On The Job: Fruitland Intermediate

to see what the day in the life of a janitor is like. i hear it’s a lot of work but i’m excited so lets go.” track 1 first up – meeting our boss for the day – dwaine shrieves. dwaine is the building service manager at fruitland intermeidate and he’s been working there for 4 years. “so what are we going to be doing today – were going to put chair feet on a couple of chairs and then were going to disinfect some door handles and maybe sweep the hallway – until lunch time – ok i’m very excited – you know going back to when i was in elementary and middle schools i loved the custodians they were always so nice and so fun.” “my days are full of fun – i enjoy it – all the boys and girls here so it’ll be a fun time – alright so i guess we should get started – yes.” track 2 our first job – applying chair feet. these are made of rubber and felt – and meant to go over the bottom of the metal chairs so they don’t scratch the floors. dwaine says he does every chair in the school. “now is there a technique that i should be – yeah you want to pull it towards you.” track 3 but it’s not as easy as it looks. “ok – you have to put your other hand – oh.” “there you go – struggling a little bit but i think she’s got it – hey these look good ok – i don’t know if i want to sit in that chair or not because the feet might slip off.” track 4 it was time to move on to our next job – sanitizing door handles. but first we had to get our cleaning supplies from dwaines office. “wow i always wondered what a custodians office looked like.” track 5 time to sanitize! “alright – germ free – there you go – one side anyway.” “have to do more doors – there’s a lot of doors in this school right oh yes.” “this looks a little more difficult because its got the whole bar – what i do is i apply like this – oh ok so you spray it – got it – and then do it like that – ok oh that’s dirty.” track 6 next we had to go around and do what dwaine calls – a smell test in the bathrooms. “if i could smell something that bothers me – you smell it – yes – what do you smell it for – kids tend to miss the toilet – what.” “you’re brave.” “this is your true test – this is the boys bathroom – oh boy.” “smells pretty clean actually.” track 7 moving on to bathrooms in classrooms -dwaine says for the boys bathroom he not only has to wash the toilets but the walls as well. “basically from about here back and all around – oh my gosh and see i knew it was clean because i came through this morning and i went through and it smelled good – from when the kids come in to the end of the day this is what we get.” track 8 but dwaine says no matter what the job throws at him – even if it’s a dirty bathroom – he does it for the staff. “i do it for them – thats very nice – thats very nice of you alright lets leave the pee bathroom.” track 9 next up – sweeping the hallways! “wow that is a big broom.” track 10 and it’s not as easy as it looks! dwaine says the secret is to be relaxed. “you just get it set where you want it and you just hold it see and just walk like that – yeah you make it look easy.” “its still going sideways – there you go.” “to control this thing – this thing has a mind of its own.” “and then you have to get in the corner – and we have to get in here right – see you’re fighting it – see you have to let the broom know who’s in charge – see i’m in charge – the brooms in charge of me.” track 11 and you sometimes you can run into a bit of traffic. “excuse my mop sorry – you’re fine.” track 12 finally we were done and it was time to shake it off outside. next we headed to lunch to supervise! before the first round of kids come in you have to make sure your garbage cans are set out – and then – “you wait and see what kind of mess unfolds – pretty much.” track 13 dwaine says the school offers small dust pans and brooms for kids to have the option to help clean up after they’ve eaten. and while it’s not mandatory kids seemed to enjoy it. but sometimes they miss a few things.. finally our job was done. “with everything that we did today – how did i do – you did pretty good – other than the little fight with the little dry mop you did good – that mop is not easy – it looks easy don’t let it fool you its not.” “i can put you on a 30 day prohibition period and we’ll see how you do from there.” “i enjoyed you here i appreciate you stopping by taking the time – thank you so would you hire me to come on to your staff you think – yes 30 day prohibition – 30 day prohibition but then i’m clear.” “thank you well i had so much fun so thank you – thank you.” track 14 michelle mackonochie 47 abc. michelle says throughout the whole day — there were numerous teachers