Mad About Midd Christmas credit for custodians

Author: Dave Barker

There are many jobs at Middlebury that I would love to land. Titles like "Snow Bowl Manager" and "Chocolate Fountain Engineer" come to mind. Heck, I would double major in Chinese and Biochemistry for the chance to take the zamboni for a spin at halftime. You would have a tougher time convincing me to perform the duties of a custodian.

I awoke on Monday to the usual clatter of beer bottles being removed from the suite recycling bin. I've rarely seen the face that performs the task, but after getting out of bed, I made sure to find out. Just outside my door, ready to enter into another suite with garbage bag in hand, stood Marion Desabrais, who has worked at the College for six years.

She commutes from Shoreham six days a week, and after performing her custodial tasks, often works overtime for dining services. You can't fault her for having a case of the Mondays. "Sometime when you come in on a Monday it's very disappointing," she said, no doubt referring to the usual stickiness of Busch Light on the floors and pizza boxes hanging from trash cans.

Desabrais is one of about 50 custodians responsible for cleaning buildings within the commons. I found two other custodians that morning. I waited for Tinaya Larocque to finish scrubbing a toilet. Jennifer Anderson, like Desabrais, was slowly constructing a hill of trash bags outside. Larocque commutes 20 miles from Orwell while Anderson lives in Ripton. A sizable number come in each morning from the Ticonderoga area in New York, where property values haven't kept pace with Middlebury's. The majority of the custodians are women and have kids.

You won't find the job description of a custodian on MOJO, but it contains a few surprises. In addition to arranging furniture and cleaning chalkboards, a custodian is supposed to "interact appropriately with the customer." Linda Ross, who oversees the custodial and waste management staff, encourages custodians to learn students' names on each shift. "They stay because they have good relations with the students," she said.

Indeed, no matter how quick my scurry from dorm to dining hall for breakfast, I always notice the smiling face of a custodian. If they can stop in mid-mop, shouldn't we pause on our way out? Take a moment this week and chat with those responsible for cleaning your Crest from the faucet.

More importantly, if you have been deleting commons-related emails, RAs are collecting "holiday bonuses" for the custodial staff this week. Bonuses are for corporate types like Clark Griswold in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Think of the few dollars you give to the custodial staff as a thank-you gift. Depending on the commons contribution, custodians have generally received between $10 and $100 apiece. Desabrais and Larocque told me of their plans to put bonuses toward Christmas presents, while Anderson plans on using hers to help pay bills. Without that wake-up on Monday morning, I'd be lugging a lot more than my backpack down to class.