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70F and cloudy this morning.
I was up by 9:10AM, and made it over to Ferry just before 10AM, but by then the doors were locked, and the last of the custodial workers were leaving.
They told me they were all done, and heading back to their home schools.
So, I just came back home.
I only figured out yesterday that Mark works for the school district, not for GeoStaff.
And when he was at Ferry yesterday, he didn't actually move anything, he just kinda oversaw the move... and then checked out after a few hours... as if he also didn't really need to be there.
Roberto, the head custodian for PVHS was there all day, as were several of the PVHS custodians... but they're all GeoStaff.
Tom, on the other hand, didn't show up until his normal start time of 1PM.
So it looks like the only reason I was pressured to go at all, and be there so early, is because Kristina didn't want to let me off the hook so easily.
Kristina had called me out of the blue last Friday night, talking about how I was still on the schedule to help move at Grape for Tuesday and Wednesday, but she wanted to know if I could go to Berk instead, where she needed more people.
I told her I didn't realize that maintenance guys took part in any of that.
She assured me that yes, they did!
This was the first I'd heard of it, so I told her I'd have to talk to Mark first.
And she didn't really want me to do that. She was pushing for me to commit to Berk.
When I brought it up to Tom that night, and Mark on monday... both their responses kinda gave me the impression like... Oh Yeah!.. I guess technically we're supposed to take part in that, but we never actually do it.
But because Kristina was making a big deal about it, they had to half-heartedly play along.
But Mark's the one who decided I should report to Ferry, where Roberto and the other PVHS custodians were going... kinda making Kristina's whole gambit pointless.
The way GeoStaff works themselves into a frenzy every year about these elementary school renovations is a little disturbing.
Clearing out the classrooms is just the start of it, but now all the custodians are gonna spend the summer at one of six (this year, last year it was only four) buildings, pulling up the old carpet, and repainting the whole school.
All done for their crappy $10.00 wages, with everybody encouraged to show up early and work overtime, and weekends.
It's one of the talking points in the union negotiations that they should be paid painters wages, if they're being forced to paint.
It'll be interesting to see what happens this August.
But until then, I'm glad I was able to sidestep the whole, summer of slave labor, by getting into maintenance.
Today turned out to be my first normal workday at Potawatomi Valley.
I clocked in at 12:55PM, grabbed my work cart, and headed up to the site of the big wall patch.
I saw Mark on my way and he walked with me over there to take a look.
He said it looked good to him and all it needed was a light sanding and some primer and paint.
I sanded it all smooth, and cleaned up with the vacuum.
Back down in the shop Cezar showed me where the paint and primer were, and I grabbed a gallon of, Soft Fern, for the wall color.
Before I could head back, Mark found me and said he had another job for me tonight.
Together we went up to room 213, which a teacher had moved out of, and it was completely trashed.
The theater teacher had been in that room for a couple decades, so it was exactly like a vacant apartment after somebody lives there that long.
Mark wanted me to prep the walls for painting.
So now I had work to keep me busy for the night, my own keys, my own tools, and I knew my way around well enough to go back and forth between both job sites, the shop, and wherever else I needed to go.
I even surprised myself by figuring out how to use the building automation terminal in the shop to cool down room 213!
Tom and I passed one another in the halls, but that was it.
It was great!
I primered my wall patch, then left it to dry and went up to 213, where I spent a good while removing the one thousand staples this man had put into the walls, along with multiple screws, nails, and the occasoinal molly.
I even found myself a ladder in a nearby electrical closet!
After I had the walls all cleared and scraped, I patched all the holes, big and small... on three walls.
I couldn't do the fourth wall because housekeeping came into the room to start cleaning it up.
But that's fine, because they saw that I was working, and not just wandering around, or hiding somewhere.
I went back to my wall patch after the primer was dry and finally painted it... Soft Fern!
It's drying tonight, and I'll remove the masking tape tomorrow.
So, I'm kind of amazed at how, in the swing I was tonight, after just five days in the building (I don't count yesterday).
Granted, there is a LOT more to this job than drywall and painting, but still!
Exploring the building with the map for a couple days really did help.
And paying attention last week did prove useful for knowing where to look for a ladder, and for adjusting the room temperature.
But what really got me up to speed today was having my own tools from home!
That cut through all the bullshit and saved me from having to run to Tom 20 times, asking where this was, or if we had that.
Tom actually made a few little remarks in passing like, "busy bee!"
And when I returned to the shop after 9PM, he was like, "Sit down man, you're done! I'm done! I'm not doing anything else tonight, fuck it!"
And those remarks didn't mean, Wow! I'm glad to see that Pat's actually pulling his weight around here. I approve!
They meant, This guy's potentially gonna start rocking the boat if he's too productive!
And that's probably the best way for him to be thinking about me this week... to balance out his opinion of me last week, which is that I seemed incompetent.
I'm also happy to have that damn, sink or swim, wall patch behind me!
I think it DID help me, to be part of that move at Ferry yesterday.
Because both Mark, and the Potowatomi housekeeping staff got to see me actually being useful.
And Mark seemed happy today, to see I'd actually worked on the patch last night after coming back to Potowatomi from Ferry... rather than just kicking back in the shop.
And that housekeeping staff tonight, got to see me around in the halls, again... actually being useful... and they all seemed more friendly.
So... when everybody sees the damn wall patch is done tomorrow, and that it looks fine... and I'm in room 213 painting, and that's going fine... I think the whole staff is finally gonna be thinking, this guy's okay!
Of course, at any job, it's an ongoing challenge to stay in everybody's good graces.
But I've got June and July to get established before the craziness of the school year really starts to test me.
After adopting Snoop & Prowly, I realized I needed some income, and my specific strategy was to seek a part time Janitor gig!
The pay was not important at the time.
All I needed was a reliable income stream.
This is why Kristina snapped me up immediately... because I was qualified, old enough to be reliable, and super agreeable.
The health care was great, and there was room to move... both to full time, and upward to maintenance, so I took the job quite seriously... wanting to establish a history of being on time, not calling in, doing what was expected, and getting along with everybody.
By the middle of 2023, I had enough street cred, from my part time work at Grape, and my full time work at Cloud, that I was able to pull off a few, power moves...
The first was going part time for the summer, gambing that they didn't really need me to be slaving at a rennovation school for two months.
And at the time I was told, This is fine, but if you can't be full time by mid August, you can't stay at Cloud.
And I accepted that, and came back full time for the start of the school year.
And in October, I pulled the second power move, which was to get hired by D313, and put in my resignation just before the week of PTO I'd slated, for the family reunion.
That got me a dollar raise on the spot, and a few extra PTO days for the reunion!
Jeremy quit while I was gone, as did the four-hour person we had at the time, so when I came back, I looked absolutely golden!
And over the fall and winter, the staff at Cloud really got to know me, and like me.
But Bernice came along to replace Jeremy in January.
And in her eyes I was NOT golden!
She started pushing me to go above and beyond, and I pushed back!.. because hello?... you're getting your $16.23's worth already!
My big power move on Bernice was the day I clocked in, and she got on me about not vacuuming the art room... and I just turned around and went home!
She couldn't believe I got away with it, but I did because I had a reputation for being reliable, and a good reason to be upset that day, so I was instantly forgiven by Chantele.
And that's when Bernice realized the only way to get rid of me was to get me promoted to maintenance!
She found the opening at Potowatomi.
But I wouldn't have gotten the interview if Kristina didn't go to bat for me... which was uncharacteristic for her.
Kristina wanted me at Cloud forever! She said as much, on a few occasions.
So I think Bernice argued for Kristina to cut me loose, because I didn't fit with her vision for Cloud... and her argument carried some weight, because she's a legacy, on her own track up to management.
I had said all along that if I got the interview, I'd get the job.
In 2021 I'd interviewed for a groundskeeper position with Elgin Community College, at the behest of my former coworkers from the hospital... and been offered the position... which I had to decline because Dad didn't want to lose me at home.
I also got hired by Kristina over the phone.
And I got hired almost immediately after interviewing with D313!
For these types of joe jobs, doing dirty work for academic, or health care institutions, at my age... I just interview GREAT!
The secret is to just show up in dirty work clothes, be relaxed, tell them you know all about this job, but act like you don't really need it very bad.
But my references from the hospital help too.
Ray, Matt, Reyes, and Frankie are all very well established now, and they never fail to give me rave reviews.
And I was right... and I got the job so hard, Don & Mark offered it to me at the end of the interview!
Bernice was visibly glowing, to hear I'd gotten the job!
But even she was surprised at how soon I was leaving.
Kristina and Chantele were also pretty shocked at how hard I'd nailed it.
Chantele was oddly humbled when she talked to me the last time at Cloud, saying she didn't realize I had 20 years experience in maintenance.
Kristina, of course, couldn't stop herself from trying to claw me back one last time!
The final challenge was just to fit in at Potowatomie.
And it was pretty tricky last week!
Tom and the night crew of housekeepers weren't sure if they liked me very much.
I think all of them were being a bit unreasonable in their expectations for a guy in his very first week.
Tom definitely threw me a curve ball with that ridiculous patch job.
And it caused Mark to have his doubts.
But I rolled with it.
And I pitched my own curve ball by bringing in an ass-load of spare hand tools and power tools, complete with batteries and chargers... and getting down to business.
I kicked a little ass on Monday in the wood shop, before they were even out of the car.
I kept on that patch.
I got up early and put in the work at Ferry.
And then I kicked a little more ass today... operating completely under my own steam, with no hand-holding.
To the point where tonight, Tom's a little worried I'll raise a bar.
And well he should!.. because last week he tried to take advantage of my disorientation to frame me as being incompetent.
This week, he sees the push back to that.
I am competent... I am serious about keeping this job... I did get the building down.. I will get up early for some crap task once in a while... I do have an arsenal of tools... and I'm willing to use them at work to cut through the bullshit!
Hopefully I'm on a firm footing now, at PVHS.
Because in other arenas, I've still got my work cut out for me.
I've got a month to sell the house, find justice for Prowly, and move.
And all three are, individually, very tall orders!
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