In an all-girls high school, there was a clever janitor. One day, he was quietly doing one of his jobs, cleaning the bathroom, when he noticed a bunch of kiss marks on the mirrors. He got angry at the sight of it. But he decided not to dwell on his negative emotion and do something actionable instead.
He was hopeful. The girls seemed smart and reasonable. After he wiped away the kiss marks, he left instructions on a piece of paper.
Please don’t leave kiss marks on the mirror. Lipstick stains are difficult to clean.
The next day, the janitor went inside the bathroom to clean. And much to his dismay, he saw a bunch of kiss marks on the mirrors again. He got angry and went running to the principal’s office to report the incident.
Upon learning of the incident, the principal got angry at the students. He gave them a strong warning to not leave kiss marks on the bathroom’s mirrors.
The janitor overheard the principal when he reprimanded the students. He felt relieved. He figured the girls won’t leave kiss marks on the mirrors again.
But he was wrong.
The next day, it was as if the girls weren’t reprimanded by the principal, at all.
Again, when he went inside the bathroom, he found kiss marks on the mirror. Worse, there were more of them compared to the ones he found during the previous days.
Furious, he bolted out of the bathroom and went straight to the principal’s office. He was mad at the girls for their stubbornness and also at the principal for not punishing the girls’ actions.
Rather than say things out of anger and things that will probably get him fired, the janitor walked out to get some fresh air. He was sick and tired of the situation. And he didn’t know what to do.
He needed to think. And after about an hour, he had an idea to solve his dilemma.
The next day, he went inside the bathroom. Though he was angry at the sight of kiss marks on the mirrors, he quietly did his job — he cleaned the bathroom.
Then he left a note.
“Please don’t leave kiss marks on the mirrors. I don’t want to wipe them clean again with the same sponge I used to clean the toilet bowl.”
It worked! The next day, the janitor entered the bathroom and didn’t find a single kiss mark on the mirrors.
Moral of lesson: Other people can’t always fix things for you. If you want your situation to get better, you’re the one who has to figure out a solution.