Honestly, Have You Ever REALLY Considered the Custodian's Feelings?

I was very excited recently by something that most people would never even think about. Not only that, nearly every other person who encountered this same thing verbalized their annoyance. 

In a large corporate headquarters, I noticed about a year ago when using the restroom that the building custodian was forced to clean that restroom while people kept coming and going around him. They were literally messing up the sink on one side of the counter while he was still wiping down the other side. I struck up a conversation and insisted that he push to have the restroom closed for cleaning. He is an extremely unassuming guy and assured me that this is something that he would never be allowed to do. 

I would see him about once a month and repeatedly insist that he fight for this simple change. Closing the restroom would allow him both to do a more efficient job AND certainly raise his self esteem a bit (just think about it). 

Low and behold after about a year of this I was heading to that headquarters restroom last month when I encountered a "Closed for Cleaning" sign. I was so pleased about it, I actually waited until he came out to congratulate him on the accomplishment! Again, almost everyone I saw that encountered the sign reacted with annoyance and frustration. 

The message here is really to put yourself in the shoes of the other person and remember that there are multiple points of view in every situation!