New OWU custodial workers leave their mark

By Sadie Slager
Transcript Correspondent

With a new system of daily or weekly custodial checklists posted throughout common areas and dormitory bathrooms, students are told who cleaned their bathroom, when they did it and which duties were performed.

In many common areas and buildings cleaned by the Ohio Wesleyan Aramark Custodial Department, pink flyers outline days the spaces are cleaned and differentiate between deep cleaning and regular cleaning.

Deep cleaning procedures include dry mopping of floors, emptying of trash, dusting of surfaces and cleansing of fixtures.

In student bathrooms, custodial services are responsible for replenishing toilet paper, cleaning the shower, emptying trash, wiping down surfaces and mopping the floor. Once custodial workers have finished these weekly tasks, they leave a checklist with the date, time and their signature.

Freshman Ann Sharpe said she is satisfied with the current state of custodial services. She said her bathroom is “cleaned thoroughly each week” and always has sufficient supplies.

“We currently have 8 rolls of toilet paper ready to be used,” she said.

Sharpe said when she and her suitemates leave belongings out in the bathroom, the custodial services staff leave a reminder and give them a second chance to clear the room.
“When we forget to take our belongings out of the bathroom she usually writes a note that she’ll be back the next day to clean if we remember to clear out our things,” she said.

Sharpe said OWU is unique in that weekly custodial services are provided for each student’s room.

“I feel like I can’t complain about our cleaning services because most of my friends at other schools have to clean their own bathroom,” she said.

Sophomore Saige Bell said the cleanliness of her bathroom depends on whose job it is to clean it that week.

“One person doesn’t give us enough toilet paper; one does,” she said. “Sometimes I think they check things off on the checklist that they didn’t really do. The walls of the shower aren’t always cleaned.”

Sophomore Sam Weeks said her bathroom is not always cleaned frequently because she doesn’t always completely clear the area of personal belongings.

“They always leave a note saying they couldn’t clean because I had stuff in the way,” she said. “But I don’t get why they can’t just clean around it.”

Weeks, who now lives in Stuyvesant Hall, said she was more satisfied with how her bathroom in Smith Hall was cleaned last year.

“My bathroom in Smith was always cleaned wonderfully,” she said. “I think it depends on who’s cleaning.”

Weeks said while some spaces are always well-cleaned in the dormitories, she would like to see some more changes.

“I feel like the common areas in Stuy are cleaned very well, and the common bathrooms,” she said.

“I’d like them to clean around the stuff I have on my sink and not skip the days they’re supposed to clean. And I don’t have enough toilet paper.”