[sudo-discuss] should we hire someone to clean up after events?

Mon May 6 00:29:09 PDT 2013

wow.  made me want to clean my livingroom.

On Sun, May 5, 2013 at 8:14 PM, GtwoG PublicOhOne <g2g-public01 at att.net>wrote:

>
> Romy & Yo's-
>
> And let's hear it for the times when janitors and trades-workers of all
> kinds were able to earn dignified family-sustaining wages doing the work
> that really needs to be done.  Contrast to the ponzi-scheme economy where
> selling fraudulent mortgages produces obscene fortunes while cannibalizing
> what's left of the middle class.  Solidarity among working people is what
> made the difference in the 20th century, and it can work again in the 21st
> century.
>
> Re. cleaning:
>
> Professional cleaning crews work efficiently because they have the right
> tools and the right methods, and very often they work as teams.  We can do
> this.
>
> At minimum we should have:
>
> a)  A broom and long-handled dustpan set.  The best ones for dealing with
> large spaces, are the Rubbermaid long-handled dustpans that are open in the
> front, and come with brooms of compatible size.  These tools make it easy
> to sweep up spot messes on the ground, including dropped items, crumbs,
> etc.: and it's the spot messes of this kind that often make the difference
> between an area looking clean and looking messy.
>
> b)  A duster on a long enough handle to enable getting at areas above head
> height, such as door frames and shelves.  Accumulated dust is an allergen
> and it also makes a place look neglected.  The point of dusting is to get
> the dust off the surfaces, so it settles on the ground and can be vacuumed
> later.
>
> c)  A trigger-spray bottle of Windex or equivalent, and a supply of
> cleaning rags that can be laundered.  These aren't primarily for windows
> but for cleaning & wiping tables, equipment, and other surfaces that are
> closer to the ground and subject to grime, spills, and so on.  Those of us
> who are inclined toward chemistry can experiment with creating our own
> version of Windex: basically it's dilute ammonia with a little bit of
> detergent.  (Never mix ammonia and bleach: poison gas!)
>
> d)  A trash container that's easy to tote around the space and fill up
> with whatever dropped objects, swept-up stuff, and so on.  It can be used
> as a collecting container: the load can be sorted into recyclables and
> trash when it's transferred to the main bins.  The point of this is to save
> oneself the effort of having to walk back and forth to the main bins with
> every handful of "stuff."  Best of all are 5-gallon pails, which can be
> found "used" and scrubbed out, or bought cheaply at hardware stores.  You
> can carry two around at once: one for trash and one for recycling, saving
> some sorting later.
>
> e)  An upright vacuum with a hose attachment.  We already have one.  With
> frequent spot-sweeping by hand (broom & long-handled dustpan), vacuuming
> only needs to be done occasionally, once a week or every other week.  The
> most efficient way to vacuum is with a helper who can help move furniture
> before you get to that part of the room, so the vacuuming can go on without
> interruptions or need to maneuver around objects.
>
> Re. methods:
>
> Aside from "patrol" cleaning such as sweeping up spills or picking up
> occasional bottles: Start by picking up large objects and work your way
> toward the crumbs.  After picking up & sweeping up, start from above
> head-level and work your way to floor level.  Vacuuming comes
> second-to-last, and cleaning surfaces with Windex & rags comes last of
> all.
>
> Liquid spills are best cleaned up as soon as they occur (the supply of
> cleaning rags should be accessible for this), so they don't become dried-on
> or sticky and hard to remove later.
>
> Left-behind piles of food & drink containers on tables mean there's a need
> for small convenient refuse containers (5-gallon pails work for this also)
> near the places where the messes accumulate.
>
> Vacuuming makes noise that some people find distracting, and involves
> moving furniture, so it should be done at the beginning or end of the day.
>
> We have a Roomba: a little carpet-cleaning robot with brushes and vacuum.
> This is in serious need of being cleaned and reconditioned, with new
> brushes, filters, and battery pack.  But once it's in working order it can
> be turned loose on the big room every other night, and will relieve the
> need for vacuuming more than once a month or so.
>
> Everyone has their own personal list of clever cleaning tricks, and we can
> start compiling these for reference, on a wiki page.
>
> Cleaning can become like inertia: at first it looks like a big task that
> takes much effort to get moving, but after it's going along routinely, it
> takes relatively little effort to keep it up.
>
> -G.
>
>
> ======
>
>
>
>
> On 13-05-05-Sun 10:25 AM, Romy Ilano wrote:
>
> It would be interesting if the organizers of events could find a
> cooperative way to make cleaning fun for each individual guest... Make a
> game of "who'll pick up beer bottles?"
>
>  Re: janitors
> My uncle recently retired as a janitor at a Florida school. He was debt
> free and able to return to his home country with a great pension. He bought
> and paid for a house car and saved despite coming from a crime ridden poor
> third world country
>  Lets hear it for janitors they do great work
>
> ---
>
>  Romy Ilano
> Founder of Snowyla
> http://www.snowyla.com
> romy at snowyla.com
>
> On May 5, 2013, at 10:08, "mattsenate at gmail.com" <mattsenate at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>  Cleaning is life. But even if each of us tried our best to clean up
> after ourselves, there will be aggregated filth, incrementally built, plus
> the cost of natural shuffling, displacement--such is the burden of use and
> optimization! I think we should:
>
> Communicate more clearly the necessary standards for common space.
>
> Provide all event holders with a checklist for set up and break down
>
> Clean up after ourselves and each other collaboratively
>
> Recognize that some additional amount of cleaning is required and
> therefore create good systems for cleaning natural, aggregate mess.*
>
> * my personal politics hope we can do this specific type of work without
> direct financial incentive.
>
> // Matt
>
> ----- Reply message -----
> From: "Gregg Horton" <greggahorton at gmail.com>
> To: "Romy Ilano" <romy at snowyla.com>
> Cc: "sudo-discuss" <sudo-discuss at lists.sudoroom.org>
> Subject: [sudo-discuss] should we hire someone to clean up after events?
> Date: Sun, May 5, 2013 9:48 AM
>
>
> I think we should hire a fellow sudoer and use the cash as incentive.
> Whoever wishes to do it that month can.
>
>  Or people can learn how to pick up after themselves.
>
>
> On Sun, May 5, 2013 at 8:44 AM, Romy Ilano <romy at snowyla.com> wrote:
>
>> SudoRoom is a hackerspace. Our skillset is not cleaning, especially
>> cleaning the big main room.
>>
>>  *- Should we put aside $30-60 every time a group holds an event in our
>> space so that we can pay someone to clean up the common room?*
>> *- Should we pay someone $30-60 once  month to clean the common room for
>> us?*
>>
>>  I brought this up because we are realistically not going to get a lot
>> of members to clean the space. we are hackers. it is not our skillset.
>> There is not going to be a magical day when a hackerspace finds that all of
>> its members find cleaning to be a pleasurable act.
>>
>>  We are good at starting projects, drinking beer, looking for new
>> spaces, but we are definitely not great at cleaning.
>>
>>  Our landlord G is also receptive to the idea of us hiring someone to
>> clean up the common room after big events.
>>
>>  I personally suck at cleaning, I'm into doing it, but I would rather
>> spend my time hacking and working on projects. I spent a bit of time
>> cleaning up the space Saturday morning, wiping down the tables int he main
>> room and vacuuming to prepare the space for the today I learned.
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
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