Recognize Appreciation Acknowledge Respect Signs

It takes a special kind of person to work as a custodian or janitor, according to a blog on the ManageMen website. The work is hard and often thankless, wage and respect-levels can be low and media portrayals can be negative.

That’s why it’s important to celebrate the positive stories that reflect most people who work so hard cleaning the buildings where we stay, work, learn, heal and visit.

For instance, a janitor in North Kentucky who spent 32 years working for a local elementary school before retiring in 2001 willed his life savings of $175,000 to child abuse victims through the Kentucky Child Victims’ Trust Fund.

In Cincinnati, Mr. Bob, an elementary school janitor who was recently named the 2018 Cintas Janitor of the Year, received more than 182,100 votes to earn the title. Just before the announcement, Mr. Bob worked with students to build bird houses for their mothers for Mother’s Day.

In Novia Scotia, a janitor who worked at a nursing home for 40 years has Downs Syndrome, but it has no impact on his performance or attendance.

“No matter what you would ask of him, he would never say to you, ‘That’s not my job,’” support services manager Carolyn Zwicker said in the article. “He’s just amazing.”

According to the article, "Without the janitors, there would be no one to use the cleaning products that are manufactured, no one to remove dirt from our buildings to keep them healthy, no one to train and use the cleaning systems we design."

Read the full piece.