--- title: "Twitter Employees Beg Elon Musk for Toilet Paper as Horrid Stench Seeps From Bathroom" description: "Toilet paper is a pretty baseline office ask. But apparently, those remaining at Elon Musk-owned Twitter's New York HQ are privy to no such luxury." date: "2023-01-06" modified: "2023-01-06" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/twitter-elon-musk-toilet-paper-stench" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "social media" - "the digest" - "twitter" --- # Twitter Employees Beg Elon Musk for Toilet Paper as Horrid Stench Seeps From Bathroom ![Toilet paper is a pretty baseline office ask. But apparently, those remaining at Elon Musk-owned Twitter's New York HQ are privy to no such luxury.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## Stinky Situation Look, there are definitely some valid criticisms of [bean bag chair Silicon Valley work culture](). And while not everybody out there is keen on [sleeping on factory floors](), we're all motivated by different things. Still, we're pretty sure that most everyone can agree that, at the very least, toilet paper — and clean, functioning bathrooms — are a baseline office expectation. But apparently, those remaining at Twitter's New York HQ are privy to no such luxury. Speaking [to *Insider*](), sources familiar with the matter say that several engineers at the company's Chelsea office have taken to Slack and email to beg Chief Twit Elon Musk — who, despite [firing Twitter's janitorial staff]() as they were allegedly told they'd be [replaced with robots](), has required most company engineers to work in-office five days a week — for toilet paper, among additional complaints that a foul stench wrought by days-long clogged toilets has begun to pervade the entire workspace. As of Thursday, the sources say, no one had received a response. Now, the New York engineers will likely be forced to implement a BYOTP policy, just as Twitter staffers at the San Francisco HQ were [briefly forced to do](). Sounds... functional. ## Productivity Booster Musk's failure to renegotiate contracts with Twitter's nationwide janitorial teams fits into what the CEO has painted as a wider effort to cut costs, an effort characterized by major workforce slashes and straight up [just not paying bills](). To that point, the dismal bathroom situation is just one of the New York workers' problems. Per *Insider's* sources, Musk's job cuts have rendered the company's internal IT team pretty much nonexistent, leaving still-standing staffers with little to no recourse for computer-related issues ranging from "broken chargers" to "accidentally being locked out of internal systems required to do their jobs." And on top of all that, one source told *Insider* that they're having to undergo performance reviews "basically all the time," with workers' productivity continuing to be the most important metric. You know, because horrifying bathroom odors and lack of toilet paper, coupled with being locked out of needed computer systems and, well, [*everything else*](), is conducive to healthy productivity. To be fair, Twitter has long faced a [revenue problem](), and it was always going to be a challenge for Musk as CEO. Even so, withholding toilet paper just doesn't seem like a solid fix. **READ MORE:** *[A Malodorous Musk: Twitter employees beg for toilet paper and report a wafting stench on Slack as Elon Musk cuts back on office facilities staff]()* \[*Business Insider*\] **More on Twitter stank:** *[Twitter Hq Marinates in Stench after Elon Musk Fires Janitors, Forces Engineers Back to Office]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()