When the airport police caught wind of these goings on, they went to the men's room to arrest this entrepreneur, whom they discovered walking around wearing nothing but tennis shoes. The janitor wanted me to call the police on the guy. It's hard enough keeping up a bathroom that serves maybe thousands of people a day without having to put up with a sick dog. After counting the numbers of men and women entering the restrooms and the number of deplanements, Smith's department worked out an intricate formula that eventually scheduled janitorial service for each restroom down to the minute. The ideal was discovered to be a 20-minute interval between cleanings.
Cleanliness is monitored by college students patrolling for part-time pay.
One of the most important things we did was develop a management contract that specifies how many people should be placed on the janitorial staff, what their jobs are, what chemicals to use and when to use them. We also insist on a good benefits package. As a result, we have had only a 25 percent turnover in our cleaning force, where the janitorial field typically has an astronomical turnover rate. Tampa also addressed a recurring problem in keeping up cleanliness standards. Traditionally, the entry-level janitors would begin their careers on restroom detail until they were rewarded for a good job by being promoted to easier work, such as vacuuming the halls.