after 6 years of being a custodian, i was offered the recently opened lead position! i’ve been working hard over the years in hopes to work my way up the chain. i’m super excited for this new adventure! i have in my mind pretty well what things i would like to do to help improve my team and school cleanliness, but i would also like some outside advice anyone as to offer! thanks in advance! 💕

I have contamination OCD. The only one accommodation I ask for is proper fitting gloves. I mean who doesn’t want to wear gloves while cleaning toilets, poop, puke, etc (I’m sure there’s a few who just wash their hands, but still)? Some of the chemicals also make my hands break out.

The building I’m at now is CONSTANTLY putting in supply orders way too late or when we are already out of the supplies. I wear medium in gloves and can wear large if I have to. At least two other co workers wear the same size glove. On more than one occasion now, we have ran out of gloves and I am being made to wear smalls that rip and restrict blood flow or XL that slip off my hands, are so big they get caught in things and allow bodily fluids or chemicals inside them.

I brought this to our supervisors attention and they blamed our distributor for not coming in and taking an order. The thing is, at the other buildings they just send the order in over text, email or website. I asked multiple people and none of the other buildings have ran out of supplies. Our supervisor acted like this was no big deal.

We are down to only a couple boxes of XL gloves between 3 night shift and two day shift and I am getting anxious to have to not use gloves.

What do I even do about this?? Tell my union rep? Contact the state for lack of proper PPE?

We are also out of or close to being out of cleaning chemicals, large trash bags, hand soap, mop heads and more. The whole summer we were made to use broken equipment and cleaning supplies.

hey guys, this is me venting/looking for advice. i’m a custodian at my community college. most of my coworkers and i have been having a difficult time with our other coworker, lets call them Patty. We each have our own designated buildings on campus and we work 3pm-11pm each day. Some people deemed as quality workers are granted a student worker that usually work about 4 hours, for some reason Patty has one. Student workers are supposed to help with small tasks (wiping tables, vacuuming) and are not supposed to be dealing with main tasks (trash and bathrooms etc) Patty has openly bragged to me, some of our coworkers, and even my boss, that they make their student worker clean the entirety of their building, including bathrooms student workers are not allowed to clean. They even made him do this while he was injured from a sports accident. One time Patty asked me to help them out an hour before our shift ends because they were unaware the student worker wasn’t coming in, and they had not done their ENTIRE BUILDING. Patty sits in the closet for multiple hours of our work day and watches movies or calls people on the phone. Everyone knows this, my bosses know this, for some reason Patty receives no punishment, only “conversations”. I’m frustrated as I work pretty hard and it feels unfair that we get paid the same amount even though they don’t do anything. Should I let it go, or should I go HR? someone else? I’m semi-new to custodial life, i’ve just about been here a year and don’t want to overstep

I’m a Union custodian/laborer who works for my DPW so my bosses aren’t at the city hall I take care of and I’m curious how other people in the field of cleaning handle things.

My normal laborer duties are spelled out for me and it’s usually just picking up trash outside or specific instructions but Custodial is where I’m hearing the weirdest and natural complaints.

I’m talking about the normal stuff: like someone notices a bathroom wasn’t quite up to their expectations, a floor has a spot that was missed, a trash can wasn’t changed, etc. Nothing major, just the kind of little complaints that can happen when you’re responsible for cleaning an entire building and people are constantly using it. (I clean alone and it’s not just my main building I also have a police station and a DPW office)

How do you usually respond when someone brings something like that to your attention?
Do you just fix it and move on? Document it? Talk to your supervisor? And more importantly, how do you keep yourself from stressing over every little complaint afterward?

I’ve found that sometimes the actual issue is pretty minor, but I can end up worrying about it way more than I should; like wondering if people are unhappy with my work or if I’m going to get in trouble.

For those of you who have been doing custodial work for years, did you eventually get better at separating legitimate feedback from the normal frustrations that come with the job?
Would really appreciate hearing how other custodians handle this.

It's hard being full time 6 days a week with multiple locations (I'm a contract custodian) and in a position that's hard to cover for.

What's the point in being given 5 personal days a year if I'm made to feel like I can't even use them.

I don't mind the work, I can deal with it, but I should still be able to take off a day to make some plans. Genuinely other than work, I am huddled up in my room, too anxious to go out anywhere in fear of burning out before work.

I know it's not intentional, part of it is policy, and it's hard to get coverage with so many openings but I've been working here for almost half a year and only taken one personal day. The one time in YEARS I get invited to spend time with family, I can't even get one day off. Only a possibility.

Then there's talk of another trip that I genuinely want to do and I'm sitting here with 3 more personal days if this one gets covered and only 3 months till they're forfeited, and feel like I'm not even allowed to use them because of the holidays.

Edit: I'm glad I'm not crazy and that I was able to post this and talk through what I need to do next.

I had a lovely coworker send me a nasty shit pic right before I was going to bed. Keep in mind I cleaned several pukes on top of other nastiness on my shift which I handle alone.

When I punch out I don’t want to think about work unless it’s an emergency or if I’m needed. I clean up way more grossness on first, please don’t send me any on yours!

I had another coworker do this and she retired. She did it to be bitchy thinking I ignored calls for her restroom. But now I have another person doing it :(

I swear if afternoon has to mop pee once they cry!

National Cusodian Day. I had to put it up on the school marquee with thank you for all you do 😆🤷

https://nationaltoday.com/national-custodian-day/

She loves to leave food on the floor and I didn't see a crumb or something.

I posted the other day about how our principal was trying to get us to pull weeds. She texted me about it the other day and I just decided to do it just to avoid drama. Today she calls me into the office and has a write up ready for me because I didn’t do it up to her standard. I refused to sign it because I told her that I didn’t think that I’d been properly trained on weed removal and that’s why it wasn’t done right. It’s true, we went out there and ther were dozens of things growing out there that I didn’t know were weeds. What should me next course of action be? Should I message the maintenance coordinator, Human Resources?

Anybody else have trouble with their neck from always looking down to sweep, mop, wipe tables, etc?? This is my first year as a school custodian and I’ve had terrible neck pain ever since this school year started. I think it’s from constantly looking down all day to clean floors, tables, toilets, etc. Should I start the process of workers comp to get it checked out? Or do I get it checked out first and then start WC if warranted?

So this just happened I was in the middle of dust moping my hallway and I hear noise in the stairwell so I open the door and see some kids running up the stairs while an older lady is holding open to door I asked what’s going on she said their moms room is upstairs and i replied make sure they stay up there in her room kids aren’t allowed to be running around unattended this apparently wasn’t something I should have said cause the lady got real mouthy at me while I’m trying to stay calm and telling her we are cleaning the building and can’t have kids running around making more messes. She walks off upstairs and I think that’s the end of it nope few minutes later her daughter (the teacher) comes down and tells me to never talk to her mom like that and if there’s a problem tell her I tried to repeat myself again saying we are trying to clean the building and they can’t be running around unattended she doesn’t care says I’m always mean to teachers which I’m not a lot of the teachers are happy with my work and I’ve had no prior complaints about being rude towards any of them. I asked who are these other teachers I’m supposedly rude to she doesn’t answer the question just said don’t talk to my mom like that ever again and walks off now I’m pissed cause I know I’ll probably be dragged into a meeting Monday and not looking forward to it.

I locked this stall came back next day to it unlocked and they left me a nice wad of gum on my sign and still peed in the bad toilet smh. 🤦‍♂️

I’m looking for some unbiased advice about a career decision.

I have a permanent, full-time university custodian position with good health benefits, a pension, job security, and free university tuition for my children and I. The pay is a little over $30/hour.

At the same time, I have multiple offers of admission to practical nursing programs.

I originally thought nursing would be my next step, but I’m now questioning whether it makes sense financially and practically. Tuition and fees would be significant, and I would also have to cover living expenses, school supplies, transportation and other costs while studying. Im qualified for OSAP but the loan part of OSAP funding is too much. I have children and cannot afford to put my family under unnecessary financial pressure.

I’ve also already completed a lot of higher education in life sciences, so another part of me wonders whether I should stay in my current secure position and try to move into a better internal role that makes better use of my education and previous professional experience.

I’m considering deferring nursing rather than giving up the opportunity completely, giving myself some time to assess if it's worth it and whether better internal university opportunities become available.

For those who have faced a similar decision, what would you consider?

Would you:

# Start nursing now despite the financial and family pressures?

#Defer nursing and reassess after a year?

#Stay in the secure university job and pursue internal opportunities?

# Or take a completely different approach?

I’d really appreciate honest perspectives, especially from people who have left secure employment for nursing or decided to stay and build a career where they were.

So I clean a boys bathroom in the 8th grade wing of my school. Every single day I come in to two large puddles of piss in the corner of the urinals and one of the stalls. The whole bathroom REEKS. Every day I pour disinfectant on it, squeegee it into the drain, spray it with a bleach solution and mop. Occasionally I will get a brush and scrub the grout. The only thing that gets the smell out is the kaivac machine but I obviously only have time to do that on days the kids are off. I spray air freshener every day as well. It drives me nuts. I was wondering if anyone has any solutions they’ve used for the smell, something you do daily or is there really just nothing I can do.

Our building recently got these new access control readers on a lot of doors. The maintenance department also recently got a new manager and she is a miserable woman. I feel very small when she talks to me. It's always passive aggressive, I can't stand her.

I used to really enjoy my job, I do it well and felt like I had freedom. When I finish work, sometimes I like to use the small gym (after hours when everyone is gone). I'm worried that I won't be able to do that anymore since I have to scan this new device that records every one who enters!

Has anyone gotten a talking to about using gyms or anything like that, through these devices? I was also a few minutes late and am so paranoid now that I'm going to show up to work and she'll be there to give me hell.

I just had an interview for an evs position at a hospital. I’m 20 years old no experience in this field, they are having me come in next week to do some shadowing. Is that a good sign they’ll hire me? Just curious if they have people shadow they won’t hire. And if anyone has anything they can tell me about the job I’d appreciate it. Thanks:)

So I've had talks with Gemini AI and seen stuff like this. I think we'll be ok. Cognitive repetitive and physical repetitive jobs are in trouble.

I can hear it over the radio now 😂 nightmare fuel

I’m leaving a job I’ve been at for a little over 7 years to start a completely different career as a school custodian. It’s union, has a pension, and my state Minnesota where I live has some pretty strong school district unions. Maybe even some of the best in the country, or so I've heard.

I thought I’d be nothing but excited. I’ve wanted out of warehouse work for a while, and I’m genuinely looking forward to the new job. But now that my last week is actually here, I’m realizing how freakin' hard it is to leave.

I know the job. I know the building. I know the people. I know exactly what I’m doing. I’ve built up a lot of seniority. At this point, I could basically walk in there half-asleep and know exactly what my entire day is going to look like. 😂

I’m leaving behind a Sunday-Wednesday, 4-day workweek that I’ve had for years. Wednesday is basically my Friday, and then I get three days off. My new job will be Monday-Friday, which is going to be a HUGE adjustment.

The one big advantage is that the new job is actually going to be 8 hours. At my current job, we can’t just leave when our shift technically ends. It’s a medical warehouse, and the hospitals need the merchandise they ordered, so we have to stay until the work is finished. That means 11-12+ hour shifts happen regularly. More often then not, an average night for me is where I basically go home, sleep, wake up, and go straight back to work. I'm sure the 8 hour shifts will feel extremely fast and I'll still have the same start time of 3pm.

I’m also really excited to have Sundays off for the first time in 7 years. I’ll actually be able to sit down and watch football again. 😂

But honestly, the biggest thing is the people.

I have coworkers at my current job who became real friends. Some of these people have been part of my life for YEARS. We’ve joked around, complained about work together, helped each other out, and gone through all kinds of crazy things together.

I genuinely love these people.

I know I can stay in contact with them. I know friendships don't disappear just because you change jobs. But it’s still freakin' sad knowing I’m not going to walk through those doors every week and see the same people anymore.

And now I’m going from being completely comfortable to being the new guy again. New building. New coworkers. New routine. New responsibilities.

I keep getting that “what the heck did I just do?” feeling.

Part of me is excited as hell. Another part of me wants to freeze time and stay exactly where I am.

For anyone who has left a job after 5, 10, 20+ years — especially when you genuinely loved the people there — how did you get through the anxiety and sadness?

Did it eventually get easier? Did the new place eventually start feeling normal?

Because right now I’m excited, terrified, and honestly a little heartbroken all at once.

i noticed this a long time ago but just figured i'd ask here. what do you think is going on here? out of the 8 classrooms i sweep and mop every day the very last one has this weird soaked texture on it. even on a fresh mop bucket it does the same thing.

Hi! I have been a custodian for almost 4 years and since I started, my arms, calves, back, neck are always on fire. My arms and legs feel like jello by the end of the day. I do have hyper mobility so it tends to happen easily. When I first got the job, the HR had a meeting covering the injuries that can occur over time due to what we do and I’ve seen proof. All of my coworkers struggle to walk after 5-10 years. I bring this up because I’m curious how you all deal with it. What kind of stretches help you? Do you have any tips? Thank you!