“The custodians wanted you to know: it is not their responsibility to pick up your litter.  Show pride in your school and respect for your custodians and pick up your trash.” At Terra Linda, we’ve heard this for the last month or so in the daily bulletin, but why hasn’t it been removed? How many times does it take to tell us to pick up our trash? Well, apparently it takes a lot to remind us, as there’s still plenty of trash left on the ground every day.

Andre Groom, the head custodian at TL, has a busy day. He said, “[My job] starts at seven in the morning. I check the night time custodians’ duties to make sure everything was done that night. I take care of the woodshop and auto shop, make sure the bathrooms are clean and everything’s in the trash, and take care of the performance hall.” Groom works very hard to make sure that we have a clean campus, but an excess of trash impacts his job and requires him to work longer and harder. Groom stated, “[Trash left in the ground] impacts the custodians a lot. It’s very annoying because we have announced for students to pick up their trash several times and nobody gets it. We have to pick up a lot after people. We’re not babysitters. We have to pick up trash all the time.”

What the custodians have to deal with is an unnecessary extra to what their job entails. Yes, it is understandable that there will always be some trash on the ground for the custodians to pick up: there is an amount of trash that is tolerable to pick up for Groom and the custodians, but it has reached a point that is unacceptable and intolerable for them. Groom explained, “There is too much trash every day. We have plates, bottles, cups, and more that students leave on the ground and tables. It’s terrible.”

Picking up trash causes the custodians to stress because it’s something that prevents them from doing their normal responsibilities their best. Imagine having to sweep, mop, and empty the trash, but extra responsibilities inhibit that job. This is what the custodians experience everyday when they have to pick up lots of extra trash as they are only supposed to be focusing on their normal responsibilities.

For all of these reasons, the custodians implemented the announcement regarding trash in the daily bulletin. Groom articulated, “The trash has eased up a bit, but there is still a lot, so we really appreciate the announcements every morning.”

To help out the custodians, we not only should pick up our own trash, but help out each other as well. Even though it might not be our own trash, we can still just take a little time to help out the custodians and pick up any trash we see around the campus.