r/Custodians

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.

I want to see what others think I should do in the situation I have found myself in. I used to do plumbing but decided to get out and move to my hometown. I took a job at my local highschool as a custodian and love it. However I couldn't help to notice that the contractor that were used to remodel the bathrooms are not following code. They are only using wall mount brackets on sinks and no Lavatory carriers. Section 402.4 of the International plumbing is very clear that all wall hung lavatory shall be installed with rigid metal supports to prevent the inevitable that will happen. I'm stuck because I love the job and don't wanna make waves by telling someone but at the same time as a tax payer for this school district and a person who wants things done right the first time I can't help but feel morally obligated to tell them. What would you do?

Edited: I make $11.28/hr at the school and quit a job making $30+/hr to work here. So the money is not the reason I'm at the job. I just like the schedule

We just got a new kid, it's his third day. Guessing right out of highschool, by his attitude and demeanor. We utilize go carts, and he's having trouble keeping our speed limit.

He was shadowing me as I cleaned through 3 of our buildings and helping out with the things our boss has shown him. I prefer to work alone, but as a woman i appreciate having a male coworker around to tag team the gendered rest rooms without worrying about people walking in.

I was making a note on my phone about what supplies needed refilling and when I looked up, he had a full bottle of dual sense #20 pointed at the middle of my face, a few inches away. He was smiling, he said nothing. I said "No, we don't do that." And he walked away and put it in the closet without a word. A few minutes later he asked if I was nervous.

Pretty sure he's just being childish, but that could, categorically, be considered assault. At best, inappropriate work behavior and ladden with misogyny. I let my manager know about the situation and suggested that he needs chemical safety training.

It's too early for this kind of stuff man.

Last three days of school here and the kids are going off the walls. We had the after school kids crammed in my zone today and they kept throwing stuff around, "pranking" each other which left horrible sticky messes, they were running around and even lying down in the middle of the hallways. Not the adults in-charge faults either, they were way outnumbered and trying desperately to keep them in one area let alone curb the bad behavior. The kids were acting so completely feral when they're usually chill, it was so bad 😭

I'm behind on tasks because I have to clean up after them now 😭 I'm so tired already

Floor tech here. Our building has been running into some major limitations because our auto scrubber has been down for about 3 months now, and the floors are starting to show the consequences of missing proper scrub cycles. I’ve been trying to hold things together with mopping and burnishing cycles, but now I’m starting to notice yellow patches and deeper scratches showing up.

I tried using a side-by-side scrubber in the hallways as an alternative before, but honestly it’s just too inefficient and unsafe for the job on day shift. With constant resident/staff traffic, the floors stay wet too long and there’s no proper water recovery like an auto scrubber. It turns into a slip hazard fast in a healthcare setting.

At this point I’m considering cutting a lime scrubing pad down to fit my flat mop and using it almost like a doodlebug setup for controlled spot scrubbing in problem areas until we get the machine situation figured out.

Anybody ever improvise something similar for temporary corrective maintenance? Curious how well it worked for you guys.

So basically by the time summer work hits I’m going to be 20 weeks pregnant. This will be my 3rd pregnancy. I have to do a bunch of stripping and waxing during the summer and I’m really concerned with my ability to do it. This will be by 3rd pregnancy and during my other 2 pregnancies I suffered from something called pubic bone dysfunction, and it’s incredibly painful.
At our school we do not have the proper equipment to strip and wax and a lot of it is using scrapers to get like 70 layers of wax off the floor because it hasn’t been done in so long.
My boss recommended I get a doctors work for either modified or to take medical leave over the summer. I just feel incredibly guilty doing that right now since I’m not in massive amounts of pain yet. It is starting but I don’t like asking for accommodations for something that hasn’t become a problem yet, the issue is that the school needs the time to be able to organize my accommodations.
Idk I guess I just want either some advice or reassurance that what I’m doing is the right thing?

Recently started working at a school district and the way we are told to clean toilets and the toilet bowl at my school is a bit “questionable”.

Basically we use this certain type of scrubber that looks like a loofah with a handle that sits in a small bucket of disinfectant/cleaning solution. Then we scrub all over and under the toilet seat, and inside the toilet bowl. After the urine and/or feces stains are removed and it looks sanitized enough, we can either let it air dry or wipe it down with a dry rag.

I’ve just never cleaned a toilet like this before. When I was in the military we used a toilet bowl cleaner brush for inside the bowl ONLY. The rest of the toilet rim, and seat was cleaned with disinfectant spray and brown paper towels. Let me know what yall think.

Does anyone still use wax mops over the wand/pad style?

So that new factory job, first day went great, but its definitely going to be a learning curve, and I'll have to be patient. Turns out I am THE guy, and janitor is a new position with the company too....(they had someone coming in once every couple weeks) so I'm having to remember inventory to give to my production, and suffice to say most equipment is picked up at the general store.

My biggest hurdle is gonna be the mop heads. I'm sure yall have some suggestions because there's no laundry or anything. I'm used to changing out each day (but come from a place with a washer). If its a factory shop break room and restroom floor, how often should I be, i guess rinsing (maybe soaking with bleach water?) Before switching out or disposing? At the very least, I'm keeping regular mops and bathroom mops separate......

Also, I need to think about keeping a list of what products need to be used. Anyone got a template? Lol. I guess I finally became a custodial lead, in a slight sense....

So I work at a University (newer employee, 8 months) and graduations are happening. We host graduations for our own students as well as neighboring high schools. I have been cleaning the arena between ceremonies and I'm more than happy to considering the semester is over and I don't have much to do at my buildings.

The University has historically provided a catered lunch (usually chic fil a or McAlister's) every day for all the staff who help out with graduation. Security, police, light and sound tech, coordinators, custodians, etc. Everyone would get asked in advance their food option (Like if they wanted a sandwich or salad) but I never received this email so I just assumed that they weren't catering this time for whatever reason. But as I finished cleaning up the arena on day one, I saw people going into the side room and getting food. I thought I missed the email. Come to find out, one of our supervisors received an email confirming that Custodians were not eligible for the lunch this time.

I also heard from my coworkers that the University used to take all the custodians to go out to lunch at the end of every year, but last year they dropped that too.

I am capable of feeding myself of course. It's not about the food. If they hadn't been giving any food out to anyone I wouldn't have cared. But being deliberately excluded from a gesture of appreciation really leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Kind of makes me wonder if the University is cutting their budget when it comes to Custodial services, but I won't pretend to know how all that stuff works.

Hi I’m (hopefully) starting my first custodian job which will also be my first job ever. I genuinely have no clue where to start, I won’t be working at a school but rather dorms at a national park.
Any tips for a beginner would be incredibly appreciated!

All this to say: pray for me and my coworker Deb tonight please. If you’re not religious just wish us good luck because either way we’re gonna need it.