I’m currently working as a custodian for The Denver School of the Arts. I’ve been chronicling my experiences through social media and this blog post. I put a lot of my own complaints and frustrations down, primarily to accurately portray my true experiences. No filter. There are good days of course. One day, this could be sort of a memoir.
I refer to myself as The Teal Fairy because this is a character that I’ve created. I hope to one day write about The Teal Fairy going back to school to protect those that have the potential to grow and flourish. Schools need more fairies over firearms to ensure the safety of the youth. I also use The Teal Fairy persona as my way of expressing myself creatively outside of the written word.
Thank you for joining me on this journey!
Day Four Hundred & Forty-eight: 9/9/2024
Sweat and moisture are my enemies. I apply setting spray and powder, however, excessive heat causes me to perspire like some sort of barn animal. One thing is that I don’t want to be all sweaty and gross at the beginning of my shift. It was in the nineties when I had to go outside today. I’ve been having to go outside everyday now to pick up trash. It’s such a humbling experience and really makes me annoyed with the disgrace that some of these students have to the grounds. I don’t ever remember just throwing trash on the ground. Assuming someone else would pick it up after me.
Well, It was warm and I perspired like I usually do and a large droplet of sweat accumulated from my forehead to my left eye. I should have had my handkerchief on me, but I think that I would smear my makeup inadvertently. Instead, I waited to get in front of a mirror to correct the mess. Luckily the mess wasn’t as detrimental as it could’ve been. I thought we were done with the temperatures in the nineties, except, here I am dripping as if I’m a mangled sprinkler.
I sweat consistently throughout the shift, but generally not enough to smudge the makeup. From dealing with trash, to vacuuming and of course power washing the bathrooms. I need to shower especially after I get off work because of the perspiration. It’s also when I remove the remnants of my makeup. I barely touch my face even when sweat is dripping down it, so when it comes to showering I can’t wait to rub soap and my hands over my eyelids.
Day Four Hundred & Forty-nine: 9/10/2024
Starting this Tuesday my coworker that closes the elementary school will be off in the evenings through March. Supposedly. I want to see how long this might last, but apparently he’s needing the time to take Catholic courses so he can convert before his upcoming nuptials. Now, I thought he was already married with a child. The point is that someone will have to close the elementary school every Tuesday. Since I’ve already done it, I'm first.
Now, I’m not sure if this will withstand for the foreseeable future. It would make more sense for me to maintain this adjustment to my schedule. Because my coworkers have to do my tasks, it would be easier for me to just work on Tuesdays. However, I’m not getting paid to cover for this coworker. He’s technically an Assistant Facility Manager, which is a higher pay grade than my Custodian Helper position. I just think it would be fair if I was able to be paid what’s due to me.
Perhaps I can use the different surroundings to work on my writings. I’ve been working on this one story for a while. I haven’t made much progress. Not for lack of trying. I sit and sit in front of my computers hoping that the words will slip out of me like a river meeting the ocean. I’ve been trying to find a way to get the work to build upon itself. I’ve adjusted the boards in front of my writing desk at work. I’ll be in a different environment once a week. Could that be helpful to shift the staleness from within my mind?
I only gave seventy percent of my effort tonight. I didn’t want to be petty, but I ran out of time to give my all. I’m not as familiar with the school as I am with DSA. I think I’m finished with one objective, but then realize something was missed. So I ran out of time. When it came down to it I still cleaned the bathrooms, but I didn’t use the power washer. The machine is so cumbersome in this building. Mostly because the doors make it difficult. I didn’t have the patience. If I’m not going to get paid then I’m not going to outperform. Sorry!
Day Four Hundred & Fifty: 9/11/2024
My makeup survived the beginning of my shift. Another day of excessive sweating. I felt quite gross as I had a large ring of sweat that soaked the color of my shirt. I was even wearing a workout shirt so I thought the absorption would have been minimal. Oh how I was wrong. I was at least given notice that I was going to be doing landscaping work today. I didn’t do an elaborate hairdo and the makeup was simple and I certainly used my waterproof eyeliner.
I know this is such fascinating information. However, this is my life. I’m trying my best to get noticed online, but I’m still shouting into the void. I’m not really shouting, but you get the point. I did a live broadcast on TikTok. I didn’t have a lot of viewers. I did it anyway. Maybe if I keep doing it something might happen.
I don’t feel the calling to keep going as a custodian. It is an end to the means. I need the money to survive as my writings still haven’t made me a millionaire. Far far from it. When I’m decked out and feeling glamorous then I feel much less stressed about my financial struggles. For the time being, I’m a custodian surviving another day.
Day Four Hundred & Fifty-one: 9/12/2024
I’m absolutely over this week. It has been a doozy! Having to work at the other school, landscape duties, tampons and pads decorating the bathroom, and we received our quality assurance evaluation today. Oh! Today we were down a coworker so that meant extra work to be performed in the same timeframe as a normal and fully staffed evening.
Okay, to be clear I didn’t have to do any landscape work today. Since we received our QA (quality assurance) early in the morning our score for outside was high so no need to go back out. I was very grateful because it was a very warm sunny day. Not ideal when a fairy is worried about their makeup running down their cheeks. Sorry, I don’t mean to talk about myself in a third person, but sometimes it's warranted.
Let me talk about the tampons and pads for a moment. There is all of this contention between custodial and administration because there have been significant complaints from parents that we aren’t stocking the supplies for those during their menstrual cycles. That has been because the student body has broken the dispensers and we can’t stock what we can’t fill. At the beginning of the school year we placed brand new dispensers and I’ve been ensuring that they stay stocked. However, these last two days have shown me that there are those that are lacking maturity. Why would you wet and place them as if they were decorative materials for the bathroom. It’s easily remedied, but I find the actions to be disgraceful.
My final complaint is the debris in the classrooms. It’s as if these students have forgotten how to use their hands. There was so much trash on the floor. The type that can be picked up by their little fingers and hands. The vacuum can only do so much. I’m sticking to my principles that I’m not pickup what should be thrown away in the trash. If you want to allow your students to trash your room then I’m going to leave it that way.
Day Four Hundred & Fifty-two: 9/13/2024
Happy Friday the 13th! It truly is the beginning of the spooky season. I’m so grateful that it’s Friday. Everyone is in attendance today so hopefully it won’t be too bad. I’m pessimistically optimistic that it won’t be too bad. Since our QA has come and we passed, I’m not so stressed out about ensuring everything is as it should be. I’ll continue to fulfill the minimum requirements.
Well, the bottom lashes couldn’t even put in the minimum effort today. They didn’t even last an hour into my shift. I had a feeling they wouldn’t make it on my way into work. As the wind blew across my face I could feel them moving more than they should. The little lashes were glued down, but I think the glue irritated my tear duct. Once irritated, they didn’t have a chance. Once I started doing my work the glue started to loosen more and more. I ended up having to rip them off. Sadly it took part of my bottom eyeliner with it. At least my hair looks great.
I feel like a pretty show pony with this long ponytail. My regular hair doesn’t look super full, but today I’m wearing some hair extensions. I’ve really enjoyed having the hair flip from side to side all night long. It’s been fun. I only needed to pin it up when I vacuumed because it is too long for the pack that I have to wear.
For a Friday, it wasn’t the worst. I got all that I needed to get done with a little downtime before it was time to clock out. I’m grateful that I survived a full week. I’m managing to work a lot of four day weeks from here until the end of the year. They are strategically placed so that I have a few Fridays and Mondays off so my work weeks are less than five days. It’s not that I’m lazy, but if I have a choice I’d only work four day work days.
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