14 DAY TRIAL // Admittedly, it's true what they say that, when you have to go, you absolutely and unmistakably have to go. However, this does not change the fact that urinating in public is gross and disrespectful towards other people.
Even so, there are plenty of people who, despite having a whole lot of nearby toilets to pick and choose from, take the easiest way out and relieve themselves on walls, fences and the like.
Well, residents of St. Pauli, the so-called party quarter of the city of Hamburg in Germany, have grown so tired of such people that they have taken it upon themselves to teach them a thing or two about proper bathroom manners.
When walls fight back
As explained in the video below, several of the walls in Hamburg's St. Pauli quarter are now coated with a special hydrophobic paint that makes all liquids instantly bounce off them.
What this means is that whoever tries to pee on either of these walls risks getting splashed back. That's right, these hydrophobic walls essentially throw people's pee back at them.
Folks in St. Pauli hope that, sooner rather than later, the hydrophobic walls will help make public urination in this corner of the city of Hamburg a thing of the past.
Interestingly enough, not all of St. Pauli's hydrophobic walls are signaled as such. On the contrary, some look like any other walls. It's up to public urinators to find them and learn to stay away from them.
The plan might actually work
Let's face it, nobody enjoys walking around with pee on their shoes or, even worse, on their clothes. It smells bad and it can pretty much ruin a business meeting, a date or a group hangout.
Otherwise put, the idea to protect walls against public urinators by making them hydrophobic might actually pay off and help keep Hamburg's St. Pauli quarter clean.
In fact, perhaps it would not be such a bad idea to have other urban areas all across the world implement similar measures to discourage folks from relieving themselves in public places.
