At lunchtime on Tuesday, I went to investigate a ruckus in the girls’ washroom across from my classroom. Apparently someone had done their business on the floor… a steaming pile of brownie batter type business. (Hope you weren’t eating! LOL) Now this doesn’t really shock me… nothing shocks me anymore at school… especially in the business department. I could dedicate an entire website to business stories.

Anyway… I locate a custodian and tell him about the mess. Toward the end of the day I went back in to make sure it got cleaned up. It literally looked like someone took a paper towel and scooped the business off the floor… that’s it… just one scoop… leaving a huge smear behind. I was disgusted, but I gave the custodian the benefit of the doubt. Maybe a kid scooped it up, so he didn’t really see the mess in the first place. (Although I don’t know how you wouldn’t see a crap smear on a beige floor.) At this point, the kids were gone for the day and I knew the night custodian would be mopping the floor shortly, so I dropped it.

Cut to Thursday noon. I ran into the girls’ washroom to wash my hands before parent conferences start. Out of the corner of my eye I saw… THE SMEAR! Two days later… the smear was still there. This means that our washroom floors (that are used by 200 students at least 2 times a day) had not been mopped in AT LEAST two days.

I retrieved the same custodian and told him the issue. He grumbled about me interrupting his lunch. I apologized for that, but explained that I didn’t think we wanted parents to find crap smeared on our washroom floor. He mumbled about it being the night custodian’s fault. I agreed that they should have mopped the floors, but pointed out that he was originally notified about the issue as well. He continued to grumble while he waddled down the hall to finally do his job.

I realize that this is probably one of the crappiest (ha ha) jobs in the world… and I wouldn’t fault anyone for forgetting to empty the pencil sharpener or not wiping down the white board or forgetting to replenish the paper towels one day. But to be so lazy and care so little about the health of the children… that I don’t get at all!

(Sidenote: My sister, who also teaches in my building, heard my story and said, “It smelled like crap all day in my room yesterday… I just thought someone had skids.” LOL)