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Don't ignore the janitor

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Re: Don't ignore the janitor

#51

Post by knorker »

deltasevennine wrote: post #43
knorker wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to make things worse, adding insult to injury. A 'hi' and smile costs nothing. Please at least give that. We're not asking that you give them part of your salary.

I'm not insulting the janitor. I'm insulting myself. And you. And everyone else who works at the company who steps on him. I'm saying, that a "hi" and a smile is utter bullshit. We all know we're stepping on him and a "hi" and a "smile" is opium to make us feel better about ourselves. You completely misinterpreted the post.

I don't think I misinterpreted. You're embarrassed about making more, right? It's not fair?

You're not making it better by ignoring him. You're making it worse.

You can't change capitalism. But you can change the world by adding humanity for the people you pass in your life.

Not doing that adds insult (ignoring) to injury (unfair compensation).

Believe me, I know the feeling of looking at my salary and feeling embarrassed.

Re: Don't ignore the janitor

#52

Post by alliao »

Gigachad wrote: post #29
lhorie wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Japanese schools, the kids are the ones doing the cleaning. Not just taking out the trash, but cleaning the blackboards, mopping the floor, tidying up the desks, cleaning the bathrooms, etc. The reasoning isn't to save money, however. It is precisely to teach them there's no such thing as work that is beneath them.

Probably makes them respect the space more when they are responsible for keeping it clean.

my granddad who was educated by Japanese says the crappiest stuff that made you clean like you meant it; don't read on if you don't want to be obsessed with cleaning stuff.

on how to leaving any space... Even a bird will leave their nest in a tidy manner.

on how to clean... treat the object you want to clean like it's your soul

And man oh man did I wiped those mirrors...

Re: Don't ignore the janitor

#53

Post by jahewson »

rr808 wrote: post #18

I always try to talk to everyone but I'm not sure its the right thing to do. The guy who talks the most is a manager who is worth tens of millions but talks and laughs with the Janitor, its nice but you know he'll never get invited around for dinner which makes it a bit fake to me.

What sort of miserable world do you want to live in where you can only talk to and laugh with your closest friends?

Re: Don't ignore the janitor

#55

Post by [deleted] »

UIUC_06 wrote: post #37

In addition to janitors & wait staff: you can chat with the homeless people, too. You don't have to ask them about "their situation" or offer to help them. Weather, sports, the traffic... just treat them like a person who's not invisible. Before anyone jumps up & objects: yes, there are a lot of homeless who don't want to talk to you, or who are downright dangerous. You can avoid those.

[deleted]

Re: Don't ignore the janitor

#56

Post by jahewson »

swatcoder wrote: post #31
rayiner wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems like a rationalization to me, and one that doesn’t actually make anyone’s life better. Inequality is a fact of life. You both work hard, but you could do his job and he couldn’t do yours. He almost certainly knows that and has come to terms with it. You don’t interact with him because acknowledging the disparity causes you discomfort embarrassment. But doing that doesn’t make his life any better. And, of c…

> you could do his job Not me. And I suspect most of the rest of us here couldn’t either. Most of us would wipe a few sinks, and leave as soon as we found something more “fitting” of the class we believe ourselves to be in. That’s quitting a job, not doing a job. Doing any kind of hard labor for a career takes something that most of us tech people simply don’t have.

No that’s ridiculous. I don’t want to do that job and I wouldn’t choose it but I absolutely can do it. I cleaned my own house just fine for 20 years before I hired someone else to do it for me.

Re: Don't ignore the janitor

#57

Post by denkmoon »

grammarnazzzi wrote: post #11
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #2

Further, try to abide by their requests. If they want the trash can by the door to your office or cubicle on Thursday evening, move the damn trashcan to the door. They have 100 to empty; it's a trivial task for you. We can get wound up in ourselves and forget to hold a door, or avoid spilling crumbs on our carpet, or log out of our workstation, or use a different hallway when the floor is being waxed, or to move the…

> Further, try to abide by their requests. If they want the trash can by the door to your office or cubicle on Thursday evening, move the damn trashcan to the door. Better yet, take your damn trashcan out to the damn dumpster your own damn self. Then we can save some damn money and fire the damn janitor. > They have 100 to empty; it's a trivial task for you. It's a trivial part of their job. They're getting paid for…

Life is nicer when you spend it being nice.

Re: Don't ignore the janitor

#58

Post by tartoran »

I talk to the janitor daily. He used to be a schoolteacher and mainly took the job for health insurance benefits. Folks often look down on this type of workers. I quite often find genuine human beings in them, they don’t have to pretend at all…

Re: Don't ignore the janitor

#59

Post by deltasixthree »

knorker wrote: post #51
deltasevennine wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not insulting the janitor. I'm insulting myself. And you. And everyone else who works at the company who steps on him. I'm saying, that a "hi" and a smile is utter bullshit. We all know we're stepping on him and a "hi" and a "smile" is opium to make us feel better about ourselves. You completely misinterpreted the post.

I don't think I misinterpreted. You're embarrassed about making more, right? It's not fair? You're not making it better by ignoring him. You're making it worse. You can't change capitalism. But you can change the world by adding humanity for the people you pass in your life. Not doing that adds insult (ignoring) to injury (unfair compensation). Believe me, I know the feeling of looking at my salary and feeling embarr…

No post body was provided.

Re: Don't ignore the janitor

#60

Post by michaelwww »

Well, I prefer that people ignore me when I work in service roles. There's no better way to observe people in their natural habitat. I once drove Uber and Lyft for a couple of years and was fascinated by what I learned by people who thought they were confessing to an uneducated driver. Why do this? Well maybe you're writing a book or working on a PhD thesis.

https://learn.trakstar.com/blog/janitors-with-phds

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