Harmless Tiktok trend or devious destruction?

The Tiktok trend sweeping the nation has finally made it to WHHS. Since Sept. 1, the trend began as a hashtag after one user posted a video holding a box of disposable masks he had stolen from his school. The video was captioned, “A month into school..absolutely devious lick.” 

This purposeful theft of pandemic necessities catapulted students in schools nationwide to follow suit. Bathrooms were ravaged, along with just about anything students could get a hold of. The idea that people would want to remove items like soap dispensers and toilet paper in a time when staying safe and away from germs is so important was shocking to me.

There’s been several times that I’ve walked into the bathroom to see a line because one stall is missing an entire toilet paper dispenser or is simply out of toilet paper. Then, all three people were able to use separate sinks but the same soap dispenser because only one remained- and in one scenario that I remember, the dispensers had all been removed and only a pouch of soap with a pump remained.  

At first, I’ll admit, it was funny. It was strange that anyone would pick the bathroom, of all places, to victimize. An easy target, perhaps, and “bathroom humor” has always been easy to joke about. If I saw someone walking out of the building with a sink or a hand dryer or anything unusual like that, I would laugh. 

But the more I think about it, the more I consider the steps that come after this seemingly simple, humorous theft. The boy’s bathroom knows exactly what comes after a hand dryer goes missing because the yellow tape had it closed off and forced them to walk to the opposite side of the second floor hallway. More than that, it’s someone’s job to replace that hand dryer. And I can’t imagine that it comes cheap.

So while I can see the pull of internet fame and the following of trends and hashtags for popularity, our student body has to look beyond that and think of the custodians that will be working to fix the mess that was made- or even the smaller things, like relief when you run to the bathroom before class and everything is fully stocked.