There’s no doubt that finding the right job is going to take time for me.  Health and safety may be a hot field these days but that doesn’t mean that there’s a job around every corner; especially when you’re just starting out.  I desperately want to dive into my new career ASAP and I’m doing my best to be patient but unfortunately, my bank account is not so patient.

This means, of course, that I have to take what I can get jobwise.  (I’d also like to take a few more courses, if I can, but again, that requires cash.)  One of the positions I took recently was working as a custodian during the Ex which took place this year on August 7-12.  (The Ex is Saskatoon’s big carnival for those who don’t live here.)  For 8 hours a day, on all 6 days, I walked up and down the midway emptying the garbage cans and freshening up the washrooms.  It’s grueling, gritty, thankless work but it needs to be done and again, I need the money.  But I wanted to share with everyone, some of my thoughts and experiences from that week – the good, the bad, and the ugly!

There’s no doubt that this was an experience that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.  At a personal level, I’ve come to realize that people really do start to look the same after awhile.  In some ways, that’s probably a good thing but in other very serious and ugly ways, it’s not such a hot thing.  Regardless of what shade of human you are, unique features your ancestors passed to you, or how many years you’ve been walking on this planet, you still look like everyone else when you’re amongst a few hundred people.  Especially if you insist on dressing like a slob which I know is the trend but still…ick!  Perhaps that’s another post for another time though.  But I noticed that what is allegedly beautiful, really isn’t up close and what is ugly, isn’t that gross and in that respect, this was a liberating experience for me.

Of course, I did start to notice certain patterns amongst people that was not so wonderful.  Despite seeing people of all ethnicities, ages, marital/family status, and ‘classes’, there were some definite and disturbing trends about who you tended to see at which times…and how much alcohol they consumed.  I won’t go into details since even generalities can be hurtful but it was most definitely an eye opener to see certain stereotypes come to life.    Some of that was also linked to the types of behaviors I saw, I’m sad to report.

Yes, I did get a few pats on the back from the occasional customer or carnie and many people would at least smile  and/or make a kind comment when I apologized and offered up a reason for the state of things.  It’s amazing how even the briefest conversations with someone can make your day better…or worse.  With a skeleton crew at work in such a large area, it was difficult to keep people satisfied with the cleanliness of the facilities and park and I heard a lot of complaints.  I didn’t build the washrooms to be so small and I didn’t or ever have thrown paper towels and used diapers all over the place yet many people didn’t seem to understand the difficulties and stress we were under and were extremely rude about it.  It certainly made me realize the importance of empathy and sympathy when dealing with other people.  I’m sure I’ve grumbled about a dirty washroom or overflowing garbage can more than a few times in my life but you never know what the reasons are for the poor conditions.  Yes, it could be lazy staff but it could also be one of a number (or more likely, a combination) of things.  Maybe the custodian ran out of supplies, maybe he’s sick, maybe her boss told her to do things that way even though it leaves a poor result.  You never know so why be horrible about it?  If it’s serious enough of a problem, all they had to do was ask.  I would have been more than happy to explain the situation and direct them to the appropriate person to talk to but not letting someone complete her work then, complaining about the results is hardly a solution.  I know that when you’re bladder is full on lemonade and you’ve just gotten off a crazy ride, you’re not going to care too much about the poor sap who has to clean the washroom after you but that still doesn’t explain the panties with the used menstrual pad that I found waded up in the corner of one stall (which still baffles me because seriously, who the heck does that and why?)  There’s definitely a middle ground in behavior and attitude between workers who are ‘in the field’ and customers which I just didn’t see this past week.  And it was far worse than anything I experienced which working retail in December.

All in all though, I know that there are worse ways to spend a week.  Not only did I make a few bucks but I got some fresh air, got a lot of exercise, met some interesting people, and learned more about how these events are set up and run.  I also got to see the odd show and indulge a bit in the carnival food…which blew the exercise thing a bit but hey, you have to treat yourself to an ice cream cone when watching fireworks, right?

I definitely learned a lot from a professional stand point too.  I’ve always believed that public health is occupational health and vice versa.  Not only did some of my coworkers come down with colds but I have no doubt that they helped spread it around too.  Considering the number of people I saw leave the washrooms without washing their hands, I’m sure there were a lot of sick tummies out there as well!  Unfortunately, people are not encouraged to maintain some ounce of personal hygiene.  Plus, there’s the smoking and noise pollution problems that affect both employees and patrons that was not addressed.  This all makes me wonder about the role companies really have in terms of health and safety towards the general public as well as the ethics of ignoring certain health and safety problems.  But that too is probably best left as another post for another day.

 

Before I go on though, I would like to be clear that some of the things I’m about to say from this point on is not directly related to this job or my time working for the company that runs this event.  I would never openly criticize an employer on an open forum like this site.  However, when you walk around all day doing mundane tasks, especially when they’re a bit on the disgusting side, it’s hard to not reflect on your life and how you ended up there.  So some of these following thoughts are more about previous employers and positions or just generalities.

I have run into very few people in my professional life who I would consider to be quality.  That’s not to say that they were stupid or uneducated in their field but they definitely had problems running or doing things.  In terms of management, I’ve read a little about what others think it takes to be a good manager but this is what I think: 90% communication, 9% organization, 1% knowledge (of the field you’re in).  That may sound heavy but the more work experiences I have, the more I realize the importance of good communication.  Employees need to know what to do, how to do it, and what comes next.  People need to feel appreciated and not just by giving them a wage.  They also need to feel safe and secure.  So if a manager doesn’t know what she’s talking about or he’s never done any work in that area before, it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in employees.  But communication can easily correct those problems.  Communication must be a two way street, especially in the workplace because if a worker is struggling with an aspect of his job, the manager can easily discover the problems and help sort things out and if the manager is having trouble figuring out why things aren’t working, she can investigate by talking to the employees and perhaps even discover a better way of doing things.  While reading Dale Carnegie’s essential book, ‘How to Make Friends and Influence People’, I discovered that a lot of the world’s greatest leaders had this skill.  Even if they knew nothing about the industry that made them famous, they still succeeded – because they knew how to deal with people.  Just think how much more can be achieved in the workplace, let alone in the world as a whole, if we just communicated with each other better.

Lack of organization is something that personally ‘gets my goat’ in the workplace.  You can have all the communication you want between everyone in a company but if there’s no plan or direction, you and the company will fall flat on your butts.  A certain amount of knowledge is obviously required but not as much as one would think.  Just having the simple ability to break down a job into tasks or map out the area in which someone is to work is absolutely vital for a manager.  Contrary to what some believe, there are no mind readers and even if they existed, it’s not a skill that everyone posses so why would you expect your employees to know what you mean?

And let’s not forget the worst managerial failing that absolutely refuse to condone in my future as a health and safety specialist but run into way too often as an employee: failure to provide adequate on the job training.  In many ways, this goes along with my previous paragraph on organization.  Employees cannot read your mind so why assume that they can do the job instantly?  Why assume that they know where to go and what to do right off the bat?  I would hope that I wouldn’t have to elaborate on this further since most rational people understand the concept when speaking hypothetically but go to a new friend’s house and try to find a spoon or a glass by yourself, and they look at you like you’re a twit.  “Oh, but my system makes so much sense.  How on Earth could you have NOT found it?!”  Because what makes sense to me, doesn’t necessarily make sense to you and vice versa.  This is, perhaps, where the concept of empathy comes into play as well.  Not only should  we strive to be more empathetic to the person selling us a Slurpee at 2am but his boss needs to have a similar type of empathy.  Who wants to spend his first day of work trying to guess their job while not angering every customer coming towards them?

 

During my last day as a carnival custodian, while taking a mini break, and sitting on one of our spots hidden behind all the action, I made a promise to myself that in the future, regardless of where I’m at in my career, I would take another crummy job like this.  The amount of humility that one receives from being in the service of others is important and I believe that it would help make me a better health and safety person but a better person in general.  I’ve only touched the surface here of the things that I learned last week and as I first said, it was an experience that I will never forget!