It is 6 a.m. on the De Anza College campus – just as the day’s first custodial shift begins, yesterday’s last shift is ready to go home from a long, hard night’s work.
Over at the Hinson Campus Center, custodian Ha Nguyen arrives to open all the doors and to prepare the morning work for lead custodian Dennis Gates.
Gates begins his morning checking the calendar. The constantly-changing calendar is full of events that take place in the Campus Center daily. Information from the calendar tells Gates what and when things need to be done in the Center’s conference rooms. Gates likes to allocate at least two hours getting ready for events – sweeping the floors, moving walls, and setting up tables and chairs.
After Gates sees that rooms are prepared for events, he sets out on an continuous walk around the Campus Center checking deliveries, organizing custodial closets, picking up trash, scanning windows, busing tables and making sure the Center is following proper regulations. “When I’m traveling [the Campus Center], I’m cleaning too,” Gates said.
During his trips around the Campus Center he is taking notes of problem areas for his custodial team. “It’s important to look for possible problems. If you don’t prevent it, you’re going to have a problem on your hands,” he said.
On one journey around the Campus Center, he already has almost a full page of notes for his team to empty certain trash bins, refill bathroom soap dispensers and sweep the floors of certain areas. “Sometimes, by the end of the day, I’ll come home with some 10 pages of notes.”
According to Gates, the campus center is not only one of the biggest buildings on campus, but it is also one of the busiest buildings. During the busy traffic hours from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., high volumes of people and sound challenge Gates and his team as they maneuver around the Campus Center and deal with problems.
At 11:30 a.m., Gates is called by the custodial operations manager, Emanuel DaSilva, about a spill that caused a student to slip near the entrance of the food court. After he swiftly maneuvers his way to a closet for a mop, he rushes over to quickly clean up the spill.
Spills and messes often create a setback for Gates and his team. Gates explains that if he’s not on top of everything, messes can cause serious danger. In the event of serious problems, Gates or his team put their lunch break on hold to clean.
By the end of the day, Gates and the custodial staff have demonstrated that their work is both a service to the school and a service to the students. Possible cuts in the custodial department would not only create a more hectic daily schedule for remaining custodians, but would impact students too, said DaSilva.
