4 ms·

Who makes a mess? People who don’t care, or who hate other people. How do we, as a society, make less of those? By investing in social programs, getting peop

by teddyh 4y ago

Who makes a mess? People who don’t care, or who hate other people. How do we, as a society, make less of those? By investing in social programs, getting people out of poverty and drugs, civic education. Increasing the minimum wage. Eliminating wage theft. UBI. Will any of these work? I don’t know. But this is the way. Not stricter and stricter gatekeeping.

derefr 4y ago
People who have all the privileges in the world still do horrible things to bathrooms. Ask any janitor working in a corporate office building. People who have nothing have no reason to care what others think; but people who have everything, and who never experience consequences for what they do, can be just as detached. Also, if you think about it, this service is fundamentally not meant to serve (or rather, avoid serving) the sorts of people you're picturing. These washrooms likely aren't intended to be placed in low-economic-class areas of cities. Homeless/drug addicts/etc aren't the problem they're intending to filter out. (Why not? Because those groups of people are used to being cronically un-bathroomed, and so have become inured to just finding a corner outside to do their business. See: San Francisco. When things like open port-a-potties are placed in these areas, the homeless ignore those and continue to do what they do.) Instead, I imagine that these bathrooms would be placed in generally bougie areas – the article cited public parks, but I imagine a major case would be "near food trucks in business districts." And the group they're trying to restrict access to, are "rich assholes who think society exists to serve them, and they owe nothing back." Consider, after all, the premise: you scan a QR code on your smartphone in order to get access. Who even has a smartphone with an active data plan? Not homeless people. This service is designed to serve exactly the same target audience as e.g. e-bikes/e-scooter rental services.
- eurasiantiger 4y ago
  ”Who even has a smartphone with an active data plan? Not homeless people” You might be surprised.
  - derefr 4y ago
    I’ve worked in outreach; the average homeless person has a smartphone but can’t afford data, only very basic prepaid call/text only top-up cards. And because they’re frequently losing phones (stolen, damaged by attacker, etc) they can’t keep a stable number, either.
    - pharmakom 4y ago
      Can be solved with a hotspot that only works for the facilities. Alternatively flip it around and the toilet scans your QR - this could even be a bit of paper. Ultra low tech.
samatman 4y ago
Or, people who smear shit on the walls of the loo, lose their shitting privileges. I'm good with that. It seems easier, and more important, it would work, and you're just singing Kumbaya.
- amanaplanacanal 4y ago
  I suspect that people who can’t shit in the loo will instead shit on the sidewalk outside.

by teddyh 4y ago

derefr 4y ago

People who have all the privileges in the world still do horrible things to bathrooms. Ask any janitor working in a corporate office building. People who have nothing have no reason to care what others think; but people who have everything, and who never experience consequences for what they do, can be just as detached. Also, if you think about it, this service is fundamentally not meant to serve (or rather, avoid serving) the sorts of people you're picturing. These washrooms likely aren't intended to be placed in low-economic-class areas of cities. Homeless/drug addicts/etc aren't the problem they're intending to filter out. (Why not? Because those groups of people are used to being cronically un-bathroomed, and so have become inured to just finding a corner outside to do their business. See: San Francisco. When things like open port-a-potties are placed in these areas, the homeless ignore those and continue to do what they do.) Instead, I imagine that these bathrooms would be placed in generally bougie areas – the article cited public parks, but I imagine a major case would be "near food trucks in business districts." And the group they're trying to restrict access to, are "rich assholes who think society exists to serve them, and they owe nothing back." Consider, after all, the premise: you scan a QR code on your smartphone in order to get access. Who even has a smartphone with an active data plan? Not homeless people. This service is designed to serve exactly the same target audience as e.g. e-bikes/e-scooter rental services.

eurasiantiger 4y ago
”Who even has a smartphone with an active data plan? Not homeless people” You might be surprised.
- derefr 4y ago
  I’ve worked in outreach; the average homeless person has a smartphone but can’t afford data, only very basic prepaid call/text only top-up cards. And because they’re frequently losing phones (stolen, damaged by attacker, etc) they can’t keep a stable number, either.
  - pharmakom 4y ago
    Can be solved with a hotspot that only works for the facilities. Alternatively flip it around and the toilet scans your QR - this could even be a bit of paper. Ultra low tech.

samatman 4y ago

Or, people who smear shit on the walls of the loo, lose their shitting privileges. I'm good with that. It seems easier, and more important, it would work, and you're just singing Kumbaya.

amanaplanacanal 4y ago
I suspect that people who can’t shit in the loo will instead shit on the sidewalk outside.