I am of a firm belief that what defines a person is his or her ability to take on ANY job and get the dirt under their finger nails. Not only does it create character and respect for people who are not sitting in their cushy, air conditioned offices, but it gives them tools in life, ability to save on plumbers, contractors, cleaning staff, etc., as well as healthy hobbies (gardening anyone?).

I was born and raised on a farm, shoveled lots of smelly stuff, harvested everything that the Earth gave us, watched calves being born, milked cows (no, veggies, meat and milk do NOT come from supermarkets!). I love my time in Manhattan, Paris, London, and many other great cities as well….

Great piece!!!

Grace Litak-Jaswinski

Great Story Kerry!
Perhaps you should have been a writer…. of documentaries, not fiction! I got a lot of practice cleaning kennels for a local veterinarian, and your story brought back memories..
Gary

haHA!
that reminds me of my chinese buddy’s rationale (a second son who got less than the first, and whom i met in a research lab): “dyood! in china, you farm or you go to school; i didn’t want to be a farmer the rest of my life!”

Your essay moved me. My father, a veterinarian, pressed me into service at his practice when I was 12. I was trained as a kennel attendant and general janitor during the great canine parvovirus epidemic of the early 1980s that wiped out 25% of the world’s dog population. You can imagine the germ theory in such a setting. Dad’s single cleaning edict was that his practice was not to smell foul to our clients at any time, never a crinkled nose. Since then I have stayed in the veterinary world of work, now in management. To this day, one of the greatest compliments I hear from clients who grace our doors with their beloved pets exclaim, “It doesn’t smell like a vet clinic here.” All of those kind of compliments go directly to the meticulous cleaning crew. I regularly reply, “It is HARD WORK to make this place NOT smell like a veterinary clinic.”

I’ve told my peers to respect the cleaning staff. Their job is (hard and) important.

“You try to run a productive project with no toilet paper in the bathroom.” is what I like to say.

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(And in my career, I can think of two projects where I brought toilet paper to work because the bathrooms tended to run out. It’s that important to me that my people have what they need to “get the job done.” And to get back to work after getting those other necessary “jobs” done. 😉 )

I too picked cucumbers as a kid (they were later transformed into pickles). You returned home at the end of the day with a thousand small cuts–and a real appreciation for (1) those who routinely do that work and (2) the importance of doing well in school.

Sometimes you can’t clean the bathroom due to social norms. As a Coast GuardOfficer I had a private bathroom, but the first time I went to clean it a Chief Petty Officer told me that it wasn’t proper for a person of my standing to clean his own privy. So, agreeing with your dad, I learned to clean when everyone had gone home at the end of the day.