In the Student Union, they constantly take out garbage and wipe off tables. In the dorms, they sanitize showers and scour stairwells. UB janitors clean up after students and faculty alike and the messes they make, and the most horrendous scenes they encounter leave them with legends that last long after the scrubbing and mopping is done.
Encounters with poor hygiene
Beth, a janitor who works in the dorms, has witnessed some unsightly things in her time. From urine on the floor to dirty tampons and panties, Beth said she has dealt with it all.
"When the kids don't clean up after themselves and when their stuff is in the way, it makes it hard for us to clean," Beth said.
Generally, she does not have to deal with too many disgusting things on a day-to-day basis, but she recalls, "One time, there was a pile of poop in the shower."
Lisa, a dorm custodian, said a few issues she has dealt with involved student cleanliness including vomit in the bathrooms and students not cleaning up after themselves in the kitchen areas.
If Lisa had it her way, she would remind students to "aim and flush the toilet," because sometimes they forget.
Some of the worst things Lisa has seen in the stairwells are chicken wings, urine, and used condoms. One of the worst times to be a custodian is when students are moving out, according to Lisa. The high volume of garbage during closing weekend is daunting.
Cleaning the dorm rooms during the summer, especially the ones that do not get regular janitorial service, is a nightmare for Lisa. When a bathroom has not been cleaned for several months, the mold, mildew and other unpleasant things, including the smell, is disgusting. For Lisa, it is hard to fathom that students did not clean up after themselves for that amount of time, and she really wishes they would be more considerate.
Cleaning up food follies
Jason, another dormitory custodian, has seen his fair share of nastiness, too. Some of the grossest things he comes across on a semi-regular basis are vomit in the bathrooms and fecal matter on the toilet seats. His pet peeve is when students throw out their food garbage in the bathrooms. The bags get too heavy, they smell bad and if the garbage bag rips, the food goes everywhere making it a large mess to clean. Though that is his major complaint, he would also like students to clean up after themselves in the kitchen.
Recounting one of the oddest things he has seen, Jason said, "One time, they took four raw chicken breasts, put a string through them, and put it around a lamp."
Though that one is odd, one of the grossest messes he had to clean was when someone stuck an entire roll of toilet paper into the toilet, clogging it, and then urinated on it.
"That was unpleasant," he said.
Lisa said that some of the biggest messes come from vandalism and plumbing problems. Sometimes that can be student-related, but sometimes a pipe breaks and there is nothing they can do about it except clean up the mess. Lisa would like student so to be conscious of the problems they create though, especially when it comes to things like pubic hair on the toilet seat.
Jason reminds students, "Wipe up a little bit."
Respect is key
Mariano, a relatively new custodial employee, having been on the job only a month, said he has already dealt with daily messes.
"If the can says recycling, just recycle it," Mariano said.
He said he remembers being as young as 20 and knows what it is like to be in college. He said the university does not push cleanliness enough and that the students just are not tuned into it.
Mariano said he feels the teachers do not help much at all by allowing the students to make a mess and not clean it up; for example, not putting desks back after they move them all over the room.
Nevertheless, Mariano takes no offense by the unclean habits of students and faculty.
"I don't think it's disrespect. I just think they aren't tuned into it," Mariano said.
Krisitina Cirocco, a psychology major, has met a few janitors and finds them all to be quite nice. She has had no real complaints with the janitorial service and she has not found any of the common problems janitors mentioned above in her living area.
"Living in a girls' hall, we all take care of it," Cirocco said.
Not all janitors have major issues with their students or nasty tales to recount. Jan, a Governors Complex custodian, loves the area she cleans and the students who live in that area.
"My kids are so good that I can hardly complain about them," Jan said.
She cleans in a freshman honors dorm and Jan said she feels that their cleanliness might be because they are right in the beginning of their college careers and might still be afraid to make messes like they would be at their actual homes.
Many janitors have had a lot of bathroom issues and most complained about toilet flushing, but Jan said, "I mean, even in years past, sometimes they might not flush the toilet and I can understand that. They didn't want to wake people up in the middle of the night."
Though she still has to clean up her fair share of vomit on occasion, Jan said her biggest pet peeve is cleaning up the little things. She said she wishes students would stop throwing popcorn at each other - the little pieces are hard to pick up.
Jan believes her strategy of how she treats the students she cleans for is a direct result of her success in having not as many issues as other janitors.
Her strategy is simple: "I respect them and they reciprocate."
