On Sunday I noticed our names were in the sacrament bulletin as designated janitors for the week for all to see. No other instruction or direction was provided. No contact person. No suggestions on how to clean, what to clean, or when to clean. No info on who to get the keys from. No instructions on how to use the industrial grade solvents and cleansers. We don't think we should be forced to work as janitors, so we will do nothing and I bet no one will call us to follow up as the system is highly disorganized.

I used to have to go with my Dad. He's worked as a janitor before so we couldn't leave until the building was SPARKLING! I remember having to do a ton of vacuuming and washing windows.

Usually the instructions are in the housekeeping closet.
Whe we got called upon, we would go out there on Saturday so it would be ready for Sunday. The last few times they paired us up with people who chose not to show up so we would end up doing the whole thing ourselves. Most of the time it would take us two hours to do all the vacuuming, trash, and glass doors. But at that time it was not required to clean the sinks or toilets.

I've been interested to read everyone's rage recently at cleaning the church buildings.

I guess here in the South we were in some kind of pilot program, since we haven't had janitors for YEARS!

In my last ward, assignments rotated among auxiliaries. I was EQP, so I had to give assignments every time it was our month to clean. We had to clean about 2 months each year.

I was a sucker. I ended up cleaning the church alone at least twice in a three year period. Even when people did show up for their assignments, they almost always came late or left early.

The ward I'm in now assigns four or five families to a Saturday. My family has not, and will not, participate in cleaning ever again.

I can vouch for that seymour. also, the last time I cleaned was about a year and half ago. I showed up ... only one other guy there (out of 5 assigned). Never again.

(BTW, I linked up with a local exmo couple out here ... friends of mine from my TBM days ... if we end up doing meet up support activities (resteraunt, bar, etc.) in Nashville, Birmingham, or Huntsville ... would you be interested?)

Hey, that would be cool. Birmingham is a little beyond my reach, but if anything north of that comes up, just let me know.

P.S. - Don't know if you were in town for it, but Christmas was a mess down in Huntsville! White Christmases are overrated.

If I donate 10% of my income, they can very easility afford a janitor. I don't think you get "blessings" from cleansing toilets." The church has gotten really cheap lately, but they are glad to take our 10% and build a big mall downtown.

Truthfully, I had a good time because I was with fun people and I glommed onto the vacuum immediately and so avoided scrubbing toilets.

I did it often prior to the toilet scrubbing... it wasn't too bad, of all the church stuff I did this was actually one of my favorites (DW liked that I was being "churchy" and I didn't have to be religious).

One time however I was the only person to show up (DW was working and none of the other "volunteers" could be bothered to show up) That sucked...

They use members to take care of the flower beds around COB and Temple Square. It's only a matter of time before it's a calling to do the mall toilets.

Hard to believe that anyone would actually seriously consider giving up their free time for this.

Just say NO. Just don't show up.

Does the Church insurance policy cover members for accidents or injuries that may occur when they are cleaning the Chapel without proper training?

Thought not.

I was wondering about that as well- Regular household cleansers can seriously injure you. Industrial sounds like it can do some major damage. Does TSCC provide the members goggles and gloves?
Or do the members have to front the cash for safety gear?

but not for making a bunch of entitled crackers clean up after themselves. It all rings a little racist-y to me... like cleaning up after Mormons is somehow Lamanite work.

+1

I think you'll find the objection's basis in that it is yet another example of a very rich Church being very cheap towards it's members.

They can afford fire fountains in LDS shopping malls but not Janitors in LDS Chapels.

Cheap.

To bring racism into it is, well....racist!

I'm a lamanite and took no offense.

Given the recent DNA evidence I must assume that you are either Moroni or one of the three Nephites!

Point taken though, I had my sense if humour switched off, sorry

LOL.......I guess I am a 1970's lamanite (pre-DNA).

on another "cleaning" thread. With a $220,000 budget (which would not be unusual for the average North American ward, some pull in double that or more,) the church in question not only paid generously for a custodian and maintenance, but also a minister, an organist, an administrative assistant, a youth director, etc. They also had lots of money available for programming and activities.

With Mormons paying for NONE of those positions, where is the same amount of money (or more) going? The church can't even make the arugment that the money is going to charitable aid, because they give away a such a pitiful amount of money each year.

And Sonoma, if you want to discuss racism, we can start with your use of the word, "crackers." Then we can move on to the supposition that there is something racist about cleaning for a living.

and give WAY more to charity than the Morg does (less than $5 per member per year), but they pay a mortgage, insurance, utilities, repairs, plus a portion to the national church that some of that is again use on charity.

The national church treats the individual churches as adults, and lets them set their own budgets, and pay their own bills, and salaries.

The Morg treats the individual wards as children, or worse, as slaves.

My family sometimes picks up trash in the chapel so we don't have to sit in filth during SM.

Janitorial should be a paid church position, not a calling or assignment.

May I offer a suggestion?

If you are still active and are required to do the janitorial thing. Hire one of those cleaning companys, and then deduct the cost off your tithing.

See if the SP will appreciate your ingenuity.

For sonoma--

There are now those who were employed as janitors with a salary who are out of a job. The ones in this ward are.

My ex put himself through college cleaning the church--and it is how his dad survived retirement with only SS.

I don't clean Wal-Mart because I shop there--nor do I clean their toilets. I "pay" them--they clean the bathroom.

Would you still be considered a full-tithe payer if you did that? They would likely chew you out because you are not sacrificing your time and talents to the church.

...and it hasn't been too bad.

Usually there are 3-4 adults and perhaps some teens to help. Usually we are done in an hour or so.

As for the industrial grade solvents; I don't think so. The stuff they use is pretty mild and are not as caustic as you might think (and probably not as effective either).

And has been stated, the instructions are in the janitors closet as to what is expected. If a key is needed there is a number in the church bulletin to call.

That being said, I agree that they should have paid janitors, but that ain't gonna happen.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2011 11:05AM by lump.

I did it a ton as a kid, and remember having a blast. My parents were always the designated coordinator, so they did it every week. I would usually claim the window-cleaning cart and roll around like I was drifting around corners and such.

I stopped going around age... 12? By then I had gotten tired of it.

The worse thing is that it will turn members against members. It's like the dorm rooms back in school when a few guys always got stuck with the big chores.

You get tired of cleaning up everfyone else's messes.

If someone else in the ward doesn't do their Home Teaching, you don't notice, or care...

BUT if you have to clean up when it was someonw elses turn, that's different.

Yeah, my family and I used to clean the church when our assigned turn came around--2 or 3 times a year. My good friend was in charge of our group of families and I hated the idea of her family being the only ones that showed up. Most of the other families in the group were "inactives" and were smart enough not to feel guilty about not cleaning the church.
Once we were supposed to show up at 8:00 on January 1 (Happy New Year to us).
A few month later my toddler got bit by what must have been a spider while we were cleaning. The side of her face swelled up and her eye was swollen shut. We ended up having to take her to an InstaCare to get it taken care of. That was an expensive church cleaning Saturday for us.

You should have submitted an expense report to get reimbursed for the Instacare bill, since it happened on church property. If nothing else, it would have been a good way to alienate yourself from the tribe, and to make them think about the liability they are taking on when asking non-professionals to clean the buildings.

As long as there are members stupid enough to allow themselves to be exploited, the unreasonable demands will continue. Shrug.

So you paid tithes, did work for free, wasted your day, your child got hurt at the site and you had to pay the doctor bill - do you see anything at all wrong with this picture?

Me n DW used to clean a lot. We had once received some cash while I was unemployed for a few months, and DW thought we should clean as a way of helping to repay. Bishie was on board with it too. So we cleaned a lot, but not toilets. Just carpets and wood polishing, walls etc.