Residence hall custodians do the dirty work

The evidence and stench of vomit you encountered last night in your residence hall is wiped clean as though it was never there and you may not give a second thought to who cleaned up the mess.

Students often take the services of the professional staff of the department of residence for granted, especially if they’ve lived in the dorms.

Larry Dalbey, residence hall custodian for Friley Hall, is in charge of cleaning the Friley houses of Lincoln, Chamberlain and Converse. This includes each house’s bathroom, den and hallways.

“When we come to work on Monday morning, one of the first things that comes to mind [is] what kind of mess we are going to have,” Dalbey said.

Dalbey’s day begins at 7:30 a.m.. If the weather permits, the first thing he and the other custodians do is go outside and pick up garbage around the buildings they clean. Because of the winter weather, bathroom cleaning begins at 7:30 a.m. Until 2 p.m., Dalbey cleans the bathrooms of each house, taking an hour for each.

“I do showers first, then toilets, urinals, sinks and mirrors, then mop the floor,” Dalbey said. This is done after dusting.

Dalbey’s least favorite part of cleaning the bathrooms is tackling the showers with “build-up of soap scum.”

Miscellaneous work is done between 2:30 and 4 p.m. This can mean filling in for someone else if someone is sick or they are short of people.

“When you’re working in the building, you’re working as a team,” Dalbey said.

If a window is broken or a toilet is plugged or overflowing, Dalbey reports this to maintenance services, who fix it, and Dalbey cleans up afterward.         Dalbey stays busy because walls can always be scrubbed clean, stairwells swept or dens and hallways vacuumed. Holes in the walls look like they were never there because of Dalbey’s work. Light bulbs are replaced or walls painted, and Dalbey also cleans up vomit.

“We don’t know what kind of surprises we’ll get,” Dalbey said.

Dalbey said scrubbing the walls with speedball, a de-greaser for treating vandalism, is unpleasant much of the time.

“Vandalism is my pet peeve,” Dalbey said. “Really, there’s no reason for it.”   

Another reason for Dalbey’s dislike of graffiti is that it requires more attention to remove, and it can be offensive to others.

“Some people lack respect for the building,” Dalbey said.

Certain times of the year, like Veishea, can cause bigger messes to clean up, but Dalbey said “it’s not much worse than it is regular.”

Sometimes when Dalbey discovers an unnecessary mess, it can put a damper on his schedule. One incident Dalbey named was when someone spilled a can of red soda on a new carpet.

The three houses Dalbey is in charge of cleaning are made up of men and he said “most of them appreciate what you do.” However, Dalbey said “some people have some better bathroom etiquette than others.”

“It’s kind of like being a parent, cleaning up after some of them,” Dalbey said.       

Before Dalbey began his work as a residence hall custodian, he worked for a company in Ellsworth, where he had lived his entire life. But about 10 years ago, it merged with another company and Dalbey was let go. Friends who worked at the college told him of the custodial job at Iowa State, so Dalbey applied.

When he first began, he was a rover who cleaned all over, which got him familiar with campus. Dalbey said he prefers Friley, which he has cleaned since 2005.

“I like the atmosphere, the old part of it, centrally located, the kids are pretty good here,” Dalbey said.

One of Dalbey’s favorite things about his job is becoming acquainted with some of the students.

“Everybody wants to be appreciated, the students recognize me quite a bit,” Dalbey said.       

Megan Kerr, junior in finance, who lived in the Friley houses of Meeker and Pennell, always talked to the woman who cleaned her floor.

“She was always going above and beyond what she had to do,” Kerr said.

Kerr appreciated the work done by her house’s custodian and said the bathrooms were always clean. Kerr said although custodians are here to clean, students should still be responsible and pick up after themselves.

“There are some things they shouldn’t be asked to do,” Kerr said. Students shouldn’t take advantage of residence hall custodians, Kerr said, through such actions as disposing of pizza boxes in the bathroom trash cans instead of in the outside dumpster. She said students should make an effort to help the custodians. For example, if a bathroom garbage can was full, Kerr would try to help out.

“I always got a new garbage bag,” Kerr said.        

Kerr thinks leaving remnants of vomit on the house floor is irresponsible.

Of skeptics who think being a custodian would become monotonous, Dalbey disagreed.    

“I don’t think it ever gets routine. You have to keep yourself busy with other things or it will become routine or boring,” Dalbey said.

Dalbey is the father of two boys, one of whom has served two tours in Iraq and now lives in Missouri, and his other son goes to college in Tennessee. Although his sons aren’t close by, his significant other is, since she cleans the other half of Friley’s fourth floor.

Being a custodian provides many benefits, Dalbey said, including hospital and health insurance, retirement programs and sick leave. Another perk is simply being fortunate to be employed at a time when the economy and job market aren’t the in the best shape.

In three years, when Dalbey turns 65, he said he’ll most likely retire, but until then he is content with his job.

“I’d had other jobs — manager jobs. I just wanted a 9-to-5 job and be able to forget about it and come to work the next day,” Dalbey said. “It’s not a lot of high pressure — you do your job, go home and enjoy the evening.”