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April 26, 2005
The Dust Chronicles
The day of my eerie encounter with the Water Seller-cum-Jesus, I was bored out of my mind and started reading everything on or in the vicinity of my desk. After finishing the telephone book (it's a pretty small town), I hit upon an orange folder that turned out to be the janitorial log for our office--where our office manager and janitorial team leave messages for each other, since the janitors come after hours. The official title is, "Janitorial Comment Book."
The first comment my eyes fell upon was this, from our office manager: "Please take more care when dusting. There was a coffee spill spot on the conference room table last week and it's still there today." I know that cleanliness is next to Godliness and all that, but, especially after the visit from the Water Seller, it just seemed petty and absurd.
The response from the janitorial team was a lesson in humility. "I apologize for missing the spill. Thanks." Thank you for pointing out my error, the janitor said. How many people ever say that? In fact, the janitorial responses in the log are always effusive in their thanks. "Thanks for letting us know we were missing this! We'll take care of it!!" Complete with multiple exclamation points.
I pity the janitors who come here, because our office manager notices dirt on the molecular level. For example:
"Could you please make sure you vacuum good in the corners this weekend? We are noticing an accumulation of dirt right up along the baseboards. Thanks."
It's hard for me to imagine how anyone would notice dirt right up along the baseboards unless that person were crawling around them on her hands and knees. Which is entirely possible, I guess. I'm thankful that this woman is not my mother.
The following comment someone is going to have to explain to me:
"Skipper [owner of company: not his real name] noticed that the cabinets and walls in the men's bathroom in the back are not being wiped down from urine splatter. Could you please try to do that every week?"
OK, I have a husband, and he's a typical male, and never once have I had to wipe urine splatter off the walls in our bathroom. What exactly is going on back there? Is there a cache of four-year-olds that I don't know about? Can anyone out there explain this to me?
And the response from the janitorial team, so typical in its humility:
"Cleaned the urine splatter. I believe that it's the cleaner I use on the toilet that splatters [that may go some way towards explaining the conundrum]. I'll keep a better watch on it."
I thought I was pretty much the lowest of the low here at work. But there is someone whose job it is to check the bathroom for urine splatter. How's that for a reality check.
Posted by Lisa at April 26, 2005 11:23 AM
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Comments
Splatter at the urinal is a hot topic for me.
A couple of years ago, urinal makers stopped putting a lip around the edges of their products. This means that there's practically nothing to stop the inevitable splashback. I did janitor work in high school and I can appreciate the fact that this new design is much easier to clean. However, I live in south Texas and do not have much occasion outside of work to wear long pants. These lipless urinals frequently cause my knees to get lightly sprinkled. I'm not fond of this design.
Posted by: jmmj at June 16, 2005 11:52 PM