Please stop using my job as a way to punish kids

Vent 😤

This isn't new behavior, but it really struck me yesterday. I was standing across the cafeteria when I heard a teacher tell some kids who were acting up that if they didn't stop they would miss recess and spend the whole recess inside helping me clean the entire cafeteria.

Now, I don't mind if a kid is sent to the office and they come and ask if I have something for them to do, especially if what they did was vandalism. But, please stop treating the job I get paid to do, as a bad thing. For one, it actually creates more work for me. I have to teach these kids how to do everything. You can tell who has never held a broom in their whole life.

Then, more often than not, after they leave, I have to go behind them and make it right. That means something I've been doing for 3 years, and gotten to a fixed pattern, now takes me 2 to 3 times longer, which cuts in to MY lunch.

I'm also not talking about the kids who willingly volunteer to help me wipe tables or whatever. That isn't what I'm talking about. It's teachers actually using my job as punishment.

I work in elementary, but I'm sure custodians in the higher schools run into this as well.

Does anyone else get bothered by this?

Posted Mar 5, 2026, 4:58 PM UTC

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