Throwing It All Away
In a weird way I've always admired school janitors. I decided this might be for one of two reasons.
The first reason is because of my name, Janet. I can't even begin to tell you how many times in my life I thought someone was calling me and they were calling for the janitor or how many times I thought someone was calling for the janitor and they were calling for me. In this way, we are like kindred spirits. Never thought about it before, did you? Well, that's because your name isn't Janet. Just trust Janet Jackson and me on this one, k?
The second reason is because I saw The Breakfast Club and as anybody who ever saw The Breakfast Club will tell you, the janitors are the "eyes and ears of the institution". People underestimate that the guy (or girl as the case may be) who comes in and sweeps the floors. They think he/she doesn't have much interest in school gossip. But whether or not they are interested really isn't the point. The point is they are privy to information about everyone and everything. How many times have you said you wish you could be a fly on the wall? Well just think, that fly really exists and my friends, that fly is the janitor.
Recently we have had a power struggle amongst our janitorial staff at school. Ok, maybe that's not entirely true, but we have had a lot of restructure, so to speak. Last year we had a young janitor who was very nice and social. But one day he was there, the next day he was gone. The rumor was that he had apparently been a little "too nice" to a 4th grader who was wandering the halls. This also apparently wasn't the first time this had happened. I never did get the full story on this. Ironically the person who would know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth would be...the janitor.
So this year that janitor was replaced by a man I will refer to for simplicity's sake as Janitor #2. This janitor was a good janitor. He cleaned thoroughly and took his job seriously. Only problem was he actually took his job a bit, too seriously.
For example, in our school ID badges are highly enforced. We are to wear them at all times and we also need our keys to unlock the bathroom and classroom doors. I like security. Being safe good! But janitor #2 took safety to a whole other extreme.
My classroom is right next to the bathroom, but that never stopped janitor #2 from locking my door each and every time I left the room while he was on duty. Now this wouldn't be so bad if I never left the room, but as anyone who has ever been a teacher or around a teacher knows, you're in and out a lot. You use the bathroom. You make copies. You consult with other teachers. You know how some people are all OCD when they leave the house, returning and rechecking to make sure they locked all the doors? Well this is OCD one step removed, considering you've got an OCD stand doing your worrying for you. It's all the worry in half the time.
Before we knew it, janitor #2 seemed to disappear faster than you can say "Disinfectant". He lasted about 4 months but like janitor #1, he was here today and gone tomorrow. It reminded me of when they would replace my favorite soap characters when I was little. One day the character is blonde, the next she's brunette. Only in this case one day one man is holding a mop, the next day it's another man holding a broom.
So enter janitor #3. My floor was ecstatic to get janitor #3. That's because when janitor #1 left last year, janitor #3 briefly stepped in for him. He is a cute older man who is like the Goldilocks of the janitorialy community. He's not too shady (like janitor #1) and he's not too serious (like janitor #2). No, janitor #3 is juuuust right.
Or so I thought.
A few weeks ago, after returning from winter break was when I first noticed it. Papers were falling off the walls and they were missing. Now papers falling off the walls are par for the course in my school. Chances are if I hung it up on Friday, I will have to hang it up again on Monday, and so on and so forth. It's a pain in the ass and double, sometimes even triple the work, but I'm used to it.
Only this time was different. This time papers were falling down and disappearing. My poor, nice, clean papers, giving a whole new meaning to the term, "white trash". At first I thought it was just my imagination, but then I started noticing gaping holes were student work used to be. So I asked another teacher in the school if this had happened to her too and she confirmed that it had. This brought me to the horrifying and heartbreaking conclusion: Janitor #3 is throwing things away.
I know what you are thinking, why would the janitor want to throw things away? Well remember what I said a few lines earlier? The papers are constantly falling down in and outside my classroom, and that's just in my classroom. Every night this man is probably bending down and picking up the same falling papers from the same walls. Something inside of him probably just snapped. Either that or he's breathing in entirely too many fumes from cleaning supplies.
I didn't want to assume anything but I was still miffed. The crust of the things that were getting thrown away were student work, ungraded student work. Not only is it theirs to keep, but also in many cases, it is a grade I have to give them. I didn't want janitor #3 to get mad. I mean he's the guy who picks up the papers and the trash, but yakety yak, can't talk back.
So I decided to approach the situation delicately. I asked him if anyone else came on duty after him. I figured if I came at the problem from this angle I'd find out one of two things: 1. If there was still a glimmer of hope that he wasn't Oscar the Grouch and that 2. I'd find out his honest answer before he knew what I was honestly asking.
When he told me that he was the only night janitor for our hallway, my heart sunk. I told him my concerns and he quickly tried to come up with excuses, but in that very moment we both knew the other person knew the truth.
It turned colder, and that's where it ends. So I told him we'd still be friends. Then he promised he'd watch my stash. I thanked him and walked away.
After all, I'm not one to talk trash.
The first reason is because of my name, Janet. I can't even begin to tell you how many times in my life I thought someone was calling me and they were calling for the janitor or how many times I thought someone was calling for the janitor and they were calling for me. In this way, we are like kindred spirits. Never thought about it before, did you? Well, that's because your name isn't Janet. Just trust Janet Jackson and me on this one, k?
The second reason is because I saw The Breakfast Club and as anybody who ever saw The Breakfast Club will tell you, the janitors are the "eyes and ears of the institution". People underestimate that the guy (or girl as the case may be) who comes in and sweeps the floors. They think he/she doesn't have much interest in school gossip. But whether or not they are interested really isn't the point. The point is they are privy to information about everyone and everything. How many times have you said you wish you could be a fly on the wall? Well just think, that fly really exists and my friends, that fly is the janitor.
Recently we have had a power struggle amongst our janitorial staff at school. Ok, maybe that's not entirely true, but we have had a lot of restructure, so to speak. Last year we had a young janitor who was very nice and social. But one day he was there, the next day he was gone. The rumor was that he had apparently been a little "too nice" to a 4th grader who was wandering the halls. This also apparently wasn't the first time this had happened. I never did get the full story on this. Ironically the person who would know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth would be...the janitor.
So this year that janitor was replaced by a man I will refer to for simplicity's sake as Janitor #2. This janitor was a good janitor. He cleaned thoroughly and took his job seriously. Only problem was he actually took his job a bit, too seriously.
For example, in our school ID badges are highly enforced. We are to wear them at all times and we also need our keys to unlock the bathroom and classroom doors. I like security. Being safe good! But janitor #2 took safety to a whole other extreme.
My classroom is right next to the bathroom, but that never stopped janitor #2 from locking my door each and every time I left the room while he was on duty. Now this wouldn't be so bad if I never left the room, but as anyone who has ever been a teacher or around a teacher knows, you're in and out a lot. You use the bathroom. You make copies. You consult with other teachers. You know how some people are all OCD when they leave the house, returning and rechecking to make sure they locked all the doors? Well this is OCD one step removed, considering you've got an OCD stand doing your worrying for you. It's all the worry in half the time.
Before we knew it, janitor #2 seemed to disappear faster than you can say "Disinfectant". He lasted about 4 months but like janitor #1, he was here today and gone tomorrow. It reminded me of when they would replace my favorite soap characters when I was little. One day the character is blonde, the next she's brunette. Only in this case one day one man is holding a mop, the next day it's another man holding a broom.
So enter janitor #3. My floor was ecstatic to get janitor #3. That's because when janitor #1 left last year, janitor #3 briefly stepped in for him. He is a cute older man who is like the Goldilocks of the janitorialy community. He's not too shady (like janitor #1) and he's not too serious (like janitor #2). No, janitor #3 is juuuust right.
Or so I thought.
A few weeks ago, after returning from winter break was when I first noticed it. Papers were falling off the walls and they were missing. Now papers falling off the walls are par for the course in my school. Chances are if I hung it up on Friday, I will have to hang it up again on Monday, and so on and so forth. It's a pain in the ass and double, sometimes even triple the work, but I'm used to it.
Only this time was different. This time papers were falling down and disappearing. My poor, nice, clean papers, giving a whole new meaning to the term, "white trash". At first I thought it was just my imagination, but then I started noticing gaping holes were student work used to be. So I asked another teacher in the school if this had happened to her too and she confirmed that it had. This brought me to the horrifying and heartbreaking conclusion: Janitor #3 is throwing things away.
I know what you are thinking, why would the janitor want to throw things away? Well remember what I said a few lines earlier? The papers are constantly falling down in and outside my classroom, and that's just in my classroom. Every night this man is probably bending down and picking up the same falling papers from the same walls. Something inside of him probably just snapped. Either that or he's breathing in entirely too many fumes from cleaning supplies.
I didn't want to assume anything but I was still miffed. The crust of the things that were getting thrown away were student work, ungraded student work. Not only is it theirs to keep, but also in many cases, it is a grade I have to give them. I didn't want janitor #3 to get mad. I mean he's the guy who picks up the papers and the trash, but yakety yak, can't talk back.
So I decided to approach the situation delicately. I asked him if anyone else came on duty after him. I figured if I came at the problem from this angle I'd find out one of two things: 1. If there was still a glimmer of hope that he wasn't Oscar the Grouch and that 2. I'd find out his honest answer before he knew what I was honestly asking.
When he told me that he was the only night janitor for our hallway, my heart sunk. I told him my concerns and he quickly tried to come up with excuses, but in that very moment we both knew the other person knew the truth.
It turned colder, and that's where it ends. So I told him we'd still be friends. Then he promised he'd watch my stash. I thanked him and walked away.
After all, I'm not one to talk trash.
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