Proud Wife of a Janitor!

Okay..the title says janitor, but my husband is a custodian. It’s the same job, just a slightly better word for it. 

My husband worked over twenty years as a truck driver with great pay. He drove mostly local routes but did a few years of over the road type work.  Did he like it?  He did not, but with seven kids he stuck with it for the pay and good benefits. 

When 2020 stormed in, many things changed with his job. He took a voluntary furlough for several months, and when he was brought back things were not the same. The position he had occupied for the past few years was now combined with a much less desirable position, as several employees were laid off permanently and the ones that were left had to perform double duties to cover for these losses. After talking it over, we decided it was time for him to move on. 

2021 and half of 2022 were years of new beginnings. He began a job as a correctional officer at the prison, but due to unexpected health issues and hospitalizations he was unable to continue this work. He worked at several other jobs over the next year, and we actually joked that the man who had worked twenty years for the same job with only one sick day taken was now “job hopping”!

Truth be told, the job hopping wasn’t a big deal. He just needed to find something that he enjoyed. I had come into some money, and his main reason for working was now just to make a little bit and to have insurance coverage. We had also started Door Dashing for fun but found this to be very lucrative as well. When I saw there was a position as an evening custodian at a school just a few blocks from home, I encouraged him to apply. The job didn’t pay well, but offered great time off and insurance benefits..plus was not overly physically demanding and would work fine with his health issues. 

Now, my husband doesn’t get very excited about anything (except the casino and his grandkids, ha). When I asked him how he liked the new job a few months ago and he said “it’s not bad”, I knew he liked it.  Of course, I do hear the little complaints about kids not picking up their crayons, pencils, trash off the floor and leaving it for him, but he still likes the job. 

Today I was scrolling through Twitter and I saw a tweet from someone (a doctor, I believe) saying that they always make it a point to speak to the janitor,  because they were once a janitor and very few of the employees acknowledged or spoke to them.  After reading that, I asked my husband if he ever felt “small” in his position and if the teachers and staff treated him any differently. He told me that many of the teachers speak to him every day and most do acknowledge him. I was glad to hear that, but that post on Twitter was really thought provoking for me. 

Everyone is important in this life…janitors, housekeepers, fast food workers, even door dashers! That McDonalds worker may have two Masters degrees but for some reason chose to work fast food at this time in their life. That janitor may have more money than anyone else in the office but enjoys that type of work. That door dasher may not need a job, but does need to get out of the house and interact with people to keep up their mental health. The waitress might just be working two jobs to support her kids because she wants to be a good role model for them. 

We all have a story and nobody is better than anyone else.  Remember this, and just be kind and respectful. It’s really not that difficult.