gotta go - yet again

In the men’s room on the 3rd floor of the library – and maybe in more bathrooms; I’m not sure – is a new sign that says “If this restroom needs maintenance, call the facilities helpdesk at 8-2525.” (What are the first two digits of the phone number? How am I supposed to know this? If you have an office on campus you have an in-house phone and you can dial extensions but most students don’t have their own office and phone).

The only place I can remember seeing a sign like that is in highway rest stops. It makes sense to have those signs at highway rest stops because it would be stupid to have a plumber or janitor on stand-by at every highway rest stop. That is not logical. But on campus, there is a small army of janitors patrolling the library at all times. A larger army of workers is just outside – I assume this includes plumbers, engineers, general fixer uppers, etc.

So why is it my responsibility to call someone when the bathrooms need fixing? It’s not that I don’t have time to make the phone call (once I figure out the first two digits in that phone number). That’s not the point. Look, I'm part of this law school community so I don't want it to crumble around me. If I spotted something happening that looked like it was out of my jurisdiction, so to speak, but that seemed like it needed to be brought to the attention of someone, I would speak up. But once again, that is not the point.

Why can’t the people in charge of these things keep the bathrooms clean and not flooded? At 99 percent of public bathrooms it’s someone’s job to come in and make sure everything works. At this law school, it’s no one’s job. It’s up to the students and faculty to make sure the bathrooms are clean. We're talking about the bathrooms. Everyone uses them. We're not talking about some obscure thing that is utlized by only 10 people a day.

(The bathrooms break down pretty much daily around here. I can’t remember ever having gone more than two or three consecutive days without walking into a bathroom with a huge, disgusting puddle on the floor – or the remnants of a recently evaporated puddle).

And by the way, I don’t know a damn thing about plumbing or toilets but here’s a small clue for the people in charge of the bathrooms: if you have that many problems, perhaps the trouble goes beyond having someone check in to make sure nothing has flooded. Maybe, just maybe, you need to re-build something or fix the pipes or whatever.

Ok. end of rant. I just don’t think it’s asking too much to have bathrooms that are clean, don’t stink and are not flooded every other day.