I think that a lot of students can agree that their worst nightmare is using the restroom, especially to poop, during school. There’s nothing worse than the awareness that someone else might be closely listening to you exuding your body waste in a cold and echoey restroom. Whether that’s a group of people gossiping and goofing around, or a loner sulking in a stall, it’s bound to make you cringe just thinking about it. 

Don’t even get me started on the huge gaps between the stall doors and walls, which apparently is a phenomenon mostly exclusive to America. People will, for some reason, stare you down face-to-face while you are sitting on the toilet, trying to mind your own business. It’s a scary and disgusting occurrence that frequently happens to many of us.

Another thing is the risk of being ridiculed for pooping. It is likely that if you somehow happen to be in the same restroom as a group of hostile, chronic bathroom-dwellers, and your body accidentally releases a peep as a result of urgent needs, they could loudly proclaim, “Ewww! Someone’s pooping!” and start giggling together, possibly banging the stall door. It’s a nightmare. 

I’m not going to be a coward. I admit that I’ve had one of these experiences before. My stomach hurt, and it was my last resort, the dreaded school restroom. At first, it was peaceful, the restroom was relaxing. I was trying my best to swiftly and quietly alleviate my burden, and all of a sudden, a few girls walked in. I already knew that it didn’t smell very pleasant there. 

To my horror, I heard them gag and squeal like material pigs. Had they never taken a poop themselves? One of them squealed, “O.M.G. it smells so bad!” Yeah, what did you expect? Restrooms were designed for you to alleviate yourself of waste, not to giggle, gossip, and vape with your friends.

It’s not exclusive to girls either. I’ve heard horror stories about boys trying to poop in the school restroom, which may be even worse because everyone else in there knows you’re pooping because of the urinals. Immature boys may even start to bang and yell if they realize that someone is defecating. It’s immoral, and quite frankly, terrifying to think about.

It shouldn’t be so scary for us humans with mandatory and natural body routines to carry out basic needs in order to live. It’s quite absurd that some of us are limited or pressured to prolong survival routines in order to please a backward societal concept. If you’ve ever experienced something similar to what I mentioned in the article, I severely apologize and empathize with you. If you are the perpetrator of these experiences, I forcefully ask you to stop and re-evaluate your character. You are the main creatures in the haunted houses called “public school restrooms”.