Pisoar or Kabina?

The lady glarred angrily at me as she waved the small Czech bill I had handed her. She was speaking rapidly and loudly in Czech as she pointed to the sign beside her. It read: “Kabina - 6 Krona/ Pisoár - 4 Krona.” She wanted to know what I was going to do - now! I didn’t know what to say. I could guess, though. I pointed to “Pisoár” and she sighed and slapped my change down on a tin plate on the counter in front of her. I scooped it up and walked into the toilet.

Most public toilets in Europe are boringly similar to those in America. So are many in large cities in Asia. But there are surprises here and there. Take the Czech Republic, for example.

In some of them, especially in train and bus stations, as you enter you have to explain to the woman who sits at the entrance to the toilet whether you want to pay for a kabina, which costs 6 krona, or a pisoár which is only 4 krona. (How much is two kronas? About 8¢ in 2005 US dollars.) For 6 krona, to go with your kabina, the lady will hand you a small, folded strip of toilet paper which is about 6 to 8 squares long. (And these are small squares: 3.25 inches wide) For a pisoár, and only 4 krona, she will simply take your money, glare at you and gesture for you to enter.

Also, I heard people in the stalls knocking on the door, and someone would open the stall door, and let them out. Apparently when you went in, you were locked in there until let out by one of the staff. If you try to cheat them out of two kronas they will get their money back. Probably the EU fire codes will have something to say about this practice over the next few years.

And they have other safeguards, too. At the train station in Pilzen, the woman who had taken our money, came in to check us out, me and the guy standing next to me at the two urinals, just to make sure we were not cheating her.

When you are staying in a country like this, you learn to leave your hotel room in the morning with some toilet paper folded up in your bag as insurance. If you forget, and want to purchase a pisoár, go ahead but buy a kabina then pocket the 6 to 8 squares as insurance later in the day. But don’t try then to buy a pisoár and do a kabina, or you may not ever get out!

I did go in a toilet in the Prague bus station and paid for a pisoár, then found only 2 urinals in the whole place. They were in use and about 5 men were waiting for their turn. A stall was open, and I went in to use it, like I would do back in the states. The door closed behind me, and when I was ready to leave, the handle came off in my hand! The door would not open and I was captured! I knocked on the door and someone opened it for me and stood in the way. I walked past him and said “Thanks!” with a chuckle. He followed behind me and was shouting at me. Then he tried to prevent my leaving the toilet but I moved him aside and said “Thank you!” Later I realized he must have worked there and wanted 2 more Kronas because I had used a stall.

© John Womack, 2006. All rights reserved.
photo made with Canon Elura 70 on SD card.