Do janitors really need performance reports?

How do you rate toilet scrubbing on a scale of 1 to 5?

Published on June 29, 2004 By chiprj In Blogging

So this morning I was on my way to teach class and as I was waiting for the elevator, I saw something that kind of blew my mind. There on the couch and sofa in front of the elevator was one of our janitors and some woman I had never seen before and she was going over a multi-page (like 7+ pages) document and discussing his performance. "What you're really stong at is..." was all I heard and frankly, I don't want to know more. I mean, what comes next? What you're really good at is emptying the trash? Separating the recyclables from the non (already done by the two different cans in each office)? Restocking the toilet paper? What was next? "You're urinal washing skills are a little sub-par, so try to brush up on that during the next evaluation period." Come on now, does anyone really need a multi-page document and official process to determine if someone is a good janitor or not?
Don't get me wrong. I truly appreciate the work done by the cleaning crew. It's one less thing I have to worry about. And it makes life a lot easier on the students (who have a lot of stress placed on them already).
I've talked to the janitors on many occasions and they are real people. I don't take them for granted or look down my nose at them. I've offered them coffee and sat and talked with some of them. One of the guys noticed my baseball pictures and we sat and talked about the Indians and the Dodgers. They are all very nice people and do an excellent job. But, I think that sitting down and going over performance point by point might be a little over the edge. I mean, either it's clean or it's not. If it's not, the supervisor sends someone to reclean it. How do you rate toilet scrubbing on a scale of 1 to 5?
Ah, I'm sure the evaluation serve some valuable purpose, but it's lost on me.

Comments

pseudosoldier

on Jun 29, 2004

I had never thought about this before. I guess in a DoD facility, they would get evaluated like all the other gov't employees. It does seem over the top, tho.
BTW, "...urinal cleaning... ...brush..." Nicely done.

greywar

on Jun 29, 2004

The purpose served is to give the evaluators a reason to have a job.

pseudosoldier

on Jun 29, 2004

Fair.
I'll point out that greywar was helping with *my* evaluation, recently. Draw conclusions as you will; I'll draw mine with crayons.

SGT2

on Jun 29, 2004

Now, wouldn't those evaluations serve the same purpose as the monthly performance counselings we give to the lower enlisted? I mean, we actually evaluate how well they cut the grass, or how much trash they've collected over the previous month. We just use different terms like "details" or "tasks". We tell them how well they've completed their assigned "tasks" so it looks better on paper. Many times, we evaluate the soldier's ability to scrub a toilet to perfection. Don't you remember basic training? And to think we promote specialists when they consistantly have good counselings. We consider them "good soldiers" who do what they're told. Essentially we promote soldiers for scrubbing toilets, so perhaps we should come up with a 1-5 scale to rate toilet scrubbing. Maybe we should even petition for it to become an Olympic event, maybe give points for the best shine or best use of bleach....

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