u/Harmonicalope

Just got a call about it. I’d feel bad about it… but the problem is the teacher was keeping it in a trash bag. Not even a unique trash bag from home either. It was one of the ones we use for every regular trash can in the school. And there was no note or anything. Just a trash bag in the middle of the room at the end of the year, which doesn’t even stand out, as I was there till like 10pm just taking out trash last night (I’m supposed to work until 7). Teachers are throwing things out. The only thing that stood out about it was that it was very full and on a table (well, a floor shelf to be specific).

Apparently the teacher is going to try digging it out of the dumpster. That dumpster is almost full and the trash bag is inside another trash bag.

…there’s no way I get in trouble for throwing trash bags in the trash is there? I am NOT paying nearly $500 because a teacher has bizarre ideas about the proper storage of clothing. If that really was trash I’d be in trouble for leaving it.

Edit: realized I should specify, this is an elementary school, and the graduation was the for preschoolers. And I think they actually had the graduation yesterday. So this hasn’t actually gotten in the way of graduation.

Update: just heard that the teacher did manage to find the trash bag.

Hello everyone, I’ve been a janitor for a few years now. Started working part at the high school I graduated from not long after graduation. A couple months back, I switched over to working full time at the elementary. It wasn’t my original intention to be the only janitor there, I just offered to take up more hours after the other janitor there had to leave. But that’s fine enough, I can handle the extra work. The problem is that I don’t have nearly enough time to finish within my 8 hours and the school absolutely hates overtime.

For context, I go in at 11, right as lunch is starting. That’s fine, cleanup for lunch isn’t too hard once I got used to it. The problem is, I can’t clean any of the classrooms until ~3:30 when students leave. That’s means the first four and a half hours of my day, I can’t clean the majority of the school. All I can do is the bathrooms, and even that’s difficult with students needing in and out. There’s 25 classrooms I need to get trash from, vacuum, and take recycling from, as well as two offices and a library, all in about 3 1/2 hours. That’s around how many hours I used to work as a part timer, but with about five times as much work. For awhile, one of the other janitors helped out, and I alternated vacuuming certain rooms to save time, but the other janitor went back to the high school and people complained about the classrooms not being vacuumed everyday. For the past 3 weeks I think I’ve not finished a regular day less than 30 minutes late, and one particularly bad day where I was sleep deprived as hell it took me nearly 12 hours, although that was mostly on me for that one. Most days take at least an hour longer than I’m supposed to be there for. Sometimes I basically sprint around trying to finish on time but I can’t seem to get things done fast enough.

Now, I’m not posting this to actually ask for advice for the current situation, despite the tag. The school years almost out, and I’m moving away before school starts up again. But I’m not the most confident person, and I can’t help but feel like most people wouldn’t struggle with this as much as I have. I tend to space out no matter how hard I try to stay focused, and sometimes I start to feel light headed and need to sit down for a minute. But no matter how much I push myself, counting every second and power walking all the time, I can’t get everything done and leave on time. And the thing is, I’m pretty sure one of the other janitors IS able to do all of this on time. Hell, I knew an old man who had the same position as me. So I wanted to ask, because I need to know if I’m just not cut out for this job, am I just bad at this? I need to know if I need to try a different kind of job when I move.

To be clear, I’m not venting. I could have told my boss that I couldn’t handle it on my own, to begin with this was a sort of trial period situation. I don’t mind working an extra hour for the last few weeks. It doesn’t matter too much to me if I finish at 7 or 8. It’s not the fact the hours are long that bothers me, it’s the fact I feel like they’re only long because I’m slow. I’m also not just looking to be comforted here: I’m serious when I say I need to know if I should pursue other work in the future.