There are rumors that get passed around our dorm, sometimes, and it's generally impossible to confirm their truth. No one really knows who saw what and who spread it where, and, though you could probably track the information to the source if you cared enough. The most recent rumor that I heard made me mad enough that I wanted to write this article. Apparently, someone did something so terrible in one of our bathrooms that a janitor cried when she had to clean it up.

I really, really, really dislike people who have such a fundamental lack of awareness about their actions that they can be so incredibly disrespectful to the places they live in and the people who have to clean up after them. It feels like an attitude that's somewhat commonplace in our society. People really can't be bothered to recognize that what they do affects other people, human people with feelings and emotions.

Yes, a janitor is paid to clean things up, but are you paid to make their job so much harder than it already has to be? I can guarantee that most of the people in this place will not have to work a job that seems so unappealing as having to sanitize bathrooms for a bunch of college kids, and I think that this entitlement, for whatever reason, removes a lot of the empathy they would feel for the people who work so hard for them otherwise.

It's not just restricted to janitors and custodial staff. There are tons of horror stories about people in service industry positions dealing with nightmare customers without a modicum of respect for them. Why is it so difficult to recognize that others are human? Where did that golden rule — treat others the way you want to be treated — that was drilled into our heads as kids go?

Next time you plan on doing something that you know, in your heart, is wrong, but you don't think it matters in the grand scheme of things because it's a small evil and you're young, consider the consequences. Consider that there's a world that exists outside of your immediate experience, that there are people who have to pick up after everything you do. And, with that knowledge, try your best to be decent.