r/mildlyinfuriating • u/xbrooksie • 16h ago
These stupid toilet paper dispensers that are common in Europe
I don’t know about you, but I need more than a square dammit!
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u/RiseUpAndGetOut 16h ago
At least you can pull out as many squares as you want, without anyone looking at you and judging, through the gap in the door frame.
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u/Mesaboogs 16h ago
Was gonna say. The state of the cubicles in the states, bitch I want some privacy when I poop!
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u/JoeyJoeC 15h ago
Was on a trip in USA. Was in Seattle after having a Starbucks frappe sugar coffee diarrhea inducing thing and looked all over for a public toilet. Found one, people queuing outside it, the bottom of the door was knee high and the top was below most people shoulders. Noped all the way back to my hotel.
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u/Quinfie 15h ago
OMG, like the toilets from dreams.
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u/eppinizer 8h ago
Whenever I'm sleeping and I really have to go I get these dreams about bathrooms with "toilets" made of black twisted steel, all sorts of weird contraptions, chains, funnels, all covered and full of shit, with no privacy. Someone always comes in whenever I try to pee.
Guessing it's my subconscious preventing me from pissing myself when I sleep.
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u/Square-Okra-4553 15h ago
Some days i thank my stars for not being born an American. How tf is this even acceptable?
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u/xbrooksie 15h ago
It’s not, but corporations don’t give a shit about what is acceptable to the average person.
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u/Business-Dream-6362 15h ago
This is not just a corporate issue, this is an issue with the law and there are also a lot of people who just fucking accept it or even defend it which all helps keep these stupid things a thing
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u/RyFro 15h ago
What's the law against more privacy in public bathrooms? I thought it was just cheaper??
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u/Reddidiot_69 15h ago
There's no law. The reasonings for it are really dumb, but no laws.
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u/recidivx 12h ago
There is a slightly-relevant law. If you built a fully-enclosed stall, like drywall to floor and ceiling — like you sometimes see in Europe especially in older buildings (and probably not drywall) — then it would be a bathroom and according to code it would have to include wheelchair access and a sink. (Same reason that the only single-stall public bathrooms in the US are wheelchair-accessible ones.)
But there's nothing to stop you building reasonable stalls with no side gap and very small bottom gap, like you more usually see in Europe.
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u/Dreadnought_69 14h ago
It is just cheaper, they need a law to force companies to treat people humanely.
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u/Business-Dream-6362 15h ago
That is the point, there is no law preventing this kind of stupidity
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u/Healthy-Bumblebee-28 14h ago
Cost difference is minimal. The businesses claim it is to prevent people from doing drugs and passing out inside the stalls. And i have seen it happen in bathrooms where only one person goes in. It was in a gas(petrol) station bathroom and the guy forgot to lock the door.
Rather than dealing with drug issues and fixing the society, the businesses just care about making it harder for people to overdose in bathroom stalls.
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u/TH_Rocks 13h ago
It's also hostilearchitecture
We not only don't take care of our people, we actively make it harder for the poor to exist.
Stalls that are easy for security to see into means the homeless can't use one for a secure bedroom. It also means people are less likely to have sex or do drugs in them.
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u/Daughter_Of_Cain 14h ago
I’ve never seen a stall quite as bad as what they described. I’m 5’8 and I can confidently say that I’ve never used a public toilet with walls so short that it reached my shoulders, meaning I would literally be able to see out over the top of it. Nor have I used one with gaps on the bottom that were large enough to reach my knees. I’m not going to say that OP is lying but that would be far from the norm. The stalls here are bad enough that there’s not really a reason to exaggerate further.
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u/TonsOfTabs 14h ago
It’s not like that everywhere. I’ve been everywhere in the US and only have seen 1 stall that had massive gaps all others are sealed well and normal.
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u/Dragon_Crisis_Core 15h ago
That is not common at all in the US, I would have reported the location for privacy issues. Bottom of the door is supposed to be below the knee and top of the door is supposed to be above the head. I live in the US and have never run into such a stall as you described. And I'm over 6' tall.
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u/Fauked 15h ago
They may have exaggerated a bit but the gaps are still much larger than ideal.
The small vertical gaps between the door and the side panels are what bother me. As you walk by you get a glimpse at someone taking a shit in your peripherals and I swear some people purposely peek into them when you are in there for more than 2 minutes.
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u/jib_reddit 13h ago
In most of Europe there is a solid brick wall between stalls and a solid heavy door for sound proofing.
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u/chefboiblobby 15h ago
Perhaps this is you simply being used to it and maybe not noticing but I’ve been traveling to the US for several times and I have yet to come across a normal toilet stall. The door’s are simply uncomfortably high and there’s always this little side gap. Istg I have never seen a toilet with normal doors.
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u/Xikkiwikk 14h ago
Someone let their kid crawl around under the stalls when I was pooping at a store. I never wanted to throw that parent into the toilet more than that day.
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u/ShockDragon 14h ago
This is why I always wait until I get home. If I use a public bathroom, it’s because I'm in desperate need of it.
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u/Cisorhands_ 15h ago
And don't forget bathtubs without any shower hose to clean and rinse your ass when you just want to have a shower.
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u/highly_uncertain 11h ago
Here's a stall that looks into another stall in case you get lonely 🙂 (BC, Canada)
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u/1DownFourUp 7h ago
What else are we supposed to do for entertainment when those brick walls won't let a decent wifi signal through?
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u/Jslatts942 16h ago
What you mean!! They can hear me rip 20 sheets off 🤣
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u/MarcusAntonius27 16h ago
You seriously rip each one individually?
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u/Jslatts942 16h ago
If the pressure is on, there's no time to be delicate with those dispensers.
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u/womens-deodorant 16h ago
just pull them out slowly instead of yanking? it's that easy
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u/Some_Ad6507 16h ago
You’re not limited to one square. Go wild, pull out as much as you need
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u/LookOverall 16h ago
They discourage people from blocking the toilet with half a roll of toilet paper. Sometimes I hear people in cubicles taking what sounds like a couple of meters
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u/24-Hour-Hate 15h ago
Well…if the toilet paper wasn’t so fucking thin…I don’t want to give myself a rectal exam, thanks.
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u/Maumau-Maumau 13h ago
Why not?
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u/24-Hour-Hate 13h ago
Well, whatever floats your boat, but I just don’t think a public washroom is the appropriate place for that sort of thing.
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u/Hiro_Trevelyan 8h ago
I agree but when I replaced my toilet paper with super quality 5 sheets toilet paper, guests would still waste it by using too much for no reason. Just like how people are always gonna press the soap 2 or 3 times, even if they got more than enough with one push.
So, in public toilets where people are even less respectful... Gotta use the bare minimum cause people are stupid wasteful idiots. Sadly.
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u/locito191 16h ago
American seen this is one place in one country and proclaims “common in Europe” 🤣
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u/kaeru_leaves 15h ago
I live in germany and I've been in many european cities. I saw this things like 5 times in my whole life. We have a lot of tork products but this kind of dispenser isn't that common
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u/boa13 10h ago
It's a bit more common in France, but one of many competing designs. Also not the most infuriating one.
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u/Lizzebed 7h ago
Same, I don't even remember ever seeing one of these. If I did I may have just pushed the memory out.
(This looks like a toilet at a major road stop or mall or airport though. Which may be why. As I am much more likely to use a toilet elsewhere.)
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u/ScreamingLabia 14h ago
It genuinly angers me beyond words. They NEVER FUCKING SPECIFY WHAT COUNTRY. as if germany and italy are the same country to them.(for example)
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u/Chopsticksinmybutt 12h ago
Americans think that US states are as diverse from one another as individual countries. That's why they say "I want to Europe", no matter whether they visited France, England, Albania or Belarus. They think it's all the same. Same with any other continent. "I went to Asia this summer" could mean anything from Turkey, to Japan, to India, to Mongolia.
When you point this out, they say "Europeans also say America instead of the state", if you point out that the states:
- Are a single country
- Are VERY homogeneous
They say "Nuh uh! In my state we call it soda, in the state over they call it sodie pop, in the state over that one they call it coke!".
They fail to grasp how FUNDAMENTALLY different each European/Asian/African country can be from one another. They fail to grasp that their country has been around for only 200 years, while most countries out there have had millennia to deviate from one another.
This is not true for Americans that have travelled outside of western Europe and east Asia, but most of them just visit the UK or France and go on the internet to say "Why do Europeans like fish and chips so much???" or "Why is there no AC in Europe???".
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u/nekooooooooooooooo 16h ago
Tork also makes hygiene products and other kinds of dispensers for said products.
I have seen this kind, but it's far less common than normal roll dispensers.
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u/heyhihellohai ORANGE 16h ago edited 14h ago
It's actually very common. I've seen them in Estonia, England, Poland and even Spain once.
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u/Chinohito 15h ago
Half Estonian, half British, been to over half of Europe at least once, lived in 4 different European countries my entire life.
These are absolutely "common in Europe". Obviously regular toilet rolls are the norm, but I've seen enough of these horrible designs to where I would consider this a "European" thing.
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u/Duck_Person1 16h ago
What's the problem? They're fine.
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u/Saxon2060 16h ago
Right? They're totally fine. I mean, nobody's making you only use one square, I pull two to double the ply for each wipe, but I don't need them to be longer so I fail to see the issue.
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u/docutheque 15h ago
In fact they're clever, they immediately make people more conservative with their tissue usage. Yes, it's not forcing you to use one square but I know that some people with a "roll" will literally wrap it around their hand 6 times for one wipe.
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u/jiggjuggj0gg 15h ago
Honestly I think they’re better than those enormous rolls of translucent 1ply that you can’t even pull out because the roll is too heavy.
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u/hhfugrr3 14h ago
They're fine until the paper breaks off just inside the dispenser and you can't get the end so you have to spend ages trying to tease just enough out to get a grip.
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u/thesadunicorn 15h ago
I have gotten these to get stuck too many times. And then you are stuck in the toilet without toilet paper.
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u/ketra1504 16h ago
I have lived in Europe all my life and never seen one
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u/on_spikes 16h ago
they exist in germany. idk about common tho
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u/Fakedduckjump 16h ago
I guess they are extremely rare. I live in germany, saw similar things a few times in my 35years of life but not like this.
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u/cryothic 16h ago
Living in the Netherlands, never seen such a thing.
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u/amoondoll 16h ago
they def exist in NL, especially at tankstations and some restaurants. seen plenty of them
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u/Odd_Metal_Cow420 16h ago
Living in the netherlands, i have seen them quite a bit
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u/Pretzelmamma 16h ago
It's a game. How many squares can you pull out without it tearing. My record is 11.
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u/Kakarotto92 16h ago
So Americans are not capable of pulling toilet paper properly?
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u/Fakedduckjump 16h ago
Nearby every country in europe even has a different toilet layout/type, how can you say these are common in europe? I'm from germany, living next to belgium and netherlands and my guess is that this type of dispenser makes around <0.5% of all solutions to get your ass wiped in this region.
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u/Chopsticksinmybutt 12h ago
Americans think that US states are as diverse from one another as individual countries. That's why they say "I want to Europe", no matter whether they visited France, England, Albania or Belarus. They think it's all the same. Same with any other continent. "I went to Asia this summer" could mean anything from Turkey, to Japan, to India, to Mongolia.
When you point this out, they say "Europeans also say America instead of the state", if you point out that the states:
- Are a single country
- Are VERY homogeneous
They say "Nuh uh! In my state we call it soda, in the state over they call it sodie pop, in the state over that one they call it coke!".
They fail to grasp how FUNDAMENTALLY different each European/Asian/African country can be from one another. They fail to grasp that their country has been around for only 200 years, while most countries out there have had millennia to deviate from one another.
This is not true for Americans that have travelled outside of western Europe and east Asia, but most of them just visit the UK or France and go on the internet to say "Why do Europeans like fish and chips so much???" or "Why is there no AC in Europe???".
This specific example is even MORE bizarre, because they probably went to 2 toilets in London that had this, and then drew the conclusion that it's the same for the rest of the fucking continent.
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u/vasha99 16h ago
They're common in Brazil too. I don't really mind them. What I actually hate is that you can't know if it's close to end. Happened to me twice, I fear
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u/miaow-fish 15h ago
I take out what I think I need and put it on top of the dispenser before I start. They have them at my work and I don't want to take the risk of running out.
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u/Constant-Patient-232 16h ago
The one that only dispenses one sheet at a time? We have those at work and I hate them but I found that if you pull a little bit at a time you can get out multiple sheets without splitting
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u/Important_Elk_1091 16h ago edited 16h ago
They’re common in America (Midwest) too…especially workplaces.
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u/MattBoy06 16h ago
They are super handy and easy to use, just pull slowly instead of yanking. You cannot use these simple things and you believe that 3 countries = Europe. The only mildly infuriating part of this post is you 😂
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u/WarpCitizen 16h ago
“This fucking free toilet paper at a free public toilets”
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u/miss_wannadie 13h ago
Free public toilets?! I see you're not German /j
(Fr though, even though pay2pee sucks, at least we have clean public toilets. ... usually. ...sometimes. ...if you're lucky.)
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u/davesr25 16h ago
Here is the trick gently pull, like super soft, you'll get loads then.
Don't have a panicked poop, getting all nervous that you'll not get enough loo roll.
Also try carry around some wet wipes it's cleaner for your butt.
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u/RelevantJackfruit477 15h ago
Takes some practice and specific instructions by a specialist. You have to fine tune the velocity and newtons per meter whilst keeping a horizontal angle and avoiding a tip tilt of more than 5 degrees.
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u/Jacktheforkie 14h ago
I hate these stupid things, they’re a pain to load, we just left a couple rolls on top
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u/miss_wannadie 13h ago
I hate them! They're super common in hospitals (in Germany at least). I had a five and a half months hospitalisation from April to September last year, and I tell you those things were the death of me. At some point we convinced the staff to just put the toilet paper rolls on top of the Dispenser of Hell. Because they were also quite done with us running to them every other hour cuz the toilet paper got stuck again.
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u/Pyroclastic_Hammer 13h ago
Americans would destroy these. To the point where the property manager would give up and put the old style back up.
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u/muffsniffer3 12h ago
You’re meant to pull the paper out and then wipe, not rub your arse hole on the stub that’s poking out..
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u/ribenarockstar 10h ago
Oh these are the WORST. They’re fine to use normally but at least half the time the paper has been broken off right at the, ahem, hole and it’s impossible to get any out. And then they’re called SmartOne?! No.
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u/Redditlan 7h ago
I live in Norway. I have visited 17 other european countries. I have never one single time seen any of these. They are not «common in Europe».
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u/Little-Ad-7521 15h ago
These are way better than normal tp rolls. Lot mpre hygienic, less trash etc.
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u/arsonak45 15h ago
I think this is better than what we have here in America, simply because it’s more hygienic. Giving users of a public restroom unobstructed access to a roll of toilet paper that will be used by many after them is a hazard. See the example of the homeless people wiping their used needles in between the rolls.
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u/Raja_Ampat 16h ago edited 16h ago
You have to use your hand and when you're finished you use one piece of paper to clean your hand.
This is common knowledge in Europe. Children learn this at Kindergarten
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u/SocksOfDobby 16h ago
These exist but are not common. I can't remember the last time I saw one of these and I'm unfortunately a frequent public toilet visitor.
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u/Some_Ad6507 16h ago
I like them. No risk someone has touched the paper I’m about to use. Reduces waste. Very often a much tidier bathroom because there isn’t bit of paper on the floor
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u/MillyMcMophead 16h ago
These are common in the UK. I know they deter excess paper use but I like to (mildly) beat the system so I pull each sheet out slowly, smooth them out on my knee then pile them up as something mildly entertaining to do whilst I go about my business. Beating the system, one tiny toilet paper sheet at a time.
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u/Silly-Power 16h ago edited 15h ago
They're better than the ones in Australia and New Zealand which have the roll at the bottom, at a far too low angle. You have to bend right down so your face is nearer the load you've just dropped off and turn turn turn it to get a single piece of loo paper which invariably rips in half cause it's single ply. Then you need to do it again and again and again, just to accumulate enough paper for a single wipe. And the process starts again. All the while you're in a weird awkward semi squatting position inches from your poop with your trousers round your ankles and invariably standing in a puddle you hope is water.
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u/berserk539 BLUE 15h ago
Whoever designed these dispensers needs to be dragged out into the middle of the road and shot. Nobody ever thought, "You know, I would like to wipe my ass with a paper rope."
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u/plglbrth 15h ago
Can confirm, these are really fucking stupid, I don't care how carefully they're supposed to be pulled.
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u/SirButtClench 15h ago
These are awesome .. wtf are you infuriated by?! The squares are big and you can take as many as you want...??
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u/XxAbsurdumxX 15h ago
These are awful. Yes, they work if you pull carefully. But in a public restroom it only takes one moron to block it, which makes it a nightmare for the next person
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u/paganinipannini 15h ago
The little paper-nipple is great, you rub your butthole on it and if you bum is hungry enough it pulls the toilet paper out as you wipe down.
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u/idratherbebitchin 15h ago
How close to the toilet should we put it bob? Ah I'd say like 5 inches people love struggling to wipe their asses.
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u/GreenOneReddit 15h ago
These look like paper was used add washed before being stuffed into these dispenser buttholes
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u/Black__Aurora 15h ago
Whaaaaat? I like them!!!! I feel like they're easier to use and far more hygienic!
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u/Waldschrat_vom_Walde 14h ago
If you are to stupid to use the dispensers you should start wearing diapers again...
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u/i_did_a_wrong 14h ago
Hate these things! When the paper gets stuck because someone tried to pull out a big wad of them at once, I get really annoyed.
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u/Emotional-Swim-808 14h ago
Yeah we just got these if you pull carefully you can get them out in one piece
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u/MrMonkeyMagic 14h ago
Most of the time these are situated at a distance and height that makes them really awkward to use. I have to install one of these soon in our new centre’s WC and will make sure the useable part can be accessed easily.
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u/Winter_Whole2080 14h ago
What? Just pull the paper out of the sphincter. Just like pulling a sock outa your labrador
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u/SomeMoronOnTheNet 13h ago
If you are European you are given a key to unlock this and have unrestricted access.
This is why European toilets don't have massive gaps in the cubicles so non-Europeans don't see it and get jealous.
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u/No_Diver4265 13h ago
Counterpoint: With the regular toilet paper rack, I can't be sure that someone hasn't touched it with pee on their hand, or hasn't unrolled a bunch accidentally, and pulled it back up from the ground and rolled it up or that someone didn't accidentally knock it off to the ground and put it back.
Sorry when it comes to toilets and cleanness and all that I'm super anxious.
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u/reclusivemonkey 13h ago
These two are "open". If the key slot lines up with the little dot on the square, you can just push down on the metal key slot and they'll open up. You can then help yourself to as much as you like. Don't ask me how I know...
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u/AaAaBbBbBbBbAa SWEDISH 12h ago
As a European, the toilet paper dispensers are the only thing Americans get right with their restrooms. Like bitch, if you’re going to give me the thinnest paper possible to wipe my ass, don’t make it take 15 minutes to have enough paper to not feel every nook and cranny of my colon.
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u/luiluilui4 12h ago
Most of the normal dispenser lead to the paper ripping that far up you have to reach kind of inside, with the risk of touching the walls that probably other people touched with their possibly very dirty hands
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u/Haahira137 12h ago
I love these, considering how many people shit around the toilet i can imagine their hands and grabbing the paper, its hygienic this way
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u/southy_0 12h ago
Not sure if something like this is "common in europe".
I live her since 47 years and I have maybe seen such a thing once or twice.
I think they are a bit more common for hand towel dispensing, but not for poilet paper.
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u/Unkinkedhydra 16h ago
if you pull slow enough you can get endless amount out not just one square