“When students pick up after themselves, I am so much happier to be here”.

Life isn’t easy for Vivian Evertt. Every week she wakes up at 6 a.m. so she can report to her custodial job at Sandburg Hall by 7:30 a.m. She stocks her cleaning cart with cleaning solution, paper towel and bathroom supplies and walks up and down the halls and living areas of Sandburg, cleaning up after the residents until 4:30 p.m. Evertt tells me that some days are better than others at her job, “Mondays are the hardest after the long weekend.” She says that students and visitors can get lazy on the weekends and forget to pick up after themselves. Some even vandalize the building.

“Mostly I find garbage cans tipped over, graffiti on the walls and gum all over the floor and under tables in the lobby.”

After finishing her eight-hour shift, Evertt’s day is not over yet. Three nights a week she works as a cashier at a market downtown. “In this day in age you have to be able to support yourself,” she says, “And that’s what I do.”

For the most part Evertt enjoys her cleaning job. She says many parents and students tell her that they wouldn’t be able to do what she does. “It makes me feel good when they say that,” she says. “I know I’m doing something.”

Dave Grubba agrees. Grubba has been working as lead custodian for the University Residence Halls for 15 years. He always feels better when students in the building acknowledge him for his efforts. Grubba tells me, “Most kids are afraid to acknowledge me even though I am essentially part of the building,”.

Evertt chimes in, “We don’t bite, and being acknowledged is always nice.”

She does occasionally receive cards and notes from residents and parents at the end of the semester, thanking her for her efforts.

The major concern Grubba and Evertt have is the way residents have been trashing the building this past school year. “It hasn’t been as bad as previous years,” she said, “But Packer season was not good.” Grubba agrees, “The football parties residents threw were a problem.”

When Evertt came into work on Mondays this fall she spent hours picking up trash, bottles, cans and Packer memorabilia off the floors of common areas, elevators and public bathrooms.

During these parties, Evertt says that residents think its funny to play pranks and damage the building but in the end, “someone has to clean it up.”

Everett says that the worst prank she has had to deal with was from a resident who used a fire extinguisher during a party. “The white (stuff) from the extinguisher gets everywhere, in every crevice and crack where it’s sprayed,” She continues, “It’s a very detailed cleaning job I spend hours doing.”

Grubba also told me that when grade reports come out at the end of the semester that some unhappy students have taken their anger out on the building. “It certainly isn’t fun to clean up after vandalism,” he said.

He also tells me that he is upset with how much garbage he finds behind the back loading dock compacter at Sandburg.

“Once I remove the compacter, I spend hours picking up trash and then I pressure wash the concrete. It’s a full days worth of work,” said Gruppa.

Evertt and Grubba say that their communication with the resident hall assistants has been vital this past semester. “We communicate with them daily, especially if we find a floor getting trashed, and for the most part we find that the RA’s will get the residents to clean up,” he said.

Grubba and Evertt are hoping for a long-term change in tidiness from the Sandburg residents.

“Many students tell us they feel bad when they see us picking up after their messy friends so we know that there are residents who actually care,” said Grubba.

After Grubba finishes his job at Sandburg every day he goes home to his wife and spends evenings and weekends re-modeling his house.

Evertt spends time running errands and visiting relatives after a busy workweek. He tells me that she does get anxious on Monday mornings coming into work, not knowing what to expect from the residents weekend activities.

“When students pick up after themselves, I am so much happier to be here”.

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