When talking about service jobs within Colorado State University’s staff, custodians are often the unsung heroes of the campus.

At CSU, custodians, or facilities management, are heavily involved in making sure the campus runs smoothly. From dining halls to lecture halls, they make sure students have functional, clean places to learn.

Claude Jaillet IV, a custodian supervisor for CSU facilities management, gave a little insight on the job.

First things first, custodians have a lot of ground to cover. Custodial staff run on a.m. and p.m. shifts and work through a busy schedule that cleans multiple buildings every day, Jaillet said. While one group does a portion of academic halls, another may do dorms.

They take on all the tasks many people don’t think about; they clean the floors, the toilets, the windows and the food you left in your lecture seat.

“Now I see people all the time in the halls that’ll tell me thank you for just doing my job.” -Claude Jaillet IV, custodian supervisor for CSU facilities management

Custodians are always moving, and Jaillet, who said he has been working at CSU for about nine years, is no newcomer to the workload.

Arriving from New Jersey around 10 years ago, Jaillet said he remembers coming to Loveland, Colorado, and really enjoying the area.

“We just stuck around here, and you know, it’s just good nature and good hiking,” Jaillet said.

Jaillet said he saw a posting for a position as a custodian and took the job. He recalled going to school in New Jersey and it feeling different from the culture surrounding CSU. He said the opportunity to meet new people and hold a new job was intriguing for him.

“I always wanted to work at the university, so I just applied, and here we are,” Jaillet said.

Jaillet explained the hard work his job entails. While he covers most of the academic buildings, he emphasized the changes he has seen having interacted with students all these years.

“It’s definitely changed in the last nine years I’ve worked at CSU,” Jaillet said. “There’s an attitude shift.”

When talking about service jobs, custodians can be underappreciated, working after people have gone home and doing the tasks others may not want to do.

“I ran into more people that seemed to be not as appreciative of the work,” Jaillet said. “Now I see people all the time in the halls that’ll tell me thank you for just doing my job.”

As the culture at CSU shifts to become more appreciative of facilities management and other staff, it helps build community when everyone feels like a Ram.

“And just being a part of CSU as a whole is interesting because there’s always something going on,” Jaillet said. “It feels like I’m just involved by being around.”

Service jobs are important to any institution; it’s important to recognize the workers that keep CSU a well-oiled machine.

Even though facilities management can be short-staffed at times, Jaillet acknowledged the hard work and its reward. 

“It’s busy,” Jaillet said. “We keep moving, but it’s a good job.”