Lipstick in School – A friend sent me this story. Apropos nothing. But I think it’s clever.
According to a (possibly apocryphal and not even new) news report, a certain private school in Newcastle upon Tyne was faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom.
That was fine. But after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.
Every night the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.
Finally the headteacher decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night. (You can just imagine the yawns from the little Princesses.)
To demonstrate how tiresome it was having to scrub the mirrors every evening, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it.
Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.
There are teachers… And then there are educators.
(I don’t like that last line myself. Seems as though a meaningless distinction is being made, and that the terms could be swapped. An alternative could be: There are thinkers… And then there are lateral thinkers.)
But more importantly. Bring back any happy memories of your own school days?
Blackwatertown 
They have private schools in Newcastle? Crikey.
I’m beginning to suspect this is one of those stories where you replace Newcastle with whatever the locally appropriate town/district is, depending on what country you’re in.
Where might yours be?
Yep I think that one’s been around for a while but a lesson well learned perhaps. I think high school is what prompted my phobia for public toilets and engenered amazing bladder control!
Nice one re hot lips (however unhygienic). I am still deeply hurt by a report which said ‘he listens with the attentive dignity of the dead’- surpassed only by the stinging rebuke of a maths teacher, ‘come along West, even an amoeba can multiply and divide’!
Teachers can be so perceptive sometimes.
You’re becoming my blog of choice. Best I’ve read today.