West Side Story: Can you walk me through what a day in your life is like as a custodian at West?

Daniel Carlos: I’m actually mid-shift so I start my day at 12:30, usually coming in at that time to get to lunch cleanup, particularly for the ninth grade commons. Even then you have trash cans everywhere and people still leave stuff on the tables or on the ground, somewhere on the floor. So, what’s the use of having trash cans if you’re not gonna use it? I mean, it’s not everybody of course but…

WSS: How does student activity, like not picking up after themselves, affect your life both inside and outside of school?

DC: Usually you find that, this in itself being not the cleanest, it’s more conducive for rodents to start popping up inside a building. We do have some issues with that too. And it’s time-consuming in terms of trying to get stuff done. If you find that you have to be picking up every little bit, it takes more time than if everything was in place and in order; it’d be easier. So it’s tough in that sense, because you always have to be crunched for time and the race against the bell.

WSS: What do you wish students knew about your job?

DC: That we are caretakers of West High, more emphasis on the caring for West High. What that means is we try to make sure the building is well taken care of for everybody so it becomes conducive for learning. So we don’t have to be concentrated on anything else apart from what West High is supposed to be for: just a learning institution.

WSS: What can students do better to make your job easier?

DC: I think it starts with students trying to get a sense of pride. You know where you’re at. You know who you are. Your sense of pride starts with your own personal hygiene. That means how you’re carrying yourself. [If] you’re a clean person, it translates to you being proud of who you are, then that in itself is proud of where you go to, West High. And even then proud of Iowa City being a clean city, then translates to it being a clean country [and] better off in the world. It just keeps building up in terms of if everybody just keeps doing what is right. Take pride in what you do.