April 15th
of 2013 was my last year to work for HR Block.
I disliked the
corporate pressure to make us call customers to try to sell other
services to them.
I tried to find work
in areas where I had previous experience.
I had a couple of
interviews but no success.
Just to prove to God
that I was willing to do almost any kind of work, I applied for work
as a janitor.
I had no experience
as a janitor, but I completed an application anyway.
In response to my
on-line application, I received an invitation to come to a company at
a specific time.
I thought it was to
be an interview.
It was not.
It was a group
meeting of about 30 people to fill out paperwork for going to work.
I was the best
dressed man in the room.
Pamela Raney, a
black lady in her mid-thirties, sitting near me was the best dressed
lady in the room (other than the HR ladies).
She thought it was
to be an interview, also.
We were both “hired”
on the spot with no interview. (she had experience, I did not.)
We became friends
and got along well.
We ended up working
in different areas at the same school, until she took another job.
I worked at the same
school the whole time I was employed as a janitor – Huntsville High
School.
It was conveniently located only three miles from my home.
It was conveniently located only three miles from my home.
I was employed in
this position for 44 months – three years and eight months.
September 2013 to
April 2016.
I worked the night
shift – 3 PM to 11:30 PM Monday through Friday until February 2016.
I hated the night
shift.
It disrupted my
life.
It prevented me from attending the mid-week meetings of my church.
It prevented me from attending the mid-week meetings of my church.
It caused me to have
to eat my “dinner” at my usual “lunch” time and my “lunch”
at “dinner” time.
It disrupted my
sleep, because, even though I was physically tired when I got home
each evening, my mind was active at 11:30 PM and it would take me an
hour or two to relax enough to go to sleep.
It forced me to take my “afternoon” nap – which I was accustomed to – in the late morning, when I was usually not sleepy.
It forced me to take my “afternoon” nap – which I was accustomed to – in the late morning, when I was usually not sleepy.
After a few months
on the job, I began bending some of the rules.
While we were
supposed to eat dinner at 7:00 PM – and all the other janitors did,
I always ate mine at 5:00 PM – the specified break time.
But I seldom took a
break, not at 7, nor at 9.
The exception to
this was when we got a new team member named Mark.
I remembered him from that first big meeting when we were hired.
I remembered him from that first big meeting when we were hired.
He had been a
janitor for 15 years or so and knew a lot about it.
Though we had little
in common, we became friends and he believed in taking breaks.
So every night, he
would call me when he was ready to take his breaks and I would sit in
his car with him and visit.
We worked the
summers together as a team and accomplished more than any of the
other janitors.
One reason we did so
well is because we could anticipate what the other needed and not
waste time.
Our communications
ended when he was transferred to another school.
And when he left I
stopped taking breaks again.
We are still friends
on Facebook, but we have not seen each other since I quit and do not
communicate much.
The evening crew had
as many as eight members, as few as three (when other members were
sick or laid out).
When crew members were absent, the remaining crew members had to fill in for them – do your assigned area and the area(s) of the missing crew members.
When crew members were absent, the remaining crew members had to fill in for them – do your assigned area and the area(s) of the missing crew members.
By the time I quit,
I had been a janitor on the night shift longer than anyone else
there.
When I first started
I was assigned to clean the Auditorium building, which included the
band practice room, Theater classroom, Choir practice room, six
restrooms, the Auditorium lobby, main Auditorium seating area
including balcony, stage, hallways and dressing rooms behind the
stage.
When there was
activity in the auditorium, I had to time my work so as to not
interfere with the event/activity, and be able to clean up the area
after the event.
These activities
included band concerts, play rehearsals, play productions, choir
concerts, and public meetings.
I got used to
walking through and around the main auditorium in the dark, even
though it was supposed to be haunted. (the aisle LEDs were always on)
I never saw or heard
the ghost (supposedly a female student who was killed in a car wreck
during a play rehearsal)
There were several
small sounds that I had to learn to identify.
As a child, I was
afraid of the dark. (partly because of a nightmare I had when I was
about 2 – which I still remember in great detail)
So this was a bit of
a challenge for me.
On nights when there
were no activities in the auditorium (usually 3 -5 nights each week),
I could rest or goof-off for an hour or so if I had finished my work.
I would occasionally take a short nap in the top row of the balcony in the dark Auditorium.
I would occasionally take a short nap in the top row of the balcony in the dark Auditorium.
Sometimes there was
something interesting to read in the theater classroom, which I would
take advantage of.
When there was a
play performance, which would run three to five days, I was very
busy, but always finished at the normal end of my shift.
I just spent less
time on my classrooms.
In the Fall of 2014
(?) my work area was re-arranged so that I had to clean several
classrooms in addition to the Auditorium.
I was assigned to
clean 12 Science classrooms and labs, two sets of boys and girls
restrooms, a stairwell and the hallway in front of these areas, in
addition to all I had been doing in the auditorium.
This new area
amounted to about 20 percent of all the classrooms in the main school
building.
This put an end to
any leisure time in the Auditorium building.
I had two janitor
closets and one cart in the Auditorium building.
This helped make
cleaning easier, in that, I did not have to walk so far to get
supplies or equipment – which saved time.
After I was assigned
the classrooms, I had another janitors closet and cart for that area.
I learned many
things about industrial cleaning from this job.
We were trained on
how to clean, sweep, mop and dust.
We were provided
with most of the tools and equipment needed to clean the school.
Much of it was
applicable to home cleaning.
I soon found that
some of those methods and tools were not always the most efficient.
We were instructed
to turn in our dust mop heads once a week or so to be cleaned, and
replace them with clean heads.
But I found that all
“clean” mop heads are not equal.
Some were worn out
and did not clean as well as newer ones.
There were three
different sizes and the more-experienced janitors picked through bags
of clean dust mop heads and got the best first.
This led me to
eventually finding three nearly-new dust mop heads and keeping them
to myself.
When my mop heads
became dirty, I took them home and washed them myself, at my expense.
This allowed me to
have cleaner-looking rooms and halls.
I did this for over
three years.
Only a few people
knew about this.
I found that for
certain areas and situations, my 24 inch dust mop was too bulky and
imprecise.
So, I bought a nice
12 inch nylon-bristled long-handled broom, with my own money.
It proved to be
perfect for sweeping the stairs and the gymnasium bleachers, quickly
and throughly.
(my head custodian
borrowed it one evening for a couple of minutes and liked it so well,
he wanted one also. I don’t think he ever got one, however)
I also stopped using
the school-provided chemicals in certain applications.
And I found that
using the prescribed amounts caused a buildup of soap residue in
certain areas, so I used half-strength or less mop solutions in my
areas and had better results.
In contravention of
instructions, I started using bleach in all of my restrooms, diluted
to the extent that it did not give off a strong oder.
I wanted just enough
to evoke a subconscious recognition of a “clean” smell.
Wet mopping was a
learned skill.
Something I had very
little experience doing.
I learned that, for
my areas, there were three kinds of mop saturation needed.
“Dry” mop,
throughly rung out for dusting (after sweeping) for fast drying.
“Damp” mop, for
normal mopping or for spills – wet enough to dilute dried liquid
spills.
“Wet” mop, for
bathrooms, where the mop is only slightly rung out, and the tile
floor is throughly soaked and left to air-dry overnight.
Most of the
grey-brown buildup around bathroom hardware was from old soap
accumulation.
I brought in an old
toothbrush and cleaned the chrome fixtures in all of my bathrooms.
All of my restrooms
looked the best in the school.
Most of the other
janitors just did what they were told and did not seem to care what
the results were.
As a result, my
areas always looked better than theirs.
I found out accidentally that the teachers loved my work.
I found out accidentally that the teachers loved my work.
After I took an
evening off, they told me that they cold tell that I was gone because
their rooms were not cleaned up to the standard they were used to.
And, honestly, I
spent less time in my classrooms than most of the other janitors.
But I looked after
the details in my rooms.
If a teacher sees just a single tiny scrap of paper on the floor when she first walks into her room in the morning, can cause her to wonder if her room was completely cleaned.
If a teacher sees just a single tiny scrap of paper on the floor when she first walks into her room in the morning, can cause her to wonder if her room was completely cleaned.
So, the last thing I
did when I left each room was to pause at the door and look at the
room one last time to see if I had missed anything.
I found that most
spills in the school are sugar-water (sodas, juice, etc.) and can be
cleaned up with just water.
I found that the
diluted ammonia-based window cleaner worked on mirrors and windows as
well as desks and walls
Often, while
working, a song would go through my head and it gave me an urge to
listen to some music.
Finally, in February
2015 I bought a pocket music player.
Most of the other
janitors listened to music on their phones.
My phone was an old
flip-phone and did not have enough memory or a headphone jack to play
any music.
Most of my music
collection is not MP3.
I bought one of the
best music players there is, which had a premium DAC to handle the
lossless encoding of my music.
I had just
transferred all of my home music collection onto my computer (5000
songs!) so it was not difficult to build some playlists to take to
work.
Usually, I would
listen to my music after my dinner break.
In February 2016 I
was offered a day shift position, which I accepted.
Then I worked from
6:30 AM to 3 PM.
I worked alone and
usually unsupervised.
My assigned work
areas changed completely.
I was to pick up
trash from the entire school parking lots before school.
Then, during the
day, clean the baseball team locker room, offices and restroom, the
tennis court restrooms, the softball team dressing room and
restrooms, the boys and girls soccer teams locker/dressing rooms and
restrooms, and the football team locker rooms, offices, gym and
restrooms.
In addition, I was
to pick up trash from the entire campus.
I traveled around
the campus outside, driving a little ATV, with all of my cleaning
supplies loaded on the back bed.
Bad weather was not
an excuse for not doing my assigned tasks, so I had to dress for
rain, and cold.
When I started
working day shift, I stopped listening to my music player.
During my time as a
janitor we went through four Head Custodians –
Wanda (Sep 2013 –
Jan 2014), an older black lady, she taught me a lot about how to do
the job.
Kelly (Jan 2014 -
Aug 2015), a white lady with physical and mental problems, not a very good
supervisor.
James (Aug 2015 –
Aug 2016), a dear older black man, I loved him and we got along
well.
Vincent (Aug 2015 –
Jun 2016 ?), a good Christian black man, whom I liked a lot.
I tried to
warn/advise Vincent about the difficulties of working at that school
when he first started.
He listened and
handled things as he thought best.
Just before I left
this job, he told me that everything I had warned him about had
turned out just like I had told him.
I felt validated but felt sorry for Vincent.
I felt validated but felt sorry for Vincent.
He was a nice guy
and I hated to see him suffer from some bad decisions.
And then there was
Ellie.
Ellie started
working at our school in the Fall of 2015.
She was a quiet
older black lady with eyes that did not point the same direction.
As I sometimes do, I
immediately felt sorry for her.
I imagined all the
teasing and cruel comments from other children she must have had to
endure as she was growing up.
I felt the urge to
be extra kind to her.
She was assigned to
work in another part of the school so I only saw her during our daily
team meetings for a few minutes.
I was soon able to
win her trust and we sat together during our team meetings.
It was apparent that
she appreciated my kindness to her.
She was a very sweet
lady.
When I quit the job
I made a special effort to give her a goodbye hug.
Most of the other
janitors were black.
And most of them
were less educated and used some crude language when talking with
each other.
This was my biggest
problem with being around this type of people.
This type of
language is very offensive to me.
While three of the
four Head Custodians were black, I did not have any problems working
with them.
The biggest laugh I
ever got out of my co-workers was near the end of my time working
night shift.
Two of them asked
me, in a kidding way, about the special attention I was showing to
Ellie.
All I said was,
“Well, me and Mrs. Jones…...”
This response
resulted in loud, table pounding laughter from my co-workers – the
exact response I was hoping for.
It was a calculated
statement, based on what little I know about black American culture.
And I was correct in
my assumption that they would understand the implication from my
statement.
Of course, the
implication was not true.
I was not having an
affair with Ellie, just being kind and friendly to her.
It has been almost
two years since I quit my janitor job.
Strangely, once in a
while I catch myself missing it.
Occasionally, I will
look at my clock in the evening and remember what part of my assigned
areas I would have been cleaning.
In spite of the
unpleasant work hours, I found some satisfaction in making things
clean, rolling my little cart around the big, quiet, empty school by
myself.