9 Janitor for Restaurant/School
For years, janitor has been the cautionary occupation of choice for parents trying to scare their kids out of skipping class, not taking college seriously, or just misbehaving. “If you keep it up, you’re going to end up becoming a janitor!”, my mother said to me on more than 15 occasions growing up, and I’ve got to admit, the image it aroused in my head was not a pleasant or pride-inspiring one.
A janitor’s sense of pride in his work is destroyed only hours after he completes it every night, for he spends hours vacuuming garish carpets, waxing scuffed floors, and taking out piles of garbage only to see hoards of children or customers create a dirtier mess the next day. There is no joy for a janitor like an unexpected weather-related reprieve from school, but usually they have to go into work KNOWING that there will be garbage, pee on the seat, half eaten food on the cafeteria floor, and other messes that need to be tended to, without exception.
This job has to be the definition of frustration, and it makes it worse that children or even grown customers rarely notice the job you do cleaning, but always notice the smudge on the floor or stain in the carpet and are quick to point it out. When was the last time you heard someone thank a janitor for keeping the place clean? It is bad enough that the custodial host has to endure the stereotype of the shameful janitor, the job that your mother always warned was the last stop on the Mess Up Road, but rarely receiving acknowledgement of the hard work you put in can sting even worse.
It is ironic that some of the most physically demanding and demeaning jobs pay the least and have very little prestige, and this is certainly the case in the janitorial trade. At annual salaries of $16,000 or potentially less, janitors are doing what they must to get by, but it is neither a fun nor glamorous line of work.
