In the spring of 2011, I started work as a Building Maintenance Worker at an eighteen story residential building in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. The condo is situated in a trendy part of town and is sandwiched between a health-conscious restaurant and a posh hair design school.
Ever since the day I started the tenants have been impressed with my work and a few have even expressed their observations to me.
“You do an awesome job!”Jaqueline exclaimed. “There is a noticeable difference from the lady who was here before you. And we thought, she was good,” Jaqueline added, as she swung out the entrance door.
I do the general cleaning and maintenance of the common areas of the condo - the lobby, elevators, recycle and garbage room, hallways, stairs and five levels of parkade.
Maury, a Mathematics teacher, visually demonstrated my “noticeable difference.” Holding his right palm facing downwards in front of his waist he explained, “Her work was here - good.” Then lifting his palm -still facing downwards- up above his head, Maury elaborated. “You took it to a whole new level.” A dramatic difference. Indeed.
I work for a private contractor who is hired by the strata council. I report to him any occurrences in the building such as garbage in the stairwell or gouges on the walls of specific floors. In addition, I work closely with the building concierge who writes notes for imminent moves and for which I must prepare by putting up elevator pads. He helps me do my job better by noticing lights which are out and other issues needing my attention.
Occasionally, my boss requests me to email the property manager for issues which need my clarification or confirmation. I revel in writing and feel an immense pleasure in doing so.
When I was new at my job, the strata council gave me a review stating, my work showed “attention to detail.” A surge of pride and joy pulsated through me. I felt 2 euphoric and this in turn, inspired me to want to do an even better job. In the nearly five years since I started work at this condo, I also supervise move ins and move outs, provide fobs to tradesmen such as carpet cleaners, electricians, air duct cleaners etc.
An extremely important task I have learned in my job is resetting elevators after they have stalled at the onset of a fire alarm. This relieves the long awaiting tenants and clears their congestion from the lobby floor. However, this can only be executed after the firemen have assessed the situation and have declared that it is safe to do so.
Over the years, I have built a rapport and friendship with some long time and some newer tenants and residents and have seen many folks come and go. So many good people have moved away due to expenses, jobs or the need for a bigger space to accommodate an addition to their family. I have met people from all over the world: visitors, transient workers and students from the United States, Australia, England, Scotland, Switzerland, Iran, Dubai, Korea and Japan.
A resident who sold his place and was moving down East remarked, “You are the best cleaner in the world.”
“Oh! what a grand title for me,” I thought pleasantly, as my mind slowly absorbed Andy’s words.
He reached out and generously handed me a sixty dollar tip and offered a warm hug goodbye. I was touched by this man’s kind gestures – collectively, the compliment, the tip and the hug. I think of him fondly.
One young Korean student returning home left an indelible impression in me. I don’t even know her name but I clearly remember my interaction with her. On the day of her departure, she made it a point to stop and say goodbye. She thanked me for my smile every morning. I glimpsed small, fledgling tears in her eyes. I wished her best of luck, gave her a warm hug and held the door open for her to proceed with her luggage. As she exited, her last words to me were, “I’ll miss you.”
It didn’t occur to me the impact I had on this Korean student and she, on me, until her last day in Vancouver at the building where I work. I couldn’t help but feel a little sad thinking of her and her words for a few days after. This experience taught me the power of my smile and its capacity to touch another’s heart.
Recently, I went on my annual vacation and after my return, a few tenants shared that they were glad to have me back. One of the tenants reverberated the words Jaqueline expressed five years ago, “There is a noticeable difference in your work from hers,” referring to my relief worker.
A couple of days back, I ran into the manager of the healthy restaurant next door. She was disposing her recycling. The first thing Holly revealed was, “I haven’t seen you in a while and I was wondering where is that girl that cleans here?”
We share a common recycling area and on several occasions, I have had to go to her restaurant and complain about her workers stuffing large cardboard boxes in the small residential bins which, otherwise, I would’ve had to end up removing. Afterwards, whenever I would see Holly in the recycle room, I would be cordial and say hi.
Suddenly, to my utmost surprise, she blurted out, “Honestly… I missed your presence.”
“Wow! Missed my presence,” I thought. I complained and Holly missed my presence. It sounds kind of… amusing, doesn’t it? But it was clear to me, she was being sincere in her words. Only I was completely oblivious to her perception of me. A pleasant revelation!
“You do an excellent job. If need be, I can vouch for you,” Holly concluded, confidently.
My mind began inquiring, “Why?” I remember several people commented in the past that I had a great work ethic but somehow, this felt generic and was not enough to quench my quest to delve deeper into why my work was different from others. Why was my work different from others… How was I different from others… What gave me an edge over the others… Why was the quality of my work consistently higher than most? The questions began to dance in my mind.
I fell silent and focused within. Soon the answers appeared, one by one, like illuminated stars in the black sky. All these years, on and off, I had been making correlations of why my work was of high quality and it all came together in big revelations. I realized that the reason my work was different from others is as common sense as the reason why I was different. The very things that made me an individual, made my work different.
I understood that by nature, I was a spiritually inclined individual and being so, I didn’t want to be part of the rat race or drive for materialism. I had zero desire for creating a name for myself, building an image, or rising to the highest tax bracket. In contrast, I had an intense interest in seeking truth, acquiring knowledge and cultivating wisdom. These were my motivating factors and underlying drive for existence.
I didn’t fall into societal norms and expectations of going to university, taking a degree and getting a high paying job. For me, learning came more through life experience, eternally having an inquiring mind and researching the questions within it, on my own, than the confines of a conventional classroom, limited by structure. I was on a quest for deeper universal truths such as the purpose of being human, the source of the essential 4 self, time and space and the nature of reality. I made unique observations and drew my own conclusions based on what resonated in me the strongest.
I wanted a job that I could do at my own pace and still make a living at it. I wanted to work in solitude, yet interact with people one-on-one or in small groups. Naturally, I gravitated to cleaning work since it grounded me, brought me into the present moment and was meditative. I learned that my spirituality and my work were intimately intertwined. Big revelation!
A couple of tenants commented that I was a calm presence. This was yet, another revelation for me because before this I wasn’t aware I had this influence on others. This may explain why the residents’ dogs often came to me and were happy to see me. They would jump up and want to lick my face.
Their owners often commented, “My dog likes you. And she or he doesn’t like everyone.”
Another reason I had an edge over others was that I loved working with my hands. I was tactile and loved to run my hands over materials of particularly, smooth textures, such as glass, stainless steel parts of the elevators and counter tops.
Not long ago, I made a correlation between a healing therapy I studied called, Reiki and cleaning. Both are energy work. Both involve working with the hands. In Reiki, you raise the vibration of clients. In cleaning, you raise the vibration of objects you touch. Cleaning is also akin to clearing negative energy symbolized by the accumulated dust and dirt. Hence, everything shines! Cleaning, a cleaned environment and Reiki, all provide a sacred space for healing. This was a huge revelation for me and one that totally resonates at my core.
Finally, I learned the high quality of my work was a result of how I worked. With all my heart. And I took all the time in the world to do it. I was in no rush to get done. It was more important for me to do a job well, than to do a job fast within the bounds of allotted time.
Another very important revelation I had was that you can provide the best training in the world to someone for a job, but you can’t create in them, a sense of pride for their work. You can’t invoke in them, the feelings of love, care, attention, focus and dedication for their work. These are inbuilt in the individual – forged in the fibers of their soul.
I realized this is what set me apart from the others. It is the difference between just doing a job and trying to get it over and done with, and working with the fullness of your being, focused in the moment and on the task at hand, infusing in it, love, and a piece of your spirit, thus creating...
A work of heart.
This writing is dedicated to Kristin Bower, who’s work related article inspired me to write about my own work experience.