The Janitors' Closet

What's happened to America's public restrooms?

Due to my last post, regarding my janitorial background, I seem to be thinking about public restrooms.

An often overlooked aspect of a city's livability, and thus civility, is the availability of public toilets.  If one is not at one's home or office, and not patronizing a particular business, one is often out of luck.  And it's a bit of an imposition, and an economic hardship, to require a shop or restaurant to open its restrooms to general street traffic.  Here's an interesting article out of Marketplace, that includes the following:

"In the middle of the twentieth century, public toilets were relatively common in the United States. For the most part, people had to pay for the stalls, which opened with coins, while urinals were free. But with rising feminist sentiments in the 1970s, people started to recognize this arrangement as sexist, since it meant that women had to pay, while men did not. Over the following decade, the grassroots organization Committee to End Pay Toilets in America succeeded in getting bans on pay toilets in many states, and the late March Fong Eu, California secretary of state from 1975 to 1994, smashed a porcelain toilet with a sledgehammer on the steps of the State Capitol.

"The banning of pay toilets had an unintended outcome. Instead of free public toilets for all, public toilets pretty much disappeared from American cities, since cities found it expensive and difficult to keep them safe and clean. (In Europe, where there was no such movement, pay public toilets persist, as they have since as far back as Roman times.)"

Flood clean-up

While much of the country suffers high temperatures and drought, here in Phoenix we're having our usual summer monsoon season.  And, as usual, neither our trees nor our roofs are ready for it.

I spent yesterday evening chain sawing fallen tree limbs in my backyard and my neighbors; meanwhile, I had my service techs do preliminary flood clean-up work in a cardiovascular facility to which we provide janitorial service.  Multiple points in the roof gave way, bringing down ceiling tole and insulation throughout the office.

While there is no asbestos to contend with (too recent construction), the fiberglass insulation is rather nasty stuff, so we used masks, goggles and gloves, with bunny suits available if needed, all on our vans as a result of ongoing Coronavirus electrostatic disinfection, which we've offered to clients and the rest of the commercial community since quite early in the pandemic.

Looks like the job went well; the contractor has baseboards to replace, at a minimum.

Most of my thoughts lately have concerned our long-time focus, providing commercial janitorial service with a view to making our client facilities just a bit safer and healthier to work in.  Also, of late, since we're performing a good many COVID remediation jobs, I look at the evolving science of disinfection and other aspects of the current Coronavirus pandemic.

It can all get just a bit depressing.

So, when a colleague sent me a note on a subject about as far from my usual concerns as possible, I just had to pass it along.

In England, it is not uncommon to see "wavy" brick walls. Interestingly, the design uses fewer bricks than a straight wall.

A straight wall that is just one brick thick is not sturdy enough to stand alone & can be easily toppled, so they generally have a thickness of at least two or more layers of bricks, & are also reinforced at regular intervals with vertical posts serving as buttresses. But a wavy "one-brick" wall stands just fine on its own due to the arch support provided by its shape, which combines both wall & buttress. Such a structure is called a "crinkle crankle wall" "the Old English version of "zig zag."

As my friend put it, I had no idea.

The CBN Way: "If it's not bright, it's not right."

A note from a team member of 40-plus years standing:

Robert, we have been talking lately about CBN’s culture, and how the company's culture sustains the values and virtues that shape our work, and how our work shapes who we are.

As an illustration of what this means to me, let me tell you a story that a mutual friend of ours, Arthur Brodsky, told me about ten years ago.

When Arthur told me this story, he said it occurred about ten years before he told it to me, so that would be about 20 years ago. Arthur said that he, and a friend of his, James, had been working together on a community volunteer service project, and in the process, they were asked to clean a bathroom, and the bathroom was rather grody. Arthur said the bathroom smelled awful, and it looked worse than you could possibly imagine. None of the other volunteers wanted to do that job, however James and Arthur agreed to clean it up, and so they rolled up their sleeves and dove into it.

When Arthur and James were done cleaning the bathroom, Arthur looked at the porcelain sink that James had just cleaned and he said, "Wow, James, that sink is really, really, clean". Arthur said the sink had looked so bad when they first saw it, that you couldn’t see any of the porcelain, and now the sink looked immaculate. The walls, the floor, the fixtures, everything in the restroom were immaculate. After Arthur expressed his admiration for the effort James had put into cleaning the sink, he hinted that perhaps it was not really necessary to clean it that well, and James replied, "If it's not bright, it's not right".

Arthur was puzzled by that comment, and he asked James what he meant by that. James then told Arthur that about ten years earlier he worked for a cleaning company where his brother was the operations manager. James said the cleaning company's name was CBN, and that CBN taught him to do things "the CBN way". Arthur had heard of the name CBN before because he knew Bob Croft, CBN’s owner, from the Salt River Brass Band.

Arthur asked James to say more about "the CBN way". James said it's not enough to clean a sink and leave any spots, stains, smudges, or any residue whatsoever, and further, the fixtures had to shine, and the porcelain had to be whatever color it was when the sink was new. James went on to say that when he worked at CBN, the company operated a service school to train janitors how to clean a building properly.

One of the key principles CBN taught James was that a job is not done until it's done right, and it's not done right until it's done completely, that's the CBN way.

Arthur said he appreciated the integrity that James showed that day. In the early years of CBN, we ran a janitor's training school once a week, classes met for six to eight hours every Saturday. We taught

• the proper use, maintenance, and repair of cleaning equipment and tools;
• the proper use and storage of chemicals;
• the best cleaning methods for various hard floors and carpeting;
• dusting and dust control;
• trash collection and recycling;
• windows cleaning;
• workplace cleaning strategies and workflow for individual, and team cleaning;
• estimating and business math;
• inventory control;
• vehicle organization routing and planning;
• company forms, record keeping and communication;
• work safety;
• building security;
• quality control;
• customer service.

The curriculum was rather comprehensive.

The training program was a significant investment of CBN's time and resources to develop janitors and staff, it was not just about techniques and knowledge, it was also about fostering good character, and that was management's commitment to the CBN way.

How necessary is the day porter?

Had a call from some folks wanting a day porter.  It seemed to be about the same situation as one I wrote about a few years ago.

A client wanted us to quote and provide a day porter for their facility, perhaps an hour per day, mid-day, in addition to our regular nightly cleaning.  They're a large call center, with lots of folks using a couple of large restrooms, in something of a high pressure environment.  So the restrooms get hammered, and my client thought they needed an extra mid-day cleaning

I dropped by, early afternoon, to check the restrooms with the client and to probe a bit on exactly what his concerns really were.  Turns out that overflowing trash cans and empty towel and toilet tissue dispensers were more of an issue than that the facilities' needing to be cleaned.

While I'm not adverse to building some into a contract, I can't see allowing a client to waste his money, even on me.  So I suggested larger restroom trash cans, and more (and larger) paper dispensers.  Buying cans and dispensers cost less than a couple of weeks of day porter service would have.  And we're always available to run someone out on short notice, in an emergency.

Less hassle for me, and much less expense for my client.

Water use and the World Cup

It seems that Tokyo's plumbing system has felt the strain of recent World Cup competition. 

To quote an article from Japan Times:

"During their team’s 2-1 World Cup win over Colombia, Japan’s armchair soccer fans risked triggering a plumbing disaster of biblical proportions when millions rushed to the toilet at halftime.  It was a case of squeaky bum time when fans finally tore themselves away from the TV last week after a nail-biting first 45 minutes, with water use jumping 24 percent in Tokyo during the break, the city’s waterworks bureau said Friday."

Wonder if one could calibrate better viewer data from flushing than from traditional Neilson ratings (or whatever we're using these days).  The latter simply measures if the TV is on, not if anyone is watching, or how many are watching, and certainly not the viewer's enthusiasm - whether he is (or they are)  "glued to the screen".

I particularly enjoyed the evocative use of language further down in the article:

"Flushed with joy after watching Yuya Osako bag a second-half winner for Japan against 10-man Colombia in Russia on Tuesday, jubilant fans made another dash for the loo at the final whistle, causing an additional 50 percent spike in water use."

One of the board members of my commercial janitorial firm argues that we could track economic trends via janitorial service - measure the number of 44-gallon trash bins one gets every night out of a given facility.  Or out of a variety of facilities.  The more trash, the more workers (and the more work each is producing).  Less trash ought equate to a slowing economy.  And, the results would be in close to real time - we could report yesterday's economic activity this morning.  No waiting for folks to file unemployment claims, and for various agencies to tabulate the results.

Somehow, a "Garbage based economic indicator" seems highly appropriate.  Garbage in, garbage out.

Spring Cleaning

We're a few days into Spring.  What does that bring to mind, given that I run a janitorial service for a living?

From Cleaning & Maintenance Management:

"Ninety-one percent of Americans participate in some form of spring cleaning every few years, according to a recent study by the American Cleaning Institute (ACI)."

Sounds high to me.  Particularly suspicious was a finding that "millennials are more likely to partake in spring cleaning than baby boomers."  I knew baby boomers were bad - but worse than millennials?

We don't do spring cleaning.  We figure that a client's facility needs to be maintained at optimum level ongoing, not just when the mood strikes.  Thus, we also include various periodic services (burnishing and refinishing, carpet cleaning, windows) on a regular schedule, so that nothing is ever neglected, or allowed to deteriorate. 

Spring cleaning strikes me as akin to restoration.  Maintenance is cheaper, preserves the facility, and never embarrasses our client.

Or us.

Osha and the common fire extinguisher

Thought I should deal with this issue again; it's been several years. Those dozen little boxes on the back of the annual service card wired to the top of your office fire extinguisher - they let you date and initial each time you do the monthly visual inspection of the unit.  Didn't know that you need to do a monthly inspection?  Neither did I, until a few years ago.

We're in a restored 1914 two story house, less than a mile from the center of Phoenix.  Old wood, untreated, doubtless very dry; wiring's been updated and fooled with, from time to time (all up to code, but who knows?).  I've got a half dozen fire extinguishers scattered around the building, where by OSHA and insurance regs I probably need but one.  Paranoia can be a good thing.

I've known for decades about the regulations requiring an annual professional inspection and (if needed) the recharging of the units, and do so religiously (at least more religiously than I do religion).  But nobody ever told me that OSHA, and probably my insurance company, require a monthly visual inspection.  Simple stuff; a technician is not required.  You confirm that the extinguisher is where it's supposed to be (duh!), check that the little arrow on the dial is in the green field, insure that the little pull-pin is in place (it locks the unit, so insures that nobody has used it - I'll tell that story later - and maybe left the nozzle clogged), and that no ugly fluid or powder is leaking out.  Then sign and initial, so you know (and can demonstrate to the interested regulator) that you check it regularly.  Simple stuff, and obvious.  A fire extinguisher that is not there, or not working, doesn't do much good in a fire.

A bit after I checked (and initialed) my units, I got to thinking.  If I was not aware of the requirements, given all the trade literature and safety stuff I read, some of my janitorial clients might be unaware as well.  They are mostly small to medium sized facilities, generally too small to have a full-time safety coordinator on site.  So we did a quick, surreptitious survey during our regular monthly daytime customer service visits.  Looked at extinguishers in about 50 client facilities.  Found 4 in compliance.

After a quick bit of training, some programming of our client inspection database, and confirming that the folks who do the annual on our units would be available for any of our clients who might need them, we're set to add monthly fire extinguisher inspections to the safety check (security lighting, battery back-up on "exit" signs, janitor closet and chemical storage issues) we already do for our clients.  Minimal time is involved, so we don't charge extra for the service.

It's just another "value added" item.

Don't sell what's not needed: Day porters are not as necessary as one might suppose

Took a call from a long time client a bit ago; they wanted us to quote and provide a day porter for their facility, perhaps an hour per day, mid-day.  They're a large call center, with lots of folks using a couple of large restrooms, in something of a high pressure environment.  So the restrooms get hammered, and my client thought they needed an extra mid-day cleaning

I dropped by, early afternoon, to check the restrooms with the client and to probe a bit on exactly what his concerns really were.  Turns out that overflowing trash cans and empty towel and toilet tissue dispensers were more of an issue than that the facilities needing to be cleaned.

While I'm not adverse to building some extra service into a contract, I can't see allowing a client to waste his money, even on me.  So I suggested larger restroom trash cans, and more (and larger) paper dispensers.  Buying cans and dispensers cost less than a couple of weeks of day porter service would have.  And we're always available to run someone out on short notice, in an emergency.

Less hassle for me, and much less expense for my client.

Facial recognition to foil TP thieves

Theft of toilet paper has gotten so severe in Beijing's Temple of Heaven Park (a major tourist destination) that the authorities have installed facial recognition software on the TP dispensers; anyone wanting more that his proper allocation must sit tight (as it were) for nine minutes before being allowed another two sheets.  (Here's the full CNN article.)

It seems that China does not usually offer said necessity in public restrooms - one must bring one's own.  So perhaps folks have not gotten used to an economy that provides abundance, at least of necessities.  (Or perhaps, the economy does not provided necessities as effectively as we might assume - just reading "The End of the Asian Century" by Michael Auslin - interesting stuff.)

The prime perpetrators are "older people - those born in the 40s and 50s" (I'm insulted); they grab big wads to take home.

On the other hand, I can't help recalling a high tech manufacturing facility we had as a client down in Chandler, one of Phoenix's suburbs (we provide commercial janitorial service in the whole metropolitan region).  They had a small locked caged area in a back corner of the shop.  Much expensive tools, material and product scattered around the facility, but what they kept in the locked cage was....the toilet paper.  Maybe cultures are more alike, at the necessity level, than we appreciate.

I also can't help but think of the media coverage given to an indicator of the severity of Venezuela's current economic crisis - their inability to either produce or import sufficient TP.  Perhaps, years back when they might have afforded the gadget, they should have done a better job rationing the stuff.