The Good 5 Cent Cigar

Issue date: 1/26/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Teresa Kelly Karen Blanding, a housekeeper at the University of Rhode Island's Memorial Union , enjoys interacting with students on the job.

01/26/09 - Students studying in the University of Rhode Island Memorial Union may not take immediate notice to the snow plowed parking lots and clean bathrooms. However, jobs such as these are the responsibility of the Union's housekeeping staff, who work to upkeep the building.

"Everything that you see, is done by the housekeepers," Building Superintendent Bob Tiernan said.

There are currently 10 housekeepers on staff and six of them usually work the day shift, which can begin anywhere between 6 and 7:30 a.m. and ends at 3 or 3:30 p.m.

Housekeeper Karen Blanding works the nightshift, which starts at 3 p.m. and ends at 11:30 p.m.. The thirteen-year URI employee originally drove the handicapped van for Student Life and has worked as a housekeeper in the union for the past five years. On a typical day she begins her shift by checking all the bathrooms and replacing any empty toilet paper rolls or paper-towels. Blanding cleans the bathrooms, mops and buffs the floors, wipes the common room tables and empties the trash at the close of the night.

What she enjoys most about her job, however, are the students.

"I enjoy the students [and] I enjoy talking to [them]," Blanding said.

When the floors are wet or a bathroom is closed because of cleaning, they are polite and respectful, she said.

Tiernan described the job of a housekeeper such as Blanding as a "seven day operation."

Housekeepers are responsible for work inside and outside of the building, Tiernan said. They maintain the landscaping of the building by taking care of the lawn, planting flowers and spreading mulch.

"[We] spread 40 yards of mulch just last year," Tiernan said.

He said a few student workers helped with this process. The department currently has two student workers, and had three prior to the start of this semester.

During the winter seasons the housekeepers spread ice melt in the outdoor parking lots and sidewalks and also snow plow. The workers on the snow removal crew, whose average age is 57, plow from the bus circle down towards Barlow Hall.

"Every other department is only responsible for 15 percent of snow removal," he said.

Both the morning and night shifts are in charge of snow removal, he added.

The housekeepers also unload cases of toilet paper, chemicals and other housekeeping department supplies off the delivery trucks twice a week on average.

The events that take place in the ballroom and other locations in the union are setup and then broken down by the housekeepers.

"It's a non-stop job," he said.

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