Custodian still finds time to enjoy work
Emmons Hall can be most lively for Chris Garrett in the summer.
The 24-year custodian spends her time preparing for visitors from the Special Olympics and summer sports camps after most students have moved home.
But that doesn't keep her from enjoying her work.
"We make our own fun in the summer," she said. "Nothing is really taken too seriously, besides our work of course."
Garrett is one of several custodians on campus who spend the summer prepping for the numerous summer camps and conferences that take place.
Garrett cleans Emmons Hall and prepares it for the next batch of visitors when the summer begins. She said there is a noticeable difference in the type of work she and her colleagues usually complete once the residence halls empty for the summer.
"We have to sanitize everything in the room," she said. "The bathrooms are the worst."
She said the showers and sinks can take the longest to clean.
Custodians take over cleaning after the resident assistants finish their final inspections at the end of the year, which are overseen by the building's residence hall directors.
"They have their own standards before the kids move out," Garrett said. "He deals with the RA's and makes sure (the rooms) are clean."
While she will spend most of her time in Emmons, Garrett said every once in a while, she be called to go to another building on campus to clean.
"Depending on if we get done, we get pulled to the Towers," she said.
The Towers contain most of the students on campus during the summer, Garrett said.
In between the work, though, the custodian said her and her coworkers do find some interesting things in the rooms that have been left behind. Last year, Garrett said, she found a dresser full of water balloons left by a resident.
"We've been known to have some water fights," she said, laughing.
Garrett is not alone with her job. She works with Mount Pleasant sophomore and temporary building services staff member Brandi Norman. Norman has worked with Garrett for the last three summers, and has enjoyed the work she does with her.
"We all work together and do the same thing," she said. "It's a lot of fun."
Norman said her and Garrett would rather spend time working in Emmons than the Towers.
"It's crazier over there," Norman said. "I like it better over here."
Although there aren't as many students on campus, Garrett said that doesn't mean her workload lets up.
"It's funny that students think we get a break," she said. "It's like, 'what do you have to clean?' (We have) more work."
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