Teenage Ignorance Strikes at Wilson College

By Tianna Pezzino

Are you showering in hair that isn’t yours? Are you walking through vomit to get to your shower area? Or are you just living in the Rosenkranz building?

At Wilson College, workers and janitors try their best to make this school seem like a home away from home. However, they are no match for the teenage residents who continue to abuse and take advantage of the janitorial services. “It’s my first time doing so much hands-on work” says Michael Mower, a janitor at Wilson College.

Mr. Mower is a kindhearted man with a thick beard and a contagious laugh. He works on the third floor of Rosie, and despite the mess, he loves his job. However, Mr. Mower has been working at Wilson College for no more than six months and is physically exhausted. “It is trashed every single day,” he says with a sigh. From the women’s bathroom being covered in hair to the men’s bathroom reeking of feces, Mr. Mower and his co-workers have seen it all.

Mr. Mower has seen and heard horror stories about Wilson’s bathrooms. For example, one of his co-workers told him about a written sign in the men’s bathroom on the second floor of Rosie. The signs read, “Shitter no pisser zone” and “Pisser no shitter zone” in bright vagrant colors–Signs that have been implemented to prevent the janitors from having to clean feces from the urinals. These are young adults that need signs to properly respect the bathroom. However, despite all efforts, some men still ignore the signs.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the only horror story Mr. Mower has heard. Sadly, another one of his co-workers also fell victim to a bathroom covered in vomit. Someone had gotten sick and left the floor, parts of the wall, and as well as the curtain covered in vomit. And they had let it sit. Although I’m unsure of how long it was left to sit there, it was long enough for the contaminants to harden. Thus, causing the janitor a lot of difficulties to clean.

Mr. Mower has his own fish to fry on Rosie third. One of the main issues being the floods of water along the bathroom floors. He is very understanding that teens will be teens and occasionally they will make a mess but, “It would be nice to keep the water in the shower” he said with a laugh.

The bathroom floods have gotten to the point where he has had to alter his cleaning routine. Instead of starting off by taking out the trash or cleaning the counter tops, he must start with the river along the floor. “I don’t want to be kneeling in puddles of water” Mower claims.

In addition, to the floor being covered in water the rims of the sink are drenched as well. A simple task of wiping down the counter that would take no more than thirty seconds, is too much of a hassle for teens now a days. To make matters worse, there’s been numerous times where hair has been coiled in the sink drain waiting for poor Mr. Mower to clean out.

If you wouldn’t leave the mess that way at your house, you shouldn’t leave it that way here. When I asked Mr. Mower if he believed that teenagers were taking advantage of the cleaning services he replied, “In terms of taking advantage sure, yeah. To some degree”. Teens are abusing the fact that someone else will clean up their mess for them, and therefore aren’t doing it. With no parents around, there is little to no way for discipline to take place for their precariousness.

       I asked Mr. Mower, without parents to get involved how will teenagers start cleaning up their mess in the bathroom? To which he responded, “In my opinion, I believe its peer pressure. It needs to be cool to clean the bathroom. Your teenage years it seems that as they get older people think its uncool to clean the bathroom.” Teenagers can be stubborn when it comes to cleaning. Its almost no one’s top priority, especially if no one is there to nag and discipline them to do it. However, maybe if a friend encouraged to help them clean their mess, or mentioned to clean up people would feel more obligated to do it.

 

Teenagers see janitors and think of them as just cleaning services rather than people themselves. They rely on them to do all the dirty work, as well as unnecessary work such as picking up pieces of paper from the outside of the trash can. If someone goes to throw something away and misses, they should pick it up automatically instead of waiting for poor Mr. Mower to do it later. The cleaning services are there to help sanitize the bathroom, not be your personal maid. Despite the mistreatment, Mr. Mower still has a kind heart and gives teenagers the benefit of the doubt. He believes that teens will in time hopefully come around when they are more adjusted to their environment. Until then, he will continue to work with a wide smile on his face and clean the bathroom diligently.

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