I am such a lousy girl

I think i really am useless. Useless to the extent that the closest people around me think that all i know is to feel unhappy and sad.

One of the F4 female toilet is demolished. Like denyse said, it really is a big problem. The greatest humiliation is that nobody had brought this up to me during my term as F block head. I feel so lousy. Sometimes i really wonder why. Why i was not told during the meeting last time, when they discussed about the renovation.

Denyse was very angry when she found out about this few days back. I think when the rest of F4 residents move back to F4 next week, they will be so angry. I feel really embarrassed.

Denyse wrote a letter to the management:

Dear Dr Seow,

I am writing this as a member of JCRC and as the occupant of F402.

I checked into hall last weekend and i was appalled to see that the toilet next to F401 had been converted into a pantry. To my knowledge, neither the JCRC nor the incoming and outgoing F block heads knew about this plan.

Table 1. illustrates the breakdown of the toilets in F block, as well as the gender and the number of residents each toilet serves.

Toilet Number of Residents
each Toilet Serves
F1 14 Male
F2 a 9 Female
F2 b 10 Female
F3 a 10 Male
F3 b 10 Male
F3 c 11 Male
F4 17 Female
F5 13 Male
Table 1.
* A toilet consists of 3 urinals, 3 shower cubicles, and 4 sinks.


As indicated, the result of the demolition of the toilet for the construction of the pantry has resulted in a whopping 17 residents using the lone toilet in F4. I foresee problems.

Female toilets traditionally cater to lesser residents than male toilets (refer to Table 2), and rightly so. It is well-known that females tend to spend longer times in the bathroom as compared to males. This is especially true for those with long hair. I thus forsee that during the peak shower period (8am-930am), there will potentially be a queue of people waiting to use the shower facilities. This will be a total waste of infrastructure as the F4 toilet will be grossly overutilised whilst the other toilets are underutilised.


Toilet Number of Residents
each Toilet Serves
A3 9 Female
C2 a 10 Female
C2 b 11 Female
E3 7 Female
E6 a 8 Female
E6 b 8 Female
G6 8 Female
F4 17 Female
Table 2.

Other minor problems include the fact that there is not enough room on the flat surface in the toilet to accomodate everyone's toiletry baskets, and the fact that the toilets will have to be cleaned twice as often as there are twice the amount of people utilising the toilets now.

I understand that nothing can be done to reinstall the toilet since the pantry is already constructed. However, i feel that the Block Committee or even the JCRC should have been consulted on whether to build the gigantic pantry, and if applicable, where to build it.

There is no use now crying over spilt milk, and so my suggestion would be to convert 'Toilet F3 b' into a female toilet. It may be slightly inconvenient for F4 residents to go down one flight of stairs to use the facility, but i believe it will go a long way in easing the potential congestion in the lone F4 toilet. The result of converting 'Toilet F3 b' into a female toilet is shown in Table 3.

Toilet Number of Residents
each Toilet Serves
F1 14 Male
F2 a 9 Female
F2 b 10 Female
F3 a 15 Male
F3 b 8 Female
F3 c 16 Male
F4 9 Female
F5 13 Male
Table 3.

The residents in F3 will be affected, having 15 and 16 residents to a toilet instead of 10, 10 and 11. However, i feel the impact on them will be lesser than that on the F4 residents, for reasons as stated above. Executing the change would also involve minimal effort.

Thank you Dr Seow, and I really hope you can bring this matter up to the SCRC if need be.

Warmest Regards,

Denyse De Silva



I am such a lousy girl. I don't wanna move back to hall anymore.