I’m okay compensating janitors well.
They’re like IT, the place can’t run without them. It’s not glamorous work but it’s important at the scale of a school.
this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2025
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I agree, as long as teachers get the same at the minimum
I did a stint as a janitor. Currently IT.
Sometimes I miss being a janitor.
When I was in highschool I got to talking with one of the janitors. He had two Masters degrees and the janitorial work gave a better work life balance than anything in his field.
The janitor at my high school had a masters in philosophy.
He had two Masters degrees
To which schools, though?
Mysticism and Restoration.
Oh that's crazy. Those are good schools
I graduated from them! My pristine diploma is in your pocket.
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I had a parent use me as an example for their kid as to what not to be. I was working as a janitor at the school and she said something along the lines of this meme when she picked her kid up. Never mind it was a small school and I was also the bus driver, maintenance crew, after school counselor, and cafeteria help. If it wasn't for me and one other guy doing the same things, her precious little child wouldn't have had a (private charter) school to go to. Its rude AF and if you do this your a shit human.
Doesn't have to work out of hours marking work. Doesn't have to give a fuck about children's dramas or parents or curriculums or lesson plans.
Come to Canada, we have well-paid teachers here with fantastic benefits. I never understood memes about under-paid teachers until I learned American teachers make hardly any money.
It reminds me of a post where someone said that Breaking Bad would never work in Canada because (1) he wouldn’t need to pay for any procedures anyway, and (2) even if he did have to, he’d make enough to afford whatever OHIP/insurance/etc wouldn’t cover.
It’s wild to me that teachers aren’t some of the best paid workers in a given country. I grew up with “oh they’re a teacher, yeah they’re well off” and to think that’s not the case down south blows my mind.
I mean, yes it’s probably better, but it’s not great. The Alberta teachers are on strike to demand better pay and working conditions.
Didn't Alberta just float an idea that anyone with a degree can be a teacher with a few catch up courses? That would further depress wages and reduce the impact of strikes if they have a bigger hiring pool to hire strike breakers
Meanwhile, American schools are struggling to hire anyone with at least a high school diploma and a two week teaching course, because nobody wants to accept the awful pay and working conditions.
Historically, one of the soft benefits of being a teacher was that you could find work anywhere. Basically, if your partner is the breadwinner, you can be a teacher. Because if their job required you to suddenly pack up and move across the country, you’d be able to find work wherever you moved. Everywhere needs teachers, after all.
But things have shifted, and teachers are increasingly choosing to leave their field whenever that scenario happens. Gotta pack up and move across the country? Cool, I’m taking this as an opportunity to get out of teaching.
Isn't that an anti union province?
When I was in university, I learned that I made more money as a level one support guy at the tiny MSP I worked at than my professor who had multiple awards, papers, patents, and was also some kind of bouldering champion apparently. He was an awesome person and a firm lesson that the amount of money one makes should never be used to measure the worth of a person. Also that teachers need to be paid like, a hell of a lot more.
Actually that reminds me of another guy I know. I spent a few years working at a GameStop and my store managers dream was to be a history teacher but he would have had to take a significant paycut in addition to getting a lot more schooling and certifications. Last time I ran into him though he told me he'd done it and I've never seen him happier.
My friend has a zoology degree, spent time as an officer in the military, and runs a successful business building training systems.
She's super stoked to be fullfilling one of her biggest dreams, going on an Antarctic expedition.
As a janitor.
The point here reminds me of Fry from Futurama... Didn't wanna be a delivery boy. Hated it. Dream was to explore space.
Lands job as an interstellar delivery boy.
I felt bad for all my high school mates who went into heavy debt and didnt even end up in the field they studied. I went right into trades and im at least not in school debt
In my state janitors make $14/hour median. Not even a third of a first year kindergarten teacher.
That's not right but this meme is a tankie joke.
Canadians are tankies… wot?
Union jobs in schools get a decent wage. The bitter joke is how you folks got uneducated away from economic solidarity.
Rural SC, USA. And that depends on both the area(I've lived in an affluent part of SC and not), as well as the individual school districts. But "resource" level facilities employees are usually paid just above minimum wage. And part time and full time facilities workers I've seen have $20/hr+.
Average teaching salary(not hourly, salary) is $50,178/yr. Which comes out to a bit over $24/hr. Now as I said that's salary. So unlike the facilities workers who are hourly, teachers don't get over time, often have to use their home time to supplement school time, regularly have to buy their own supplies, and the other items listed in the meme not the least of which is that student debt still equates to the trades and the like being a better option.
But I'm sure having that degree and "shaping the future" makes up for it.
Minimum wage is more than $14 an hour in my city in the US and you wouldn’t be able to find someone to do the job without paying twice that anyway.
And? Does your comment have anything to do with what I pointed out or the meme?
You shared your anecdote and I shared mine. Welcome to human interaction. We’re happy to have you here.
Your anecdote is pointless without comparing it to the average teacher salary in your area.
My bad. I'll be sure to keep all your favorite statistics on file next time sir. I'm only here to please you after all.
You do understand that your anecdote wasn't relevant to the conversation, right?
The person you responded to said that the minimum wage in their area was significantly less than the salary of a teacher because the post was about janitors making more than teachers.
Your response was basically just one upping them, which contributed nothing.
In normal human interaction, people would ask a follow up to that, to try to get you to explain how your interjection pertains to the topic at hand.
Most people would then expand on their point, but you choose to be an ass instead.
I realize that now. I’m so sorry. I’ll just fucking kill myself now. Thanks for showing me the error of my ways.
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You're just off topic and being petty because you can't follow a thread 🤣. Skill issue.
Thank you master. I’ll do better next time. I’m so sorry.
You could just keep quiet 🤷♂️
Why would I do that? I’m enjoying this conversation. Anything else you want to correct in my behavior?
lol "tankie joke", i think i found the fucking bootlicker. you people really can't take a joke can you?
I've seen the boys restroom, the janitor who has to take care of that deserves every cent.
There are other bonuses as well.
You guys think I'm just some untouchable peasant? Serf? Peon? Well, maybe so. But following a broom around after shitheads like you for the last 8 years, I've learned a couple of things. I look through your letters. I look through your lockers. I listen to your conversations, you don't know that but I do. I am the eyes and ears of this institution, my friends. By the way, that clock's 20 minutes fast.
Good old Shermer High School!
Mr Willis is secretly a millionaire who earned $8 million by investing in stocks.
PS. The name of the person on the link is actually Ronald Read, and yes, he worked as a janitor until the day he died.
What's wrong with being a janitor?
Apart from social prestige and low income depending on where they live and work - and these things could be absolutely fixable and I sincerely hope there will be a flip in them - it's the physical labor.
No matter how much prestige this job will ever get, how good the money will pay - it will always end up being taxing on the body. Especially with little technological help provided. I get back pain after 2 hours of mopping the floor, I cannot imagine doing this every day. For years and years and years. I cannot imagine mopping the floor close to retirement age and doing the heavy lifting that is necessary in this job.
Not that physical labor is "wrong". It is the most important form of labor there is and I personally think that these people should be put on pedestals and admired in our society and get the highest pays. Because they are paying with their health and body. But I do think that this taxing aspect would be why, even if it was a socially prestigious job, a lot of people would still opt out.
Teacher spouse comes home absolutely wrecked after an 11-hour day, often falls asleep at 8:30 pm on workdays. Goes in on weekends to catch up on the workload.
The cushy jobs are the admin.
Nothing. What’s wrong with being a teacher? Anti intellectualism pushing American stupidity.
Nothing, it's pretty satisfying work really. Similarly, everyone should continue to study, learn, and educate themselves
Not a fun job for people with germophobia.
Joke's on Willis. The school is going to fire him and demand teachers do his job after hours.
Whatever it takes to free up more budget to pay the football coach more.
debts
\sigh
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