"Oh, really?  You guys think I'm just some untouchable peasant?  Peon? Huh?  Maybe so, but following a broom around after <expletive> like you for the past eight 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 twenty minutes fast."

"Carl" - The Breakfast Club

If there ever was a truly thankless job, it was being a custodian for a public school. Imagine just trying to get through your workday and having hundreds of little critics following you around: mocking you, teasing you, making faces behind your back. Such was the life of the school janitor. The lucky ones were the after-hours crew, who were able to perform their job in peace. But for the ones who spent their day alongside a herd of sneering little misfits, surely the end of an eight-hour shift couldn’t come quickly enough.

And yet, there were times when the custodian’s services were quite appreciated. When little Mary’s lunch didn’t quite stay down on her way to English class, when Jimmy just couldn’t remember the combination of the padlock or find his trusty key (thereby locking all of his belongings away in his gym locker) they could always count on a quick visit from the janitor. Whether he was carrying a mop and a bag of mint-scented sawdust to clean up that protein spill, or wielding a formidable set of bolt-cutters, ready to slice a padlock of a locker like it was made of butter, the janitor was there to save the day.

And while he might enjoy hero status for a few brief moments (while you thanked him profusely for allowing you access to your pants,) in the back of his mind he knew that come tomorrow, his good deed would be long forgotten and you would soon be back to your taunting ways. But what you didn’t realize was that the custodians really did know everything that went on in their building. They were the eyes and the ears of the campus. They could open any locker they pleased, search the contents of any desk, and you would never be any the wiser. To be fair, most custodians didn’t have much time for snooping. Between keeping those floors sparkling, the bathrooms clean, the halls freshly painted, and the garbage pails empty, there wasn’t much time left for espionage. But if you pushed them too far, they just might see what they could dig up. Never thought about that, did you?

And even though their career was constantly held up as a shining example of what might be in store for you, should you fail take your studies seriously, the fact of the matter is, it was an honest job, held by folks who were dedicated to keeping their school looking as best as it possibly could. It would seem that all of us owe a pat on the back to the men and women in the gray uniforms, far beyond the obligatory page in the yearbook. If it weren’t for them, school could have been a much more miserable experience.