Hellgate bathrooms have become the wild west. Lawless, dirty, cramped, and dangerous, many students opt not to use the bathroom at school at all. Those who face the wrath typically do not come out unscathed.
“Some issues I’ve run into are, there’s always a stall or two that are really gross, or there are a bunch of people waiting in one bathroom. It’s not very pleasant to go during class,” said freshman Emilia Johnson. Students treat the bathrooms with no respect and leave messes that make the bathroom basically uninhabitable.
The most common sight in the girls bathroom is an “Out of Order” sign, blocking stalls and creating even longer lines. “Half of the sinks don’t work,” said freshman Marli Briggeman. If you aren’t waiting in line for the bathroom, you’re most likely to be waiting around the one working sink per bathroom. This awkward dance around the bathroom entrance is familiar to most students, and even if a toilet isn’t clogged, the entryway to the bathroom most likely is.
This is just the girls bathroom, the boys bathrooms seem to be much worse. Constant vandalism and too few stalls are some of the biggest problems that crop up in our bathrooms. “I’ve heard an awful horror story where somebody stuffed a lunchable down the toilet and then continued to finish his business,” said senior Oliver Hanson.
“We’ve always had problems with graffiti and vandalism and some of that has been abated due to the cameras, so I think things are getting better overall, but it’s still a continual battle and it still costs money,” said custodian Bill Fischer. Fischer suggests “remedial potty training,” the last stage of which is learning to flush the toilet.
Crowded bathrooms go both ways though. “Whenever I try to go to the bathroom, there’s always four people in each stall, and each urinal has like a line behind it and no one uses the middle one, cause that’s weird,” said senior Leo Kimpell. Senior Parker Waddell likens it to “slowly rotating out like a rotisserie.”
The bathroom isn’t a place to skip class, hang out in the stall with your friends, or eat your lunch. High schoolers are gross, they leave messes, and when you’re hanging in the stall or sitting on the bathroom floor, you’re hanging out in their germs. Use the bathroom for its intended purpose, don’t camp out in stalls, and have respect for other staff and students who use the bathroom, and our custodians who pick up after you.
