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v9v a day ago

https://restroomarchive.com/r/2026-08-29-grand-army-plaza-au...

> has a countdown timer above warning visitors that the door will auto-open in x amount of time.

A toilet that has a door with a countdown seems like the most stress-inducing thing ever.

waltbosz a day ago | parent | next [-]

The bathroom also has braille text on the signs below the mirror.

I assume one would wash their hands after reading.

stronglikedan 16 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> A toilet that has a door with a countdown seems like the most stress-inducing thing ever.

It would be more stressful to the people who are standing there watching me finish my shit than it would be to me, I guarantee.

xyzelement a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Shit or get off the pot.

Doohickey-d a day ago | parent | prev [-]

It's quite common in Europe. Usually you get 15 minutes which seems fairly generous.

embedding-shape a day ago | parent | next [-]

"Quite common"? I've spent more than 3 decades here, visited most of the countries on the western side, both north and south (although embarrassingly little eastern parts), and have not seen this once in my life. Thinking about it, I haven't seen this anywhere in the world.

looperhacks a day ago | parent | next [-]

You will usually see these in public places that have no other access controls - think in a park, rather than in a restaurant. It's for places that have a high risk of people sleeping in them.

embedding-shape a day ago | parent | next [-]

Yeah, I do visit public bathrooms from time to time, especially in Spain, Germany, France, Denmark and Sweden, and never seen that once anywhere, although I've seen much worse things on single occasions than a timer for the door to open.

aa-jv a day ago | parent [-]

I've seen them in some of the shadier parks in the Netherlands, Italy and Austria. Yppenplatz, Vienna, has a particularly nasty (smelling) one which the countdown clock does very little to obviate.

jakzurr 20 hours ago | parent [-]

A really nasty smell would get me out fast. Can't imagine any use for the timer, unless you're trying to estimate the remaining oxygen.

aa-jv 6 hours ago | parent [-]

The timer is to let the junkie know how much privacy they have left before they can be discovered in the act of shooting up.

amiga386 a day ago | parent | prev [-]

> people sleeping

Junkies' heroin-induced stupor.

keiferski 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The fact that you haven’t been in central or Eastern Europe might be the key.

I haven’t seen an actual countdown timer, but many of the public toilets in Poland have time limits that are displayed on a sign, and announced by the computer voice loudspeaker. Usually it’s 30 minutes though IIRC.

croon a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I'm not going to pile on since there is already a handful of comments stating the same, but I think we can all be guilty of "This thing exists/happens specifically where I and most people I interact with live, so it must be common (in [superset])". It's very good to be mindful of when making assumptions/imprinting generalizations.

Sander_Marechal a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I've been all over Europe and I have never seen this....

brettermeier a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

What, where? Never saw this.

a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]
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yitchelle a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I have seen a couple of them in Cologne.

abcd_f a day ago | parent [-]

... et voilà, we now know where the GP is from :)

easywood a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

"quite common in Europe" oh please. I live there, traveled quite a bit, and have never seen one or heard of one.

a day ago | parent | prev [-]
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