Need work advice

[snugglegirl05]

Long post

I work as a porter for a parking company. The area of garages I work at is owned by property management company. There is a company employee, a Senior Supervisor, who is over this area of parking garages. There are several parking garages located in this area which she is over. She reports to our employer, the property management company, and the property managers.

There are 3 area garage managers and 2 porter supervisors who report to her.

The property management company wants every garage located in this area of garages to be spotless. I have been told that property management company is a top of the line company. Every porter’s job performance must be top of the line.


The parking garages are inspected several times every year by the Senior Supervisor, upper management who work for our employer, the property management company, and the property managers. Nothing can be out of place when these inspections happen. Everything must be cleaned. No dust. No dirt. No fingerprints on door handles.


A daily maintenance checklist has to be turned in on a daily basis.


These are the duties on the checklist…

· Sweep the entire garage

· Sweep the entrance and exit

· Get rid of cobwebs

· Clean the pipes that are located inside the garage

· Clean the doors, door frames, and door handles that are located in the garage

· Sweep the elevator landings

· Clean signage that is located in the garage

· Clean the entrance and exit gate equipment, entrance and exit gates, card readers, pay machines and ticket machines

· Sweep the islands that are located inside the garage

· Mop the islands

· Clean the guardrails

· Sweep the stairwells

· Clean the handrails located inside the stairwells

· Mop the stairwell landings

· Get rid of gum that is stuck on the ground inside the garage

· Get rid of any spills on the ground inside the garage *such as transmission fluid*

· Take out the trash and replace trashcan liners

· Clean the trashcan lids and sides

· Clean the fire extinguisher cabinets

· 2 daily space counts *count the empty parking spots inside the garage; the property management company requires this to be done* In addition to these duties, some porters have daily extra duties such as…
· Mop the wheel stops inside the garage
· Mop the stripes on the ground indicating where the elevator landings are


I have to do that as well as the following…
Make sure that the trashcan liner inside every trashcan is not showing *this has to be done on a daily basis because the cleaning company that is used at night… the trash is taken out on a daily basis, and the cleaning company does not do this*

There is an amenities bay located inside on of the parking garages I am responsible for cleaning. I am responsible for cleaning 2 garages. The amenities bay is located in a section of one of the garages. It has a car vacuum cleaner, a tire pressure machine, and a machine that is used to clean the floor mats inside the car. That area has 2 parking spots. I have to mop the parking spot stripes as well as clean the equipment.



So here is my question…
How am I supposed to do my job and keep both parking garages spotless?


The Senior Supervisor, upper management who work for our employer, the property management company, and the property managers notice everything, and are not happy when anything is out of place.


When this happens, my porter supervisor *who is also over other porters*, is told this by the garage managers he reports to, and he lets us know. He realizes that we can only do what we can do, but the Senior Supervisor, upper management and the property management company expect everything to be spotless.

[EricKei]

From the sound of things, they are of the "Work smarter, not harder!" types -- In other words, none of this is impossible, because they're not the ones who have to do it.

[snugglegirl05]

From the sound of things, they are of the "Work smarter, not harder!" types -- In other words, none of this is impossible, because they're not the ones who have to do it.

Yeah...

Sounds like that.

So what should my mindset be everyday I go to work so I do not go crazy?

There are co-workers of mine who have adopted the I do not care attitude towards work.

[Teefies2]

Although I work in retail, I can relate to your situation.

We are expected to do more and more with less and less hours. About 25% of my job, like yours, involves cleaning (such as restrooms, spills, etc) and mandatory daily items (cooler and freezer checks every 3 hours, for example). My attitude is: I do the best I can at what I MUST do - as in those things that are necessary for the health of the general public - cleaning restrooms, temperature checks). I do the best I can do at what I have the time to do on the daily list, and I do the best I can do on taking care of the customers. Other than that, screw it ... I do what I can do within the hours given.

The running theme? Do the BEST you can do, at whatever you do. It won't stop the criticizers (cause as we all know "haters gonna hate" - Thank You Taylor Swift!) But it will allow you to know that you worked to the best of your ability on the things that matter. And that, my friend, is how you go home each night with your head held high ;-)

[Shyla]

That's a pretty long list for 8 hours, esp multiplied by 2 garages. Like others said, do the best you can. I don't know the consequences of not having it perfect. If the boss just rants, try to learn to just nod calmly. If it affects your pay, try sitting down with your immediate supervisor. Ask him to prioritize the list. Can you maybe do a rotation where you only clean oil spills on odd number days or you do more mopping and less something else on bad weather days?

[snugglegirl05]

That's a pretty long list for 8 hours, esp multiplied by 2 garages. Like others said, do the best you can. I don't know the consequences of not having it perfect. If the boss just rants, try to learn to just nod calmly. If it affects your pay, try sitting down with your immediate supervisor. Ask him to prioritize the list. Can you maybe do a rotation where you only clean oil spills on odd number days or you do more mopping and less something else on bad weather days?

I have asked the porter supervisor if the checklist can be prioritized. He is the first in line.

His answer was no.

The property management company expects everyone to follow the checklist everyday in order.

No if's and's or but's

[notalwaysright]

Gah, that's insane. I know some higher ups can be out of touch, but are they aliens? I don't know if this would work, but... What if you counted how many duties you are expected (required!) to accomplish per day, and figure the amount of time you would have for each. For example, if you work an 8 hour day, that's 480 minutes. Say you have 30 things to do. That's 16 minutes each, not including any time it takes to move from task to task, full and empty buckets, get more supplies, use the bathroom, etc. Then one day, make notes about how long each thing realistically takes. I know possibly management will just tell you to go faster, but if nobody can accomplish it, it's obviously not just you.

Also, the whole bit about keeping the garbage bag liner from showing... That's just stupid. I don't think anyone would care, and if they do they need to get a life. Also they have a cleaning crew and don't make them keep the stupid bag from showing? Not cool, actually a waste of time. Why not just have them do it the way management wants so you don't have to re-do their work?

[snugglegirl05]

For the daily morning meetings...

The running theme is a laundry list of what the property management is not happy about regarding our job performance. The garages must be spotless.

Property management complains to the garage managers as well as to the Senior Supervisor.

Property management has watched us work from a distance, and has determined that we have too much downtime.

According to property management, we do not look enthusiastic when we are working.

Property management, the garage managers as well as our porter supervisor have literally "planted" trash inside the garage to make sure that we are doing our job. I have found an old pair of gloves at one of my garages as well as a sweatshirt. My co-workers have found shorts and a shirt at their garages.

For one of the parking garages that our porter supervisor is over.

It is a big garage. Bigger than my garages. It has 14 levels. Two porters are assigned to that garage. The first level must be cleaned every morning. Once the first level is cleaned, both porters cannot be seen on the first level unless they are clocking out for lunch inside the garage office located on the first floor inside that garage. There are cameras located on the first level. The garage manager for that garage does watch the cameras. If you are seen before you clock out for lunch, our porter supervisor is notified, who then tells you to stay away from the first level.

[bainsidhe]

Good grief. So here's my two cents, even if this isn't "correct" according to your managers. Even though you aren't supposed to prioritize the list, you need to.

Start with litter, since this is what will management and customers notice the most. Immediately followed by those stupid trash liners (since they are easily visible by your bosses) and anything looking dirty. That's where sweeping and mopping become a priority. That doesn't mean you have to sweep and mop EVERYTHING each shift. It means you need to focus on cleaning where it's most needed and then focus on a more thorough approach as time allows.

[snugglegirl05]

I am glad that I am not the only one who thinks that what the property management company wants is unrealistic.

This is not the first time that I have dealt with an unrealistic client while working.

[snugglegirl05]

4 parking garages received an overall grade of 65

According to the property management company, we have to continuously get an overall grade of 100 when all 4 garages are inspected.

Last week there was a problem at one of the parking garages and one of the parking lots located in the area of garages that my employer manages and that the property management owns. Both are overcrowded. Apparently too many monthly parking passes were issued, and so one of my co-workers had to be sent over to that garage to direct traffic once that garage became full. He spent 3 hours there last Thursday directing traffic. So he was not able to complete all of his duties that day.

The following day the property management company and our employer inspected the parking garages.

When we got to work, our porter supervisor was not happy. During our daily morning meeting, he mentioned the following...

our overall grade has been 85; as of Friday it went down to 65
we must follow the daily maintenance checklist to the letter
the property management company and our employer are convinced that we are not doing our jobs
if we do not want to do our job, we can leave
he will find other people who want to do our jobs

It was a very short meeting.

Anything that I have to do that is not included on the daily maintenance checklist, I write down on the back of the list. Our porter supervisor has to sign the back of that list everyday. So that way he sees what I did that is not included on the list.

One of my co-workers mentioned during lunch that he wanted to go home after clocking back in from lunch.

On 2/18/15 the property management company and our employer will have a meeting at one of the parking garages that 2 of my co-workers work at. The garage manager for that garage wants that garage to be perfect. He notices everything.... dirty mirrors, stairwells not cleaned by the second shift, and so on. My 2 co-workers have to fix the problems.

[TheSHAD0W]

I don't know if it's feasible, but could you write down the amount of time each task took you to perform? One way to sate micromanagers is to bury them in data...

[Shyla]

This whole thing just kills me. They're parking garages. Cars have dirty tires and oil and road salt. Shoes are dirty. Why on earth does a parking garage have to be spotless? Yes, I know they pick the rules. But at this point I think the battle is psychological. Do the best you can then learn to go home and not care. Try to ignore the ranting about a dirty parking spot. I know this is easier said than done but worth a try. I have a feeling your boss is the kind of guy who feels happy and powerful when he can put down others.

[snugglegirl05]

This whole thing just kills me. They're parking garages. Cars have dirty tires and oil and road salt. Shoes are dirty. Why on earth does a parking garage have to be spotless? Yes, I know they pick the rules. But at this point I think the battle is psychological. Do the best you can then learn to go home and not care. Try to ignore the ranting about a dirty parking spot. I know this is easier said than done but worth a try. I have a feeling your boss is the kind of guy who feels happy and powerful when he can put down others.

Ok...

Why must there be a psychological battle regarding this?

It is just a job.

[Seanette]

Some people are just so pathetic that that's the only pleasure or sense of worth they have in life, tromping on subordinates.