They Love Their Jobs

I work late, but this story isn't about me.  You just need to know that to understand how I stumbled upon this moment.  Working at a school, most of the day is spent working with students and staff.  It is busy.  There is a lot to do, and it is pretty easy to become focused on oneself.  It isn't egotistical, it is just the nature of working in a school.  You focus on your kids, your space and your work.  

I host after school clubs, and I coach the speech team.  These activities find me leaving 2-3 hours after most others.  There is a new crew of workers who show up after the students, faculty, staff, and most if not all of administration are gone, the custodial staff.  The unsung heroes who put in the work to make sure the classrooms, hallways, and bathrooms are clean when everyone comes in the next day to mess it all up.  Most don't know the names or faces of those who sweep the floors, wipe off the desks, and clean the drinking fountains.  

I do, and I feel lucky for that.  I see them almost every day as they walk through the library to punch in to work.  They roll their cleaning carts to the different parts of the school to do their work.  Since I am there until 5:00 or 6:00 in the evening and sometime return later at night for one thing or another, I see this custodial staff doing what they do, and they do it really well.  I have taken time to visit with most of them over the years. I get to know them. They are really neat people.  They like to tease and give me a hard time about being there so late as much as I like to get to know them.  Never have I heard one of them complain about the work.  Never do they complain about the hours or the pay.  They work hard, seem happy to be there, and they take pride in their work.  

This is a lot of build up to what I witnessed recently that just brought a smile to my face and made me realize the happiness one can get from working with great people.  I was on my way out at about 5:30.  I hadn't seen as many of the men and women who normally pass through with their carts, but I didn't really think much about it.  I figured that I just missed them.  As I left the library into the hall, I heard their voices in jovial talk and laughter which is not all that uncommon actually.  They had all congregated in the foods lab where they normally eat dinner or take breaks.  As I was walking down the hall toward the foods lab, the owner of the cleaning company came out of the lab and said hi as she always does, but she had a bit of a hop in her step.  We smiled and passed, but I saw the reason for the extra energy.  As I walked past the lab, I saw that she had brought a catered dinner in for her employees.  

They were laughing, razzing one another, eating like kings and queens (fried chicken, green beans, and other dinner treats) and loving life at work.  I walked past and smiled to see them happy as I continued down the hallway loving that I witnessed this moment.  I couldn't help but sense the camaraderie that they have built working hard and breaking bread with one another as they have for years.  But tonight it was special.  They count on one another.  They back each other up.  They are the best darn crew who keep our school looking great.  

Tomorrow, take a look at the people with whom you work.  Think about the good times and the difficult times.  Think about the times you all had someone's back when things weren't great for them.  Think about the meals you have shared with those people.  Yeah, they are co-workers but aren't they just a bit more than that?  Don't they help you love your job just a little more?  

Dream Season Part 2

The ALCS and the NLCS are underway.  After storybook seasons, neither of my teams are in the championship series.  As you may have discovered in a post from earlier this baseball season, Dream Season, I am a lifetime fan of the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers.  

After amazing first half of the season records for both teams, both the Tigers and Cubs stumbled into the playoffs.  The Tigers' fate came down to the last day of the regular season to confirm their playoff birth.  It was a nerve wracking finish to the regular season, but both teams made it to the Wildcard series.  The Tigers moved past the Cleveland Guardians 2 games to one, as the Cubs did the same to the San Diego Padres.  

Then, in the Division Series, the Tigers would  face the Seattle Mariners, and the Cubs went head to head with division rivals and the hottest team in baseball with the best regular season record, Milwaukee Brewers.  The Cubs scored in the first inning of each game (except game 5), but struggled to put runs on the board.  The Brewers took the first two games but the Cubs came back to take games 3 and 4.  The Cubs dropped Game 5 with a score 3-1.  It was the same result for the Tigers, but it went down quite a bit more suspenseful.  The Mariners and the Tigers each took one of each of the first two games.  Then, power surged for each team as the Mariners won 8-4 in game three, and the Tigers tied it all up 2-2 with a 9-3 win in game four.  Then came game 5.  The game sat at a score of 2 to2 as the 9th inning came to a close.  The game went past midnight in the central time zone as the home team, Mariners, scored in the 15th inning on a walk-off single.  

It is hard to see both of my teams lose in the playoffs in back-to-back nights, but in reflection, it was a great season.  I have never been so proud to be a Cubs and Tigers fan as this year with their dominant first half of the season.  It was fun to entertain the question from friends, "who do you cheer for if they both get to the World Series?"  It was nice to dream about that, but I will have to continue my wait. 

Regardless of the struggles and frustrations of the last couple months and the team power outage of both teams' bats, it has been fun.  You might even say it was almost a Dream Season.