In late September, a strange new fad seemed to take the internet by storm, starting on the app “TikTok.” A video of a high school student stealing a soap dispenser from his school with the caption “Devious Lick.” Clever.

The video itself was rather average, with nothing special shown, except that the rather underwhelming crime had been filmed. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t end at that one video; soon, many were copying the video, doing the same in their own school. Within a few short days, it had become a very popular trend with students all over the country. Students across the US were trying their hand at stealing sinks, tables, soap, chairs, desks and even toilets.

How was that even possible? No clue. 

Of course, it’s apparent many of the videos were staged or faked for views, but many were very real, and rapidly caused outrage, public school announcements, chats with officers and even some schools closing bathrooms completely.

One of these schools just happened to be our school.

Not long after the trend hit our school, the bathrooms were closed. A few students blamed this on the challenge and then the rumor spread like wildfire. Many accepted the idea the bathrooms were closed to prevent and or stop the stealings.

This caused anger and frustration amongst most students had to walk to the bathrooms adjacent to the cafeteria to use the bathroom. Lines formed. There were delays and tardies. 

Turns out, the challenge had nothing to do with the closings. The bathrooms were actually shut due to a sink in the upstairs boys bathroom breaking, exposing pipes and threatening floodings in the restrooms.

The downstairs bathrooms were closed due to the fact that the water would have flowed downstairs. So subsequently, all were closed, but the bathroom that wasn’t directly connected to the broken pipes remained open.

According to Mr. Whiston, nothing was actually stolen from any of the bathrooms and everything said about the stealings were just rumors.

Most students were annoyed and disturbed by the trend, but some found it amusing, relishing in the drama, even if it were just a rumor of theft and destruction.

This TikTok trend is rather ridiculous, not to mention very embarrassing. There is no point in making everyone else miserable for a joke that’s hardly even brings up a smile. Even taking out the fact you are committing a crime, it’s not even a funny one.

There are much more entertaining things in this life besides stealing soap or toilet paper from a school bathroom.

Plus, with so many difficulties in navigating the new Covid protocols, do administrators, custodians, and teachers really need another worry on their plate? School budgets are tight, and replacing stolen and destroyed items is difficult at best for most school systems. This trend has put a needless stress on an already challenging school year.

Lucky for us, the trend seems to have ended in October. Most of us will forget about the strange trend and those who became “famous” for the trend swiftly have fallen back into obscurity, and thankfully our school was not directly impacted by this silly, sometimes criminal and destructive, trend.