I love my janitor job more and more as each day passes

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And that’s saying quite a lot because I’ve been there a long time. Some parts of it I don’t like. But it’s easy even though most of the time you have to work quick.

I do my job on an army base in an air conditioned, quiet office building. I come in the morning at 8:30 (I love my hours) and I usually know what I’m going to do. I punch in at the time clock and my boss says, “Empty the wastebaskets today”. So I grab my barrel and I’m off on my own for the next 4 hours. I rarely work with my co-workers, it’s just me pushing around a garbage can and going to each soldiers cubicle or office and emptying their wastebaskets. I get off at 2:30 p.m.

I say “hi” to almost every soldier, male or female, or I will just make small talk. I like my job but I am looking for a new job and because I can barely do physical work anymore. I have an interview on Thursday at Walmart. Even if I never work again. I have learned enough from this job about people and holding down a job that will help me virtually for the rest of my life.

By the way,why do I think of @mortimermouse every time I say
the word “Virtually”? Does he say that word a lot, lol. ? I know I’ve heard him say it a couple of times anyways, lol. Maybe I’m wrong.

But anyways, yeah, I talk to most people and I’m pretty sure most people like me at work. And I like them. And isn’t that what whole point of life is all about?

Another bonus is that there are vending machines in the building so I get to stop occasionally and just rest and drink a coke and then back to work. We get tested sometimes and our pay is adjusted by how well we do. I am making about $11.00 per hour but my productivity went down compared to three months ago so they could have lowered my pay to minimum wage but they told me that they will keep paying me my $11.00 an hour. California minimum wage is about $10.00.

The company knows my diagnosis but it it is not a factor in what goes on every day. It is not talked about and I am not treated any different than any employee at any job because of it. My diagnosis is irrevelent at my job. When my new boss started last year I have to be honest and I thought he was a jerk. But now that I know him I know he is a good guy and the problem at first was that he was starting a new job with new people and what I perceived as him being a jerk was really that he was just a little bit defensive the first month he was there. That was very normal for someone starting a new job and it was understandable. But I’ve known him for a year now and he’s pretty cool.

My new supervisor started last week. She’s this cute, petite Hispanic 27 year old women/girl and my first impression is that she’s a nice person. She seems OK and I get along with her. She also did some innocent flirting with me, lol, which I enjoyed. Hey, you have to have a little fun at work, right? Anyway, she’s new and she’s OK.

Anyways, I’m going to miss this job when it ends. It’s been a learning experience. I might work there longer, depending on how my back holds up. I walk around virtually (there’s that darn word again) every day knowing that if I ever trip, or I am pushed down or hit by someone or if I fall for whatever reason that there’s a chance that I could be hurt very, very badly for life because of my bad back.

It’s scary but I can’t just sit home doing nothing. Heck, my dad had two heart attacks that almost killed him in his fifties, but when he was in his 60’s he was doing hard work in his yard and running 100 or more feet every day while he walked his dog. Yeah, my old man was pretty brave and I learned a lot from him. I’m not as brave as him but I have to live my life, bad back or not.
So nice talk’en’ to you folks. It’s time to eat a bologna sandwich now. Have a nice weekend!!

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You know, I am virtually just a freak of nature that is very good at some stuff despite being extremely ill.

You sound happier than I am. Remember that I often wish I had taken it easy. I was always told do, only to go to extremes, ignoring everyone except for a few. A few who wanted to see my strengths which they envied become developed.

Life gets more complicated and harder when you’re “going places and moving up”, it is actually hard to cope with being highly achieving. Achievement is relative to ability, by the way, and ability is relative to others.

Google “how to cope with” and see how it finishes your sentence for you, go see some of what some people cope with that others envy at times.

I’m happy for you, it reminds me of when I was happier, I might add. Success brings a burden. It is all the same at the top, just more to lose if I ■■■■ up. It’s like virtually balancing on a wire between buildings versus between tree stumps. Virtuously…it sucks.

It sounds like you enjoy your life- that is perfectly good. Mine hurts a lot.

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Great tip. I just did that, really cool.

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Well, I would like to have some of your character traits. but yes, I in some ways, think I am happier now even more than before I got sick.

Is my life hard, impossible, and endlessly frustrating? The answer is, yes, it is.

Is schizophrenia kicking my butt? The answer is yes, it is.

But occasionally, I actually feel alive, I feel curiosity about what’s going on around me. I am curious about what other people have done in their lives besides mine. I am curious about what makes people tick. When these moments occur, they are priceless.

Anyways, that’s a good post from you. We all have our different coping skills which may seem crazy to other people. But like I told you about a month ago, your accomplishments at such a young age despite having schizophrenia are enough to fill a life time for most and if you never do anything else in your life again, you could could call your whole life a success, including the future.

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Thanks for sharing that Nick.

I really love my job more and more as each day passes too. I work in worker’s compensation and have to deal with complex legislation. My job is to make decisions as to whether or not we can pay for certain treatments.

I work with really old claims, claims that predate the current Act of 1988, which makes things even more difficult because firstly, people are used to getting the same treatment and it’s difficult to stop it if it’s no longer viable, and secondly, I have to be mindful of transitional arrangements under the act.

I have to ask GP’s etc for reports and make decisions based on what comes back. Usually my aim is to cease treatment where possible, but most of the time I’m approving ongoing treatment.

I work with a great team of people and I think it’s important that we support each other as a team. My supervisor and boss are aware of my schizophrenia but it doesn’t come into play in my work.

Where I have denied treatment, my decisions have been challenged by the recipients. They have asked for independent reviews of the decisions and three of my decisions have gone to the review team, and all three have come back in my favour.

At my work, a new policy about the health benefits of work was released last year. The principle is that good work is good for you and it emphasises the important role work takes in someone’s recovery from illness or injury.

I consider myself to be living proof of the health benefits of work. Since changing to my current team, my own recovery has come along in leaps and bounds.

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Hi turtle, it’s amazing that your brain can handle so much complexity at your job. And my job has helped me in my recovery too. The money is nice of course but the other benefits are nice too. I hope you are having a good day. Bye.

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I hope you’re having a good day too Nick!

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I guess you could say your Janitor job is ‘sweeping the nation’! :wink:

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working is something that i would really like to achieve even if just part time, i am really worried about losing my benefits though, it would be sad if i went through the whole job search and found something but wasnt getting as much money as i get now,

what i want more than anything though is job satisfaction, i want to enjoy my job and get a lot of satisfaction from doing it, i want to achieve something every day even if its just cheering someone up that will make my day,

i havent been working long or for many hours a week but what i do really makes me feel alive, it has been a long road for me though and i have a long way to go but hopefully with a little faith i will get there :slight_smile:

@77nick77 your job sounds really cool and i hope you can stay on for a bit longer but if you do get another job i hope you enjoy it and get satisfaction from it :slight_smile: i think its the little things that can make a big difference,

@mortimermouse idk how you do it, all i can say is keep up the good work, hope you get where you want to be :slight_smile:

@anon84763962 that sounds a bit complicated but as long as you enjoy it thats the main thing, glad you’ve got a good team behind you and you are doing well :slight_smile:

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Hi @asgoodasitgets, I’ve been doing it a long time so it’s like second nature to me. There’s a lot of variety in my job and a lot of customer service and I have to deal with immensely unhappy people very frequently. That’s probably the trickiest part of it, de-escalating and diffusing problems over the phone.

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That’s great Nick that you like your job. You know honestly, the majority of workers everywhere can’t say the same thing as you just did and for you to say it with our diagnosis says a lot. My hat’s off to you brother! I just had an interview for a job today, so I am cautiously optimistic. Great post BTW, I enjoyed reading it.

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I am glad you enjoyed reading it. I hope you get that job Zak.

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