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> In extremis you can sometimes walk in if a restaurant isn't busy, ask for a glass of water, drink it while standing, and leave immediately. You would never sit in such a circumstance

Perhaps I'm not used to it, but that sounds extremely silly and rude to me?

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Like I said, in extremis. The same way you might ask to use a bathroom at a business you were not a customer at, or to borrow something from a stranger to solve a clear temporary need.

The sort of request that is granted with a smile if asked politely, and denied if asked rudely, basically. Part of the general fabric of society.

You would only ask if you'd been out a while on a hot day and were parched, or something similar. There's surely some social analogue not involving water where you live?

Lack of public bathrooms is a real shame and a failure in planning. It is a universal human right to access a bathroom in public places, or else be okay with people pissing and shitting wherever. I think the same should apply to water access. If no public access to water, businesses should carry that “burden”.

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