Wednesday, October 14, 2009


I Know Things:)



Two days a week I'm a janitor...I know things:) The preceding sentence brings to mind one of my favorite movie quotes; the movie: "High Heels and Low Lifes". The quote (as I remember it) was delivered by Minnie Driver to her boy friend as she was throwing him out of her apartment (n life); "Ray...you shouldn't have your head so far up your a--, I'm a nurse I know these things!".  Yes, I do know little dumb things; hopefully you will find at least one useful or interesting.
First up Spiders. One office I have been cleaning for almost nine years and depending on the season I know where the spiders show up at. For the most part mine are very tiny cob web spiders and seem to prefer the same spots...I'll vacumn them up and  next week others have moved in...like someone put up a for rent sign. The biggest spiders in your office you will never see. The live behind your bookcases and filing cabinets. Every now and then I manage to vacumn one up...but there are some that (probably another generation) I have never managed to get. These usually come out at nite or on the weekends. The exception is during mating season and they will wander farther from thier places of safety. This building has high walls, 18 -24 feet high. So at those times of the year there will be some really huge spiders up above. Most people never notice, but the world being as it is it could cause quit a distrubance. My solution: heavy duty rubber bands! I loop one end of the rubber band on the end of my right hand index finger and pull straight back with my left hand, sliding up my right arm...aim and if I'm real lucky I will knock the spider down on the first attemp. Generally it takes me a half dozen tries but this always works...good idea to have the vacumn hose attachment at the ready and machine on. The other office I clean is a dentist practice...needless to say I go to extremes to minimize the risk of a spider showing up...basically dusting high everyweek...the top edges of the wall and were the walls meet...and everything in between. No Webs No Spiders.
Some little things I've noticed. It seems once somebody starts using kleenex they are hooked. I may be way off base here but if you examine the area around a box of tissues that have been used all week on a dark desktop you will notice this really fine dust...nose...dust...??? Go figure.

At the dentist office I keep things dusted so well that at some point I just don't look at the flourecent light fixture lens (this what they call that the plastic: lens). So not very often I will find a note reminding me...which is good. Can you imagine using high speed equipment  on a tooth and a bug fearing patient notices the light above...for a janitor bug free lites equal job security.
Keeping ground coffee in the freezer is a common practice these days; both at home and work. I have one frig. I clean and found that if you use your vacumn hose attachment the grounds that might (or do) get spilt come right out. Try it.
Something to think about whether you have a cube in the basement or view on the 22nd floor...
there is something that can make a janitor really nervous....usb flashdrives. I'm talking about towers on the floor...this usb drive sticks out and the socket it is pluged into is hooked to a printed circuit board. Now if a vacumn cleaner just happened to hit it just right your whole mother board may need to be replaced...I haven't hit one yet but they do make me nervous. Anyway that is the janitor stuff.
Bed time again,
Jim



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