Mops whooshing from left to right forward and backwards as I stepped into a clients’ office to conduct physical inspection of their facilities, inside offices, hallways, stairways, elevators, common areas, parking areas, the pantry, and of course one of my favourite, the restrooms. My job is to ensure cleanliness of these areas and to validate that each item is being attended to by our cleaning personnel and that the client or the occupants are happy with our services. Its’ a dirty job you would say but somebody’s got to do it, but modesty aside this job has been very good to me for the longest time it fed my family, paid the bills, send my kids to good private school, and of course it made me travelled to places I have never been. This humble job is also where I was able to meet different kinds of people from the lowly cleaner to the clients’ facilities manager all the way to the Chairman of the company where we provide services. I even had the opportunity to serve our very own madam President GMA to one of her public appearances in a graduation ceremony where I was frisked, checked and double checked by the presidential guards along with my cleaning staff including my toilet bowl cleaning solution and followed standard protocol just to make sure the restroom she will use will be sparkling clean if nature calls for it otherwise I’ll end up reading tomorrow’s headlines for classified ads. These are more then enough reason for me to be thankful to the top administrator of the heavens who never stop helping me and smiles at me whenever I bother Him with all my human needs or shall we say requests. It’s funny but if “palakasan exists up there, I’m definitely culpable” naisip ko lang baka kasi malapit lang ako sa kusina and I clean it too. Seriously, I would say I have a very personal relation with our Lord I talk to Him straight and ask forgiveness for my shortcomings and thank Him for all the blessings. When I wake up everyday, a simple thank you “Jesus” followed by “reporting for duty” is what keeps me up and ready for the challenges of the day.
I’m sure all of us has their own peculiar way of thanking the Lord and these are passed on to us by affinity or religious inclination but no matter how we do it whatever we believed in the intention will always be unchanged. As with my present cleaning staff here in Nigeria, I can’t help but appreciate in admiration their manner and style in praying simultaneously chanting perfectly chorused tones as if you’re hearing professional choir. Admittedly, I was in awe the first time I heard them pray, it moves me in a way that however I complain about the quality of cleaning they carry out or how they look unprofessional wearing their unwashed stinking uniform where one is susceptible to collapse if you get caught crossing their airspace, I become blind and may I mention they are armed with quotations, as well as scriptures from the holy bible adequately delivered to miss my target as far as KRA’s or key result areas is concerned. Well, you’re right it’s one of my tasks or should I say mission to make them pleasantly smelling notwithstanding the challenges of this very tall order.
Anyways, I have observed and gathered enough information how to deal with this professionally since I have been in this business for quite sometime now and I could summarily say that this job is all about hu-man-agement more than the technical skills. And when one a professional like me tackles the issue about human management it transcends to a broader subject and that includes not only mops and Bibles.
Keep the faith.
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