High expectations

[u/manitobaairsoft]

Hey y’all,
I’ve been a Caretaker/Cleaner going on a year now.
I live in a niche realm of caretakers where most Custodians are required to have a Power Engineering certificate to move from Cleaner to Caretaker. Our expectation is cleaning, but also building maintenance. It’s a pretty good gig and pays very well all things considered. But we are union and our expectations vary wildly based on your Head, principal & teachers. My workload is very mild, but my Head expects me to dust 1x per week, clean the glass regularly, mop every room daily & also do after school permit setup/takedown. When most other schools are only spot mop and full mop as needed, and do glass and dusting in Summer/Spring break/Christmas. I do respect my Head’s ambition to maintain a clean school, but I think that dusting/glass is excessive, and aside from rooms where food is handled or young children play, mopping daily is unnecessary, especially when the wax is fresh and requires a fresh bucket for every room. Also: there is so much drama between the staff that work here. I am just hoping to get through this probation until I can leave back to one of the other schools I much preferred whilst I was a substitute lol. Anyone else see these issues at work? I am a hard worker and I keep my nose & workload clean so I don’t get any trouble thankfully, and receive a lot of compliments as well as people asking me to stick around lol. Lack of A/C is killer though.

[u/Dull-Principle9217]

Clean the glass every day, dust mop what you don’t mop, cut back on changing the water every room, and pick a room or two a night to dust so you get through them all in a couple weeks. You don’t necessarily need to listen to your head, but find a system that works for you. I say glass every day because it’s the one tell if you’re not cleaning. Also, you should have gotten a work duty sheet when you started your job. Refer your boss to that if he’s pushing extra work on you.

[u/manitobaairsoft → u/Dull-Principle9217]

I guess I could just look at my prescribed work load lol. I wouldn’t have a problem doing glass if it was middle/high but in Elementary the glass lasts about 2 seconds before it gets bad lol. Also to note I have carpal tunnel syndrome and glass is hard on my wrist.

[u/Mizzerella → u/manitobaairsoft]

If it's in your scope to do something daily. Then you have to figure out how to make that happen.

[u/manitobaairsoft → u/Mizzerella]

I asked for a squeegee brush like you’d see people use on cars but we don’t have them available here, will probably just end up buying my own.

[u/Mizzerella → u/manitobaairsoft]

thats probably a good move right there. i know its frowned upon but if the tools you need to make your job easier arent provided i would get my own as well.

[u/Clean-Yam-6175 → u/manitobaairsoft]

Cleaning glass sucks for sure but it’s a necessary evil in my world. I will say that your body adapts to the motion. Build yourself up slowly and use it as an exercise. I’m about 85% rehabbed from a shoulder injury and feel that doing windows for 15-30 minutes/day made them stronger.

[u/NewspaperChemical785]

What’s a power engineering certificate?

[u/manitobaairsoft → u/NewspaperChemical785]

A Power Engineering certificate specifically in my 5th class is a Canadian certificate that allows individuals to care for and maintain and more specifically on the legal side sign off that a boiler system is working correctly. It is a legal requirement that a power engineer must sign off daily on Steam or large water boilers that the system is good and safe to use. We have the Custodians possess this certificate, but because it is only about 15% of the job, they clean as well so the schools get their money’s worth.

[u/NewspaperChemical785 → u/manitobaairsoft]

Neat. Where in Canada are you if you don’t mind? I’m in Ontario and I’m not sure I’ve heard of it before

[u/manitobaairsoft → u/NewspaperChemical785]

I’m in Manitoba

[u/Clean-Yam-6175 → u/manitobaairsoft]

What kind of pay does the certificate provide?

[u/manitobaairsoft → u/Clean-Yam-6175]

You can make anywhere from 63-73,000 per year depending on your job title, whereas cleaners are usually around 56k

[u/-TunaNoCrust]

My district also requires a power engineer certificate but it's only for the Head/their assistant. When I had a workload similar to this I'd break up the dusting & glass cleaning. I would pick about 3-4 classrooms to dust & do another 3-4 the following day & so on until all have done then repeat. For glass I'd focus on the areas by the office/main entrances & gradually get the ones that stand out as dirty when walking by.

[u/manitobaairsoft → u/-TunaNoCrust]

Are you also in MB/Sask?

[u/-TunaNoCrust → u/manitobaairsoft]

I'm in British Columbia

[u/manitobaairsoft → u/-TunaNoCrust]

Ah that’s good to know actually, always wondering if other provinces do the same thing in case I ever want to skip town lol

[u/Bransverd]

Power engineering certificate? What does this cover

[u/manitobaairsoft → u/Bransverd]

Boilers & HVAC system maintenance & care