The janitor's profession
Is not a happy one
For you have a tough assignment
That is never really done.
With a schedule that's tight
You can work through the night
To make your area shine.
But at the break of dawn
With your cleaning time gone
You're not to the finish line.
You may take your job quite seriously
And do the best that you can.
But just overlook one little thing
And guess what hits the fan.
When in a hall, you note, with dander mountin'
Someone's hawked a loogie into the drinking fountain.
"No one said it would be easy."
Is the motto of the day
And though your stomach may be queasy
Go ahead and clean it anyway.
And then there is the idiot who,
To a restroom will retreat
And leave his fetid signature
Piled high upon a seat.
Why would a person do that?
Can anyone explain?
Perhaps that's not his signature
But a portion of his brain.
With childish scrawls
The classroom walls
The students do deface
With, I sometimes think
A permanent ink
That time cannot erase.
With hard black heels
The halls they scuff
And streak the walls
With spitted snuff
Which keeps the cleaner busy.
If that is not enough
They come up with other stuff
That can make a person dizzy.
The college kid, it seems to me
Is a different sort of critter
Whose classtime he will fritter
As he fills the room with litter
And leaves the cleaner bitter
As he shovels out debris.
And the cleaner knows what's more,
Before classes can begin
He has to open up the door
And let those messy rascals in.
He picks up paper, cans and bottles
And candy wrappers by the bunch.
It seems to him that the instructors
Must be teaching "lunch."
There are spills and trash and garbage
On every flight of stairs
And he often has the feeling
That he's the only one who cares.
So throw your garbage on the floor
And sully every room
The janitor will clean it up
You rightly may assume.
He could well be called your saviour
For through all the passing years
He's the only one who's kept you
From living in trash up to your ears.
So don't humble or degrade him
I earnestly implore
For he's quite important to you,
The lowly janitor.
It took some time to write this
And some trouble that I went to
So if I've hurt your feelings
Just remember that I meant to.
