Would you have been "pushy" too - or in other words, people who don't do their jobs About This Page:

[CinderAbby]

Keep in mind, he didn't call me that but I'm sure my janitor thought I was.

At 11 an alarm went off indicating that my fridge was above temperature. It was at 50 to be exact. I had to call the office to page the janitor (who just came back Monday after being out for 7 months) because he's never around when I need him. After probably 2 minutes, he showed up and had no idea what to do with the alarm. He finally figured it out, called the head of maintenance (A), looked in the fridge (but kept the door open), and then said to me "I'll look at it after you ladies go home. It's not iced up which is good." This was at 11 - we don't leave until 1:30. Half an hour later at 11:30, I approach the janitor and tell him he needs to call A, something needed to be done as the fridge was not getting any colder and it was actually blowing warm air. He didn't but when a maintenance guy came in with the paychecks, they stood there looking at the temperature and talking. The comment I then got from the janitor was "he'll tell A so something will be done." At noon, I once again approached him and said "I need someone here for the fridge. I have food in there that's going to go bad if it continues to stay at 50" About 2 minutes later A actually showed up who agreed that yes, someone needed to come in and look at it. Hello!!!!! I knew that at 11. The janitor I have is nice but that's all he is. I walked in this morning to him cleaning my floor - shouldn't that have been done yesterday after I left?

AFAIK, because of how he was before he went out, he's going to be watched closely now to see if he will continue to keep his job. His official title is Head Custodian but there is actually nothing custodian about him. If things are broken, he'll look at it and say "yes, it needs to be fixed" and if he does it, it's only when he wants to do it, not when it needs to be done. I had a wall fan I needed put on the wall back in September. It was still sitting unassembled in the box over April Vacation when my temporary custodian found it and put it up for us knowing we need it (there is a difference between janitor and custodian and this person is a true custodian) . Then there was today - my fridge was above temperature and his answer was "I'll look at it after you leave." It's a fridge - it can't wait until you decide to do something, it needs to be cold now. Either fix it or if you can't, call someone who can. I could give you plenty of other examples of him not doing his job but I won't go there, it'll only frustrate me more. Like I said, the guy is nice but he is just not suited to working during the day. He should be one of the night guys - they are the ones who typically only clean. And did I mention the reason he went out? He messed up his shoulder and last I heard, he can't lift over 15 pounds. Not that he did it anyway before but that means no helping me lift the 40 pound boxes of cheese and ham that my delivery guys leave on the floor of the freezer. That's something else he is suppose to do but never has. I don't lift them either, I just open them and put the individual packages on the shelves but my Food Service Director dislikes that. I do too, I prefer to keep the stuff in the boxes but if I can't lift it and the "custodian" won't help, how else am I suppose to get it off the floor?

Grrrrrrr. I don't look forward to going back tomorrow and dealing with him. I don't care how nice he is, he's making my job more difficult by not doing his correctly.

[purplegal]

I understand completely, fridges need to be looked at right away, not only to save the products but also to prevent further damage. It sounds like this is not the right job for this person. I am lucky in that if we have refrigeration issues they are immediately call out to an outside company, and the young man that fixes them is very prompt and informative. The rest of our equipment is dealt with in house and we have the same issues you have described.

[Huntermom]

I think you should have called the FEd or talked to the principal as soon as you found out it wasn't working. It is a health and safety concern. You don't want a school full of kids with gastro-intestinal problems.

[cattailmarsh]

Hope the fridge gets fixed properly & that a solution is found for you & the need for a true custodian.

[CinderAbby]

I think you should have called the FEd or talked to the principal as soon as you found out it wasn't working. It is a health and safety concern. You don't want a school full of kids with gastro-intestinal problems.

The Principal would have told me to go through my "chain of command" which is the janitor first then the FSD - whom I found out at the end of the day wasn't even in - again (she's out at least once a week, today was the second day this week). I had sent her an email to let her know and when I didn't receive any kind of response, I figured she was out. Although now the day is done, I did finally get a response which was "call me in the morning."

[jenifermg0]

Ugh!!!
I totally feel for you - I used to deal with this type of situation...with a slight twist. I would call my supervisor and tell her something was broken. She would say "Okay, I'll get someone to fix it." Two weeks later, whatever it was was still broken. I would then figure out how to fix it myself - she would then miraculously remember to call and check on the situation. I would tell her, "Oh, yeah, I managed to fix that myself - even though I'm not part of building maintenance." She would tell me, "Well, you shouldn't be doing that." Well, it had to be fixed!!!! I would just agree and hang up as quickly as possible. She was useless!!!

Now, I have moved into a new building - and the maintenance guys are COMPLETELY AMAZING!!! They are so amazing - even minor issues are taken care of almost immediately. I love them!!!

[Huntermom]

Darlene,

To me a broken fridge isn't the same as a broken light fixture. If I was told go up the chain of command my response would be there is no time. Kids can get sick. And as a parent I would be appalled if my child was fed food from a fridge that was not cooling properly.

Years ago, food poisoning spread through a school my neices were attending-it was not pretty.

[JoanneS]

I completely understand how you felt and I would have been the same way. In fact, it's my job to be "pushy" and make sure people do their jobs. Around here, I'm the chief nag. I don't understand why people can't just do what they're told the first time. You keep being "pushy", Darlene. That's how things get done.

[HiddenMickey]

Interesting that repairs fall under the custodian's work description.
At any school I've ever been in, the custodians are only there for cleaning (and it's usually an outsourced job these days). There is another department that handles the repairs and I think the school secretary/receptionist was in charge of calling for them to do the work.

[CinderAbby]

Originally Posted by HiddenMickey

Interesting that repairs fall under the custodian's work description.
At any school I've ever been in, the custodians are only there for cleaning (and it's usually an outsourced job these days). There is another department that handles the repairs and I think the school secretary/receptionist was in charge of calling for them to do the work.

In my school district, it's up to the custodian first to look at things and if it's a repair they can make, they are expected to do so. If not, then the "next" level gets called in - the School Maintenance department. Usually when it comes to my kitchen equipment, if it's not something the custodian can fix (and sometimey they can) it goes right to the repair people and the head of the Maintenance Department is the one who will call them in. Sometimes with the new FSD, she'll take it upon herself to call in the repair people but she was out yesterday which would saved me 2+ hours of stress.

[CinderAbby]

So just to update everyone, my fridge is finally cold again (until the next problem, hopefully it's not too soon). The janitor though is in a heap load of trouble. He didn't pay any attention to the repair guy so has no idea what was done. He never checked to see what the temperature was when he left and he never informed the night guys to keep their eyes on my fridge. "Luckily" the only thing my FSD was really concerned about (as was I) was the milk which we just threw away. The produce I had I knew would be fine and the shredded cheese I have should be fine. When I open it, I will double check it and if need be will toss it then. I also had some burgers in there that I took out yesterday afternoon but since they were frozen solid when I put them in the fridge - and still somewhat frozen this morning - there was no question on them either. The fridge apparantely didn't stay warm long enough for those to defrost completely. It is a little bit colder now than it should be - down to 32/34 at times but I'll take that over 50.

[Pax]

Originally Posted by Huntermom

Kids can get sick.

Exactly this; it's not just an inconvenience or a loss of efficiency, it's an actual health hazard to the kids.

Insisting it gets addressed and corrected ASAP, not "when I get to it" ... if that's pushy, it's good pushy.

[revral]

You were right to insist that it get taken care of immediately. As others have pointed out a warm fridge is a health and safety issue. I can't imagine that the school and the school district would want to deal with the angry parents because their children were given food poisoning due to the fridge not being repaired as soon as the problem was discovered.

[Huntermom]

I'm glad your fridge is fixed but I think you are a conscientious worked and need to understand getting things taken care of is not pushy, it's responsible. I am sure had you not noticed it and some kids got sick, people would not be adverse to pointing the finger (including at you)

Don't ever let anyone make you feel bad for doing your job.

[cattailmarsh]

Glad the fridge is fixed and very little food was affected.