hall at night with a few friends. Dressed to the nines, going to have a great time under the rotunda with her class. A homeless guy came up to her and put something wet on her arm, directly in front of city hall. It was a lot of acid. She spent the next few days in the hospital recovering/surviving a very bad trip. She still deals with flashbacks, years later and doesn't go out at night. It was an assault, not violent, but much worse all the same. It used to be just a 'don't go out after sundown' thing in SF. But now it's pretty much all hours of the day anywhere near Civic Center for women.
- filoleg 5y ago
  This sounds so implausible, I don't even know where to start. First, LSD isn't the kind of a drug homeless people usually do. It has no addictive potential, and it doesn't give you a high. It isn't a "fun" drug, as opposed to the typical heroin/meth/etc. stuff those people do. Second, LSD is usually distributed in the form of paper tabs. Why would they be wet? Third, getting high from just skin contact, especially on your arm, is something I cannot find as possible after some googling. The only skin-contact-related use case I've found online is some people putting it on their eyes for faster absorption, but it is not the same as arm skin at all. I am not accusing you of lying, I honestly believe that you are telling the story you were told by the friend of the family exactly as is. But I have a feeling that the reality was a bit different from what you have described, and I bet I can guess what it was. My theory: she went to prom, did acid for the first time with her friends there, it ended up being too much and too intense, she got hospitalized, and then she made up that story for her parents. After all, who is gonna be able to track down and find a random non-descript homeless person?
  - Balgair 5y ago
    > This sounds so implausible, I don't even know where to start. Perhaps you should not have then. I'm not lying, she's not either. Comments like these are why women find it hard talk about their assaults; they are not believed, mostly just accused. Thanks for the comment.

nomel 5y ago

I've peed in a bush in SF. I didn't want to, but that's what happens when you have humans with bladders and zero public restrooms. I tried to not pee in the bush. I asked around, went to a few grab and go restaurants, a gas station, but none had a public bathroom. My only option was to wait in line and pay cover to get into a bar, wait in line at the high end restaurants in the area, drive across town to Denny's for a cheaper pee, or drive 45 minutes to a saner city. I peed all over that bush, with a grin, as a fuck you to the idiocy of whoever decided to force me, and everyone else, to do it.

devoutsalsa 5y ago
My trick is to walk into a random shop, drop some change in the tip jar, and then ask to use the restroom. I’ve never been turned down. Sure, I don’t want to pay to pee, but they have to clean it at their own expense, so I don’t mind chipping in.
- plank_time 5y ago
  Hotels, hospitals and restaurants with long waiting lines.
narrator 5y ago
The S.F bathroom problem is that heroin addicts go into bathrooms, they lock the door, they pass out, and die or have a psychotic break and break everything they can or smear shit all over the walls and then the store is liable for the wrongful death or they have to clean it up.
- sneak 5y ago
  The bathroom problem is because there is a ban on charging for toilets, nothing more, nothing less. Most businesses would be happy to have another (minor) profit center, and most people would be happy to pay. There used to be lots available for a small fee. Instead, we get no public toilets at all because it is illegal to charge, and businesses decline to operate them at a loss. Your description is of the symptom, not the cause. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_to_End_Pay_Toilets_in_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_to_End_Pay_Toilets_i...
  - narrator 5y ago
    If they had a charge for using the toilets, that would keep severely mentally ill homeless people and junkies from using them, so you are partially right.
    - sneak 5y ago
      ...just as they are kept from using them now, along with everyone else, too.
      - devoutsalsa 5y ago
        True. In fact... An elderly woman got evicted from the Tendernob apartment building that I lived in. Every night around 5p, she’d walk into the building, right past security, and into the bathroom. She’d lock the door and spend the entire night in there.
  - yesenadam 5y ago
    Australia here, Sydney. I would have assumed free public toilets are a government service, like they are here, in parks and train stations and dotted through the inner city on main streets. Are there no public toilets in the US?
Qem 5y ago
Holy Mother, the US put men in the moon but couldn't build some public toilets and now their streets are minefields? Now a small step for man can be just a big mess to clean later.
- kodah 5y ago
  Calling this "the US" is incorrect. SF is not "the US" and hardly reflects the country in most ways, though carries a ridiculous amount of influence.

hitekker 5y ago

> - I gave a beer to a homeless guy, and he chugged it & threw the can into the street. I asked him why he didn’t put it in the trash can right next to us, and he explained that he didn’t want the tiny Asian women who forage for recyclables to get stabbed by the needles in the trash cans, and that one of them would be along to get the can shortly. Sure enough, less than 5 minutes later, a woman pushing a shopping cart full of cans walked by, picked up the beer can, and continued on. There's something unsettling about this story that I can't quite put my finger on.

Rebelgecko 5y ago
Like why didn't he just leave the can next to the trash can? I've saw trash cans in Germany with bottles ringed around them and was told that it was to make it easier for people that collected the deposits.
- smegger001 5y ago
  If there are that many needles it sounds like more needle disposal receptacle are needed
EForEndeavour 5y ago
For me, it's all about the jarring contrasts in a fleeting encounter between distant social classes. The guy's homeless along with thousands of others in one of the richest and most technologically advanced regions of one of the world's richest countries. Actively throwing litter into the street comes off as antisocial, until it's revealed to be motivated by empathy for his fellow destitute community members. That woman spends her waking hours collecting empty cans and avoiding needle-stick injuries on the streets of a city in which other people who aren't so different from her spend their time rearranging electrons in very specific ways that entitle them to safe and secure housing, as well as food, drink, and information imported into their homes from across the world.

Balgair 5y ago

Friend of the family was on her way to her HS Prom at City Hall at night with a few friends. Dressed to the nines, going to have a great time under the rotunda with her class. A homeless guy came up to her and put something wet on her arm, directly in front of city hall. It was a lot of acid. She spent the next few days in the hospital recovering/surviving a very bad trip. She still deals with flashbacks, years later and doesn't go out at night. It was an assault, not violent, but much worse all the same. It used to be just a 'don't go out after sundown' thing in SF. But now it's pretty much all hours of the day anywhere near Civic Center for women.

filoleg 5y ago
This sounds so implausible, I don't even know where to start. First, LSD isn't the kind of a drug homeless people usually do. It has no addictive potential, and it doesn't give you a high. It isn't a "fun" drug, as opposed to the typical heroin/meth/etc. stuff those people do. Second, LSD is usually distributed in the form of paper tabs. Why would they be wet? Third, getting high from just skin contact, especially on your arm, is something I cannot find as possible after some googling. The only skin-contact-related use case I've found online is some people putting it on their eyes for faster absorption, but it is not the same as arm skin at all. I am not accusing you of lying, I honestly believe that you are telling the story you were told by the friend of the family exactly as is. But I have a feeling that the reality was a bit different from what you have described, and I bet I can guess what it was. My theory: she went to prom, did acid for the first time with her friends there, it ended up being too much and too intense, she got hospitalized, and then she made up that story for her parents. After all, who is gonna be able to track down and find a random non-descript homeless person?
- Balgair 5y ago
  > This sounds so implausible, I don't even know where to start. Perhaps you should not have then. I'm not lying, she's not either. Comments like these are why women find it hard talk about their assaults; they are not believed, mostly just accused. Thanks for the comment.