Toilets Without Any Seats

What is the deal with having a toilet that doesn't have a seat? I am fortunate enough to have a big butt, so its not really that big of a deal for me, but still...for the average person its like the owner of the toilet is saying "you still have to squat, but we thought this was a little bit classier than a hole in the floor."

I used to have a Spanish teacher in highschool that was from Spain. Every time somebody would leave the class to go to the restroom he would yell down the hall, in Spanish, "Don't fall in." Maybe he grew up without toilet seats in Spain as well....



This was a free restroom in Arles. Simple, functional-- I guess its better than nothing.

But this one...



I paid a whole euro to use this restroom (in the TGV station in Avignon)! And what the hell, it has those little metal posts that look like seat hinges. (I checked to see if maybe my stall was just missing its seat-- no, they are all like that).

It can't be a money issue. Here's the sink that goes with that toilet, and it has a bunch of extra doodads.



The center thing shoots out water. The other two things do....nothing? at all?

I also don't want to give the impression that the French don't know what a toilet should look like. This is the bathroom on the TGV: