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Brown,
Tester: housekeepers in charge at Bowie
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John Bethune | The Appalachian
Bowie residence hall housekeepers Mary Brown and Carol Tester said
they enjoy what they do, but wish students would maintain some
common courtesy. |
by Amanda Fowler
Staff Writer
College students are considered to be, quite possibly, the messiest
human beings on earth. Finally away from home, mom is no longer there
to command a room to be cleaned or trash to be taken out. Who then would
choose the job of cleaning up after them day after day?
Mary Brown and Carol Tester take on the responsibility
of cleaning for hundreds of Appalachian State University students as
housekeepers in Bowie Residence Hall. Although this position does not
come with the publicity or celebrity-like status of the chancellor, Brown
and Tester are integral parts of what makes the university work.
“People around here need to give them more respect,” freshman
international business major Thomas A. Lyall, a Bowie resident, said. “They’re
awesome; they do a great job.”
Students may typically run into their residence hall’s
housekeepers in the bathroom, but that is just one of many responsibilities
their job entails. They also clean the lobbies, hallways, microwaves,
kitchen areas, elevators and stairways.
Mondays can be the busiest day of the week for Brown and Tester as they
play a game of catch-up from what happened over the weekend. Things can
be especially messy when there has been a particular event, such as a
home football game.
Winter can also be a hectic time of year as the ladies are forced to
deal with snowstorms on top of their other tasks. The snow and salt that
are tracked into the dorm add another chore to complete.
Even after second semester is over and students leave residence halls
for the summer, this is only the beginning of a whole new load of work.
Brown and Tester then take on the duty of going through each of the rooms
and cleaning floors, furniture, windows and walls.
There are only a few weeks turnover after students move out and the next
phase of work starts. When the rooms are finished, students move in for
camps, conferences and freshman orientation.
The biggest mess the women have encountered so far this year has been
when random liquid concoctions were poured down the stairs from near
the fifth floor, running into the first floor lobby.
However, this problem has been remedied, and students are usually good
about not creating dirt.
And the worst part about the job?
“Showers!” Brown said, laughing.
The biggest way for students to help out their residence
hall’s
housekeepers is just to be responsible and maintain some common courtesy.
Many students fail to realize how just a few seconds of picking up
after themselves can save housekeepers a great deal of time.
For example, students who place their room trash in bathroom trashcans
can cause the trash to overflow quickly. One pizza box can take up the
entire trashcan and create more work for housekeepers.
The ladies also dismiss the myth that boys are messier
than girls. Tester said that she has had clean boys’ floors and messy girls’ floors.
“It can go either way. It’s really not anything that you could
really give a black and white answer,” Tester said.
Despite sounding like a difficult job, Brown and Tester enjoy their work
and both agree that the best part is being around the students.
After being on the job for 19 years, Tester says that her time spent
working around the students has been a real lesson in people skills.
“I think I’ve learned a lot about people by being here,” Tester
said. “I learned that you can’t judge anybody by the way they
look because once you get to know that person their appearance may be startling
to you; but once you get to talk to that person and you find out that their
appearance doesn’t hold true to their personality.”
“I love being around the kids, I mean, they make me laugh and just
talking to them and just meeting the different ones, finding out where
they’re from and all that. Its just great,” Brown, who has
been on the job for three years, said.
“They [students] are fun
to be around. They make me laugh; they make me feel younger."
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