I’ve done all kinds of random jobs but like to tell anyone who will listen that my time as a cleaner was possibly the best of them all.
I worked in a building that was entirely dedicated to operating and adminning a traffic tunnel, so there were normal office rooms but also cool control rooms full of flashing lights and interesting displays and friendly people who were only too happy to infodump about it all.
The top floor was entirely given over to a conference room featuring a massive scale model of our tunnel but also the surrounding road system, complete with tiny toy cars. That room also had a hot drinks machine that was entirely free to employees so most of my breaks were spent up there with a book drinking hot chocolate.
Yeah, cleaning toilets and buffing floors is not exactly going to keep your mind occupied, but that just means it’s free to wander to more interesting places. No stress, nothing to take home at the end of the day.
If you can get by on the generally lower pay and get to clean somewhere interesting there are a lot of unexpected perks, tbh.
Note that it is nearly impossible for men to get hired in cleaning positions. I read a study a few years ago where researchers submitted a couple thousand applications to cleaning jobs with male resumes, and got zero interviews. Then they did the same with a woman’s name on the resume and applied to tech jobs, mechanic jobs, and other male dominated fields and got tons of interviews.
Not sure if OP is male or female, but it’s worth taking into consideration that they may face discrimination in that career path.
Interesting! I worked with both men and women at that job, but admittedly it was a long time ago now (and not in the US which I know most people here are) so I honestly had no idea this was a thing!
I hope the department of labor starts conducting sting operations. I would really love to see one of those HR shits in court on the stand and their employer facing multimillion dollar fines.
I’ve done all kinds of random jobs but like to tell anyone who will listen that my time as a cleaner was possibly the best of them all.
I worked in a building that was entirely dedicated to operating and adminning a traffic tunnel, so there were normal office rooms but also cool control rooms full of flashing lights and interesting displays and friendly people who were only too happy to infodump about it all.
The top floor was entirely given over to a conference room featuring a massive scale model of our tunnel but also the surrounding road system, complete with tiny toy cars. That room also had a hot drinks machine that was entirely free to employees so most of my breaks were spent up there with a book drinking hot chocolate.
Yeah, cleaning toilets and buffing floors is not exactly going to keep your mind occupied, but that just means it’s free to wander to more interesting places. No stress, nothing to take home at the end of the day.
If you can get by on the generally lower pay and get to clean somewhere interesting there are a lot of unexpected perks, tbh.
Note that it is nearly impossible for men to get hired in cleaning positions. I read a study a few years ago where researchers submitted a couple thousand applications to cleaning jobs with male resumes, and got zero interviews. Then they did the same with a woman’s name on the resume and applied to tech jobs, mechanic jobs, and other male dominated fields and got tons of interviews.
Not sure if OP is male or female, but it’s worth taking into consideration that they may face discrimination in that career path.
Interesting! I worked with both men and women at that job, but admittedly it was a long time ago now (and not in the US which I know most people here are) so I honestly had no idea this was a thing!
Still miss that free hot chocolate tho.
I hope the department of labor starts conducting sting operations. I would really love to see one of those HR shits in court on the stand and their employer facing multimillion dollar fines.