Abbie Dymond, Executive Editor
@abbiedcourant
After using the bathroom washing your hands, there is at least one thing missing; soap or paper towels. While absent paper towels are irritating, the lack of soap in bathrooms is intolerable.The amount of times where students have had to wash their hands with just water and have nothing to dry them is not only unsanitary, but inconvenient.
Many students share the same feeling. “It is very frustrating when I go to wash my hands and either the dispenser is broken or there is no soap for many days,” Junior Tema Wagner said.
Similarly, Junior Luke Huang finds it extremely unsanitary to not have enough soap to wash his hands.
Not having enough bathroom necessities is a major problem, as it is not only unsanitary, but washing hands prevents the spread of many illnesses, and without proper access to soap, the chances of illnesses spreading are much higher. Especially as flu season is running rampant and people are more susceptible to catching a sickness, washing hands has become increasingly important.
Luke believes that the necessity shortage is in response to some previous irresponsible behavior in the bathrooms. “For example, I saw someone throw the towel dispenser in the toilet so I think that janitors have not been restocking the bathrooms as frequently in an attempt to limit events like this,” he said.
While the lack of paper towels is not as pressing as the soap shortage, it is still a shortage that bothers many students, as the other alternative to drying your hands, using the hand dryer, is not hygienic.
“Paper towels are more hygienic than hand dryers because the dryers use gross recycled bathroom air that blows germs back onto your hands after you just washed them,” Tema said.
Due to the shortage, many students have had to resort to other methods of drying hands that are not ideal. “I’ve seen a lot of students using toilet paper to wipe their hands because I think a lot of people think hand dryers are gross,” Junior Ellie Patterson said. “There’s definitely a large percentage who would rather wipe their hands on their clothes or toilet paper then use the hand dryers,” she said.
While it is understandable that custodians are very busy, there needs to be more of an emphasis on putting essentials in the bathroom.
