Friday, August 10, 2007

Oh, crap

98% of the parents who use my department at work have a carry-out policy when it comes to changing an unsavory diaper in our restroom. Today I learned that it's not quite the case when it comes to adults.

A lady who is schizophrenic who also uses the children's area was complaining that the public women's room was smelly and dirty. This was about a 1/2 hour before our infant program was about to begin. The restrooms for adults are not supervised, but a key is required. Our janitor's shift had not yet begun so after I picked up on the smell and inspected the source with a co-worker, I decided to clean it up. I donned gloves and went in with disinfectant cleaner and paper towels. There was a small amount of fecal matter on the floor, and on the seat. I cleaned it up and sprayed any surfaces that could have been touched by the hands of the person responsible. Despite the smell of strong cleaner the other smell was still atrocious. When I went to throw the paper towels out I noticed a huge adult diaper in the trash pail, which was the source of all things foul. Obviously someone with issues of incontinence had been there, although apparently they didn't do a close inspection of the space they were inhabiting. This task who be filed under the all other duties as assigned part of my job description.

When I first started applying for library jobs, going back 14 years, I always answered the question of "why do you want to work in a library?" like this: I love books. Now I can't help but wish I had a joint degree in sociology/anthropology and library science. Libraries are more about people than books. Maybe my stock answer now should be people. But I don't love people.

1 comment:

CBK said...

Oh God! Gross!