JERRY – THE JANITOR

By: Nick Stamate

In many ways the mill is like a human body. In it, every cell does its part to ensure the survival of the whole. And survival is the name of the game in the steel industry.

From head to toe, departments consist of managers, superintendents, foremen, electricians, labor pushers, laborers and…janitors. Janitors are the lowest paid and least appreciated workers. Taken for granted and ignored, they are the heroes we do not honor.

Jerry was a janitor. He was a loner. Keeping to himself most of the time, his way of thinking was “Live and let live.”

Every morning at 5:00 a.m., Jerry pushed a beat up shopping cart from the storeroom to the main locker room. One worker, observing this daily routine yelled, “Hey Jerry, can’t you find anything better than that raggedy, beat up cart?”

“Don’t know what I’d do without it!” was his simple reply. Many of Jerry’s fellow workers regarded him as an oddity – someone who did not belong.

Jerry parked the cart next to a welded post near the locker room. He tied a cable to the cart and post and put a lock on it. “Hey, Jerry,” some wisecracer yelled, “who’d want to steal that piece of junk!?”

“Hopefully, not you!” retorted Jerry solemnly.

The day shift was busy and the locker room empty. Jerry was free to do his work. Filthy floor, dirty toilets, stained latrines and overflowing garbage cans greeted Jerry. And then there were the empty dispensers and the graffiti-laden walls.

A sense of confinement and isolation took place. Humming slowly to himself, with no one around, Jerry did his work. He didn’t worry about the time, but just let time be…. Eight hours is eight hours.

“11;30 already?” Jerry thought washing his hands as he prepared for lunch. After eating, he picked up a pocket Bible and began to read some verses. Feeling sleepy, his eyes became heavy and he went into a deep slumber…..12:30 p.m. ….A convulsion shook Jerry’s body out of sleep. The Bible was on the floor. He stooped down to retrieve it. It was time to go home.

With the shopping cart back in the storeroom, Jerry proceeded to wash up. At 1:00 p.m. he clocked out. His work was done….at least for today.

At 4:00 the day shift came to an end. The spent and seat workers descended on the locker room leaving behind an avalanche of dust, paper, and dirty old clothes. At midnight the 4 to 12 shift ended, leaving its debris behind. The midnight shift followed and at five the next morning , Jerry entered the scene pushing a beat up shopping cart from the storeroom to the main locker room…