A trend known as the Devious Lick Challenge is circulating on TikTok, encouraging users to vandalize and steal school property. The term “lick” means a successful theft, and teenagers nationwide have started to participate in this trend by taking items such as soap dispensers, classroom signs and even security cameras.
Recently, the Elizabethtown College Schlosser Residence Hall has fallen victim to this challenge, with shower heads in both the men’s and women’s restrooms going missing.
Sophomore Schlosser Resident Assistant (RA) Sarah Moscoso was surprised when she first heard about the shower heads, saying, “At first, it was definitely a shock…[I thought,] shower heads, out of all things they could have taken? It was so random.”
As the Devious Lick Challenge persists, teenagers have attempted to steal items that they have not seen posted, and shower heads would be obscure enough to garner attention on the social media platform.
Moscoso advises Etown students not to steal or vandalize the property because “It’s a prank that hinders the normal flow of [the residents] because people weren’t allowed to take showers, use those bathrooms and stuff like that.”
Second-floor resident and first-year student Gabrielle Kambouroglos was affected by this challenge. She said she did not initially realize that the shower heads were gone, but once she turned the water on in the shower, “[It] was squirting everywhere, and I was very confused.”
In addition, Kambouroglos was upset that she would have to pay for the community damages–which would be equally distributed amongst the residential members to cover the cost of replacements and installation. She said, “That’s messed up. The person who stole the shower head and hasn’t replaced it should be the person to pay for it because none of us did that, so it’s wrong–in my opinion–that we should have to pay for it.”
According to Moscoso, there is still one shower head unaccounted for, so she suggests that students “Report anonymously. You don’t have to say your name. We are really encouraging people to do the public reporting system. They can go to their RA and tell them, or they can leave the shower head outside the RA office.”
In an anonymous statement given to the Etownian by the individual who stole the shower heads, they said, “I stole them…as a joke. Some of them were taken [on] the second floor of [Schlosser but] most were on [the] third.”
The thief also disclosed the details of the plan, claiming, “I just unscrewed the shower heads and put them in my bag…at night. Nobody helped me, and it wasn’t on TikTok.”
Since this Devious Lick did not appear on TikTok, it seems that the main reason why the individual carried out the plan was a belief that it would be comical–although some Schlosser residents would disagree.
Kambouroglos wished to ask this student, “Why [did] you feel the need to go around stealing things, [especially] when [this causes] property damage?” She believes that “It’s not funny when [others] have to pay for it, and also, you messed with everyone’s daily routines, so [that’s] not super cool.”
Addressing this, the perpetrator clarified, “I wouldn’t do it again, and I returned them because I didn’t [want the residents] to get fined. I don’t have the last shower head. I returned all of them.”
Finally, the statement ended with the thief expressing, “[I have] no regrets. It was funny, and I gave them back, so it’s all good.”
Schlosser has had its fair share of incidents, and according to the whiteboard outside room 235, it has been seven days since an incident on the second floor (since Sept. 29), and hopefully, that count continues to grow.
