It’s 2011 in La Grande, Oregon: The era of the Lady Gaga Meat Dress, the plague of “Fifty Shades of Gray” and the end of the Oprah Winfrey show. Michael Alvarez has only been working as a custodian at Eastern Oregon University for about three weeks, and he finds himself tip-toeing through a pitch-black basement. On top of that, being a newlywed and the father of a precious 2-year-old girl, he had little reason to give into his nerves as he focused only on the grip of his mop.
Alvarez is trying to clean Hunt Hall—a residence hall previously located near Inlow Hall—but the eeriness of the dusty walls and creaking floors are beginning to get under his skin. The hall is stuffy, smelling strongly of musk as he continues to march forward, swatting away his discomfort. He clicks his flashlight and stands face-to-face with a body. A body dripping with blood.
Alvarez hollers, but as he stumbles backward into a shelf, he drops his flashlight in fear for his life. After holding his breath after what seemed like forever— heart racing— he opened his eyes only to realize: These are Halloween decorations.
He later learned from his supervisor that the students had hosted a haunted house in that very basement. In the end, Alvarez thankfully recovered from the prank and has been with EOU for nearly 15 years.
In those 15 years, Alvarez and his wife now have a total of three daughters, and he has worked as EOU’s Athletic Equipment Manager for 8 years and EOU’s lead custodian for 7 years, returning to custodianship in order to make time for his family. Out of everything in his career, Alvarez said that his most memorable moments were definitely his interactions with students. “My motivation is the students. Not only as a husband and father. I’m here for the faculty, too,” he said, “You see what no one else sees.”
Alvarez also said that his deep connection to the values of his job, those being service and community, always pushes him to work effectively. However, in recent months there have been issues retaining student custodial staff. Alvarez said that the workload and invisibility of the job could weigh a lot on workers, since every shift is largely solitary. Custodians are often overlooked, he said.
As the lead custodian, Alvarez is the main coordinator and recruiter for EOU’s new student-worker custodial hires. For each new hire, Alvarez teaches them how to properly mix chemicals and how to follow sanitization protocol. After training, custodians work in pairs and clean each building from top to bottom. During school breaks, custodians conduct deep cleans which include pipe disinfection, waxing and scrubbing of floors, carpet cleaning, and more.
Casey Daniel, one of Alvarez’s student-worker custodians, has also said that the lack of custodians on their team has made daily tasks more difficult. Daniel said that there is often too much area to cover despite the custodial shortage, so he would usually cover for shifts when people would call in sick. On top of that, Daniel also said that older custodians usually get injured due to accidents while cleaning, so he and other student-workers would also help to cover their shifts.
On possible reasons as to why students would suddenly quit being a custodian, both Alvarez and Daniel said that the societal scrutiny of the job may play a big part in the custodian shortage. Daniel said that he wished he could tell those student-workers who suddenly quit, “Why should you be ashamed? You applied.”
Alvarez says that while many student-workers perform very well, sometimes students don’t “get it.” He said that hard work, precision, and pride are very important in order to succeed at being a custodian. While Alvarez said that he was willing to be patient and to teach said students how to do their job well, he said that there was only so much he could do.
However, Alvarez said performance and quality of work are very different when it comes to custodianship at EOU. During large events, oftentimes areas cannot be cleaned deeply enough due to custodians having to travel between buildings in a short amount of time. This means that even if a custodian is an exemplary employee, it is still difficult to fully complete their daily tasks during their shifts due to the custodian shortage.
On a final note, Daniel said that the best way to thank custodians for their hard work is by tidying up after yourself in small ways.
“Custodians feel appreciated when students recognize their work. Especially when people don’t see them during the day,” Alvarez said, “It is also nice when students reach out to us like this.”
