The Toilet Paper Stand: An Exemplary Case of Dedication and Perseverance

How do go around spending their Halloween?

Trick or treating perhaps?

Maybe sitting in and watching a scary movie?

Or perhaps by not celebrating it at all and going about it like any other day?

But, how about standing by a tower of toilet paper in an attempt to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity? Because that’s what the committed and motivated students of 2IB did!

The chief organizers and masterminds behind the plan were Fredrik Nyfløt and Asher Erkin, who were, quote: ‘really hyped’ about organizing this event. They contacted the executives at Sandvika Storsenter well in advance to secure a spot right outside of the Sandvika Storsenter parking lot so that they could use that space to set up a stand to sell their toilet papers from. They ordered the shipments to arrive at Sandvika Storsenter, and that’s how their day began. Many students who didn’t have Economics as their first lesson that Thursday decided to spend their waking hours transporting mountains upon mountains of toilet paper on site and Instagram-ready before the mall opened to the public. A good CAS experience and motivation to make our class proud came at the opportunity cost of sleeping in, and to that we salute these students for.

Once the stand was set up, a handful of students from 2IB rotated between shifts throughout the day, to ensure that the stand was always accompanied by four motivated students from the class.

As someone who stood there for four hours myself, I can honestly tell you it was quite exhausting, and I have a newfound respect for salesmen. My sales pitch relied on Patos, and making the customers invested in our cause rather than the actual product. This method proved effective, as we even got a couple of donations from it as well!

Fredrik, the (co-)initiator of the project, had this to say:

“So in the morning setting it up was a lot of work but also very fun cuz we got pretty creative and the final product looked dope. I then had to leave for a while, and when I came back Asher told me that barely anyone were buying and we both kinda freaked out.

It was frustrating to get rejected almost every single time especially because everyone had the same dumb excuses. The entire debacle was also extremely tiring as I could barely catch a break, so I was pretty done a couple of hours in but still had to keep selling, and also the problem arose for what to do with the excess toilet paper that we didn’t sell. It worked out in the end but I was actually dead by the end of the day.

Lastly, I also wanna give huge credits to Asher, Tessa and Elliott who were there for the entire day as well and did their best to help out with everything- and I also appreciate anyone who bothered to come help out too cuz we really needed it. Overall I learned a lot and do think it was a good experience.

Thanks for listening to my TED talk i have no idea why I ranted this much about this.”

Another classmate who spent a good chunk out of their day by the stand was Therese Bjanes, who had this to say about the experience:

“It was tiring, but great. We got rejected a lot, but we also sold more than expected. Rejection was upsetting, especially the first hour and throughout the day, I suppose it just got used to it. After we sold a few items, I really got my hopes up though”.

To conclude, it proved to not be the most efficient way to raise funds for, since toilet paper, as a necessary good, was often sold by students and sports clubs alike to earn money for their own causes, and since most people had connections or are in some way affiliated with those people, a lot of our potential customers had already been sold to. This was a shame, but overall a good experience nonetheless, and I genuinely believe it would’ve been unbearable had it not been for the good company and fellowship we had along the way!

Pictures taken by Thomas Nagelgaard and Therese Bjanes.