There are certain people on campus (besides the students) that when you see them, you can’t help but to smile and have your day made. These people do nothing out of their ordinary routine, yet they somehow seem to make me the happiest.
- The janitorial staff: Every morning, as I’m leaving my residence hall, I pass by janitorial staff members who wake up early to come and make sure that each hall and kitchen is completely spotless. As I walk by, the staff makes sure to speak to me and other students to say, “good morning!” and tell us to have a good day. When I come back to my room during the day, they are still out in the halls working hard. But as I walk past, they stop me and ask how my day was and what I learned in my classes. They have full conversations with me and you can tell that they genuinely care about each student beyond just making sure that their residence hall is clean.
- The dining staff: Like the janitorial staff, I see the dining staff multiple times a day and each time they make me happier. For breakfast, I go to Commons to grab a personalized omelet. The staff seems to genuinely love what they do and they are really patient with us when we are choosing what we want on each omelet. Even when the lines start to get long, they do not rush through making our omelet but instead focus on making each one perfect and they start taking more orders so that they will already be ready when the stove clears off. For lunch and dinner, I go to Regatta’s most of the time. There the staff engages in conversations about everything from sports to families to school with us. One staff member really made my day once when we had a conversation while I was waiting on a sandwich. She was telling me about how she was having a bad day but how coming to work made her day better because we students had such great manners and showed that we cared about the staff just as much as they care about us.
- The maintenance staff: I do not see the maintenance staff every day, but when I do, they never cease to amaze me. If you have an issue in your residence hall with anything, you file a work order online and wait for the maintenance staff to do the rest. However, that wait is never long at all. The longest I’ve waited after filing a work order was 30 minutes. They come through and fix whatever needs fixing in a matter of minutes then show you how to operate certain things properly so that you do not have any more trouble. One thing I admire about the maintenance staff is that they are so considerate. If they come to fix something early in the morning or later in the evening, they will whisper when talking and try to fix things as quietly as they can so that they don’t wake anyone.
I believe seeing these staff members makes me so happy because I understand what they do and I do not take them or their work for granted. Without the janitorial staff, our campus wouldn’t be so clean and beautiful. Without the dining staff, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy meals that are almost as good as home-cooked ones. Without the maintenance staff, I would struggle if anything broke or malfunctioned in my room.
