DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have worked as a custodian at a university dorm for over 15 years. I keep a professional and friendly relationship with students and staff.
Each year, it seems that the student population using the male restrooms has gotten worse. Increased biohazards from vomit and blood, broken liquor bottles -- but the worst is the constant refusal to flush the toilets. Multiple people urinating and defecating in the same unflushed toilet!
I have talked with staff and students on the need for better hygiene for healthier restrooms for all, posted signs, etc. Staff have talked to students, all to no avail. Management refuses to educate because it isn’t their job to teach restroom habits. What can I do?
GENTLE READER: While Miss Manners can sympathize with educators not wanting to teach this particular lesson, there is another solution: signage in the bathrooms, perhaps saying, “If this is the way you prefer the bathroom be kept, I will try not to disturb your arrangements.”
This will either amuse or annoy the students, but she would have thought that you would not much care which, so long as it brings the problem to their attention.