The Janitor's Job

Kitsune · 10-23-2005, 05:21 AM

6am, Sunday morning. No one is up at this hour unless they're off to church. That's not my thing, so instead I've already downed a large Dunkin' Donuts coffee and I'm sitting here in my shared cubical, praying what I'm about to do goes right. I'll issue some commands and begin to pray that everything works.

I guess Sunday morning is going to be more of a religious experience than I had originally planned.

But, oh, the janitor. They come in, mop the floor, then leave. They don't carry a pager, don't get beeped in the middle of the night, don't deal with emergencies other than some spilled drink or flooded bathroom. They don't do work that involves company data -- you know the kind -- that people become furious over if it is not available for thirty seconds. Both of us clean up messes, both of us deal with "disasters". One of us just gets more sleep than the other. I suppose there is the issue of pay...

This morning I get to do one of those special tasks that literally makes me want to throw up. Move a database from an ancient, shaky cluster, and drop it on a new one that I get to build just hours beforehand. Oh, yeah, its Windows, so you know its going to be fun. Backups? They have none. If at anytime during the disk transfer on the EMC frame gets screwed up, its all over.

But its worth it, right? Having to take your job home with you each night isn't really that much of an issue. Carrying the pager is all part of the way the world works now. There are hundreds, thousands that would trade me. Many would give up even more sleep each night for their careers. I watch the workers here on visas to see what hours they're pulling and its a hell of a lot more than I am. They walk home to single bedroom apartments with no furniture, sleep on the floor next to six other people they live with but don't know, and return each day with minimal shuteye to do the same thing all over again. They seem to love it. I don't even have kids, so why am I complaining? I should be able to do this around the clock, just like they told me I should in college when I was in engineering. All-nighters are the norm. Trembling hands and blurred vision at 4:30am are nothing to worry about. These are the joys of the working world, the American Dream, the path to home/boat ownership that everyone loves and strives for.

Fuck. This isn't working.

10-23-2005, 05:21 AM	#1
Kitsune still eats dirt Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 3,031	The Janitor's Job 6am, Sunday morning. No one is up at this hour unless they're off to church. That's not my thing, so instead I've already downed a large Dunkin' Donuts coffee and I'm sitting here in my shared cubical, praying what I'm about to do goes right. I'll issue some commands and begin to pray that everything works. I guess Sunday morning is going to be more of a religious experience than I had originally planned. But, oh, the janitor. They come in, mop the floor, then leave. They don't carry a pager, don't get beeped in the middle of the night, don't deal with emergencies other than some spilled drink or flooded bathroom. They don't do work that involves company data -- you know the kind -- that people become furious over if it is not available for thirty seconds. Both of us clean up messes, both of us deal with "disasters". One of us just gets more sleep than the other. I suppose there is the issue of pay... This morning I get to do one of those special tasks that literally makes me want to throw up. Move a database from an ancient, shaky cluster, and drop it on a new one that I get to build just hours beforehand. Oh, yeah, its Windows, so you know its going to be fun. Backups? They have none. If at anytime during the disk transfer on the EMC frame gets screwed up, its all over. But its worth it, right? Having to take your job home with you each night isn't really that much of an issue. Carrying the pager is all part of the way the world works now. There are hundreds, thousands that would trade me. Many would give up even more sleep each night for their careers. I watch the workers here on visas to see what hours they're pulling and its a hell of a lot more than I am. They walk home to single bedroom apartments with no furniture, sleep on the floor next to six other people they live with but don't know, and return each day with minimal shuteye to do the same thing all over again. They seem to love it. I don't even have kids, so why am I complaining? I should be able to do this around the clock, just like they told me I should in college when I was in engineering. All-nighters are the norm. Trembling hands and blurred vision at 4:30am are nothing to worry about. These are the joys of the working world, the American Dream, the path to home/boat ownership that everyone loves and strives for. Fuck. This isn't working.

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