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My job is going well so far, but I’ve only been doing it for one day, so
we’ll just have to see. This place is open 24/7, which equates to a crew of
five janitors. Each of us works six hours straight with no breaks, except to
use the restroom. When one leaves for the day, the next one comes in. A
fifth person sleeps on location, and can fill in if someone is sick. We
don’t get paid to take time off, though we can if we need to, but we have to
coordinate with each other, and the fifth guy will substitute during that
time too. In the meantime, he gets paid for the entire day, whether he has
anything to do or not. He’s the one who trained me, because he’s been there
forever. The job is simple and tedious. You start at the top floor, and work
your way down. Different janitors have different methods to get the work
done. Some use the carpet sweeper all the way through, and then go back up
to mob the bathrooms, and other tile areas, and then go back up again to
collect the trash. Others prefer to focus on one floor, and complete all of
the necessary work at once before moving on to the next one. They may not do
it the same way every time, and our employer doesn’t care. They want it to
be as clean as possible as much as possible. The work that the regular
workers do here requires concentration, which means that they require us to
be quiet and out of the way, which is why we don’t use vacuum cleaners.
Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of collaboration, at least
not in person, so we’re not constantly tripping over the staff, making it
easier to stay invisible.
For one hour at 11:00, they are all having lunch together upstairs. We are
not allowed to go upstairs. I’ve not even seen their cafeteria yet, because
we’re expected to eat on our own time, but the other janitors have caught
glimpses of it over the years, so they know that that’s where everyone is
going. Apparently, a sixth person handles that entire area alone, and isn’t
part of my team. I suspect that, in addition to eating, they’re having some
kind of building-wide meeting. I still don’t really know what exactly they
do there, but it must be pretty sensitive stuff. They lock everything up in
their special desks, even when they’re only leaving for the restroom. I’ve
yet to see a single piece of paper that isn’t still blank. The regular
workers are usually really focused on their work, and don’t pay me any mind,
not in a sort of disrespectful don’t fraternize with the help sort of
way, but more like they’re trying to stay out of my way just as much. I
think they’re aware that I’m on a schedule of my own, and they appreciate
not having to worry about the mess. And when I say mess, I don’t mean
that these people are animals. Honestly, I don’t think we need to clean up
as often as we do. They don’t eat at their desks, or do anything else that
would make my job harder. I barely have to empty the carpet sweeper, but
that’s what’s in the job description, so I’m going to keep doing it until
they ask me to do something else. I was under the impression that I was
going to get a lot dirtier, but the really gross places, like the boiler
room, are handled by a different team too. All in all, I think I’m going to
be okay here. I know what I’m supposed to do, and how I’m supposed to do it.
They even let us listen to headphones at a low enough volume to hear the
environment. I don’t really report to a boss. My coworkers are treating me
as one more person in the collective. The woman I’m replacing worked here
for 48 years before she retired with six-figure savings. I’ve never dreamed
of having that much money. I’ll let you know if anything changes, but I
think I’m just going to stick around for now.
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