I worked on the third floor of a 30 plus story building. The bathrooms in the high-rise were nice and generally quite clean. Except for the third floor. For some reason it gave off a foul sewage smell from poor ventilation, it was dingy, and the bathroom was generally kind of gross. I’m not convinced the nice cleaning lady was ever given instructions on how to properly clean, as the ring around the toilet bowl grew darker and larger each day. A regular routine was a call to real-estate (that’s what they were called), put in a complaint, the bathroom would get a good cleaning, and then the cycle would begin all over again. Needless to say I became very aware of my surroundings in that bathroom as I was concerned about any part of my body touching any of it.
The bathroom contained 5 cubicles. I always used cubicle 4 because I’m a creature of habit. On this fated day, cubicle 2 was the only one available. I’m sitting there checking out my surroundings when I notice there are boogers plastered all over the cubicle walls! And I do mean all over! I felt like I was in a Ren and Stimpy cartoon1. I checked out the remaining cubicles and lo and behold this was a problem everywhere. Cubicle 2 just happened to be the worst.
I was discussing this with a colleague and we decided to create a sign which read; “Please empty the contents of your nose into the toilet paper provided”. We made 5 copies and taped one to the inside door of each cubicle. I also called real-estate to let them know of the situation. The bathroom was clean by the following week and it appeared that the signs were working. After a few weeks I removed the signs, but slowly, over time, it started to build up all over again. This was an epidemic!
Now my original plan for this blog was to write about the psychology of someone who does such a thing. Are they angry, sad, lashing out at society for their feelings of lost control? I mean that’s how I would characterize them, but I’m not a psychologist so who am I to say. I’ve decided to not psychologically profile or judge this behaviour (even though I already have), because it’s a lost cause. Apparently this behaviour is pervasive, and if you look on the internet, there are people out there who actually defend it. I honestly thought we were more evolved than that. I guess not.
So instead I’m going to talk about how we tried to stop or at least slow down the behaviour. How many of you have read the book, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell2? In the book he talks about the Broken Windows theory. Here is an excerpt from the book:
“If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and the sense of anarchy will spread from building to the street on which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes.”
Now think of the Broken Windows theory and apply it to boogers on bathroom walls. Or apply it to litter in the streets, or graffiti on a subway train as illustrated in the book. Hell, you can pretty much apply it to anything if you really think about it.
Anyway, as I said, this booger epidemic was a small example of the Broken Windows theory; The bathrooms were not clean, they stunk, and the walls were never washed down unless someone put in a complaint. I believe these surroundings made it easier for this disgusting behaviour to continue, and even those who wouldn’t normally wipe their nose contents on a wall, do, because the general state of the bathroom says, it’s okay, go ahead. Hell, even I considered it. Why waste toilet paper right? For those who don’t know me I’m kidding here.
A very simple way to fix the problem, is to clean it up and continue to keep it clean. This time I called real-estate and I informed them that I would be taking a container of disinfectant wipes from the general office area into the bathroom and I would leave the wipes on the bathroom counter. If I was in the bathroom and noticed a problem, I would clean it up. I was encouraging others to do the same. Real-estate stated I was not to do that. It was against “policy” to have the wipes in the bathroom as they were “for designated office areas only”. You know sometimes you just have to call bull-shit, so I did it anyway. The next day however, the wipes were removed from the bathroom. I continued to do this, and lo and behold, the next day the wipes would be removed. Funny how the toilet could go days without cleaning, the walls could go weeks without cleaning, but disinfectant wipes would be noticed and removed on a daily basis. Talk about fucked up. I wanted to continue, but I was tired and defeated. I already knew I was leaving the company and would not have to step foot in that bathroom ever again. Don’t get me wrong, I still took the disinfectant wipes to the bathroom with me to clean the surfaces I would be touching, but I promptly brought the wipes back to my office area. Funny thing is, those wipes just came from a dirty bathroom. Talk about the law of unintended consequences and bad policy.
Footnotes:
For those of you who don’t know Ren and Stimpy, it was a cartoon show from the 90s. There was one particular episode where Stimpy plays with his “magic nose goblins” which are actually boogers. The show is quite disgusting, but what can I say, I have sons and they love that shit.
The Tipping Point is a book I read many years ago. Chapter 4, The Power of Context, is the chapter I remember most. It talks about the Broken Windows theory and how that theory was used to help clean up New York City crime in the 80s and early 90s. It’s a very interesting read, even if you only read that chapter.