Nag, nag, nag. Complain, complain, complain. That’s all me and my co-workers hear. Me and my co-workers are in janitorial and if things haven’t been bad enough with shortages of help and hiring freezes, we are summoned to hear Food Services’ nagging complaints. Me and one of my co-workers have the unmistakable task of vacuuming the dining room in Neptune; lately it seems as though we are sentenced to this task, as means of punishment, rather than it being part of our job. The problems begin with three supervisors, two that I am sure of. These supervisors are either prejudiced against janitors, prejudiced against men, or they purposely fail to exercise fair judgement for completed work. My best guess would be all of the above. Since I have been in Neptune, we have been accused of stealing furniture, stealing food and drinks, not doing our job after seeing us do it, always nagging at our supervisor that we are not doing a good enough job. What is next, the cooking? Everybody has had to make do with what is available and Food Services “should be no different,” or expect special treatment. Like many other crews on campus we have had as many as three vacancies, some crews four and five, then those who use vacation and sick days. I can only speak for Neptune, but as short as we have been, the work is getting done, not on a timely manner as we would like, but it is getting done to the best of our ability considering the shortages. When I have to cover other work areas besides my own and food service area, my students know when I am not there or when I am not on schedule. (Pay attention to this sentence, “supervisors.” They have been very understanding about the shortages on our crew, and most important, they show appreciation for the best effort put forward and knowing that, I feel better about working for them. As far as those supervisors in food service, you have shown “excellence” in burning up the phone line to my supervisors desk with nagging complaints, “excellence” in showing that our presence and work is not wanted or appreciated on any given day, and “excellence” in pointing the finger. To sum things up, do the ??? job yourself. P.S. The vacuum cleaner is in the closet.

TIM DODSON

Janitorial Staff