Dispatcher or maid?

From the Orlando Sentinel-

They talk the hopeless out of suicide, help parents find missing children, and send deputies to rescue families from armed home invaders.

And now, Orange County sheriff's 911 dispatchers double as janitors, too, some complain.

Worried their communications center is too messy, sheriff's managers recently assigned 911 operators and dispatchers to a list of regular cleaning duties.

They clean kitchen cabinets, scrub under the sink and tidy the exercise room, according to an Oct. 24 sheriff's memo. Supervisors inspect at the end of the shift to make sure the work is "acceptable," it states.

It's humiliating, emergency operator Carol E. Green said. She spends grueling 10-hour shifts fielding calls from people who've been raped, beaten or shot. She's not a maid.

"I'm here to save lives," she said.

Dispatchers need to clean up after themselves, like any office worker, said Division Chief Frank Valant, who runs the communications center. The regular cleaning crew still will vacuum and scrub toilets.

"Everybody's going to do their share," he said. Dispatcher salaries start at about $11 an hour.

A checklist lays out their chores. A sample "to do" list includes cleaning the refrigerator, freezer, cabinets, under the sink, and all appliances.

"The checklist is longer than this but this is just a general example of what it should look like," the memo states.

The memo also says dispatchers will clean kitchen floors, although Valant said janitors will perform that task.

The news was a morale buster for dispatchers, who take pride in their lifesaving jobs.

"I personally thought it was inappropriate and demeaning," Green said.

TFM's main job for 20 years wasn't janitorial in nature either as I worked in a series of hospitals. Still I had to take my turn every other month cleaning a employee refrigerator in addition to keeping my work area clean. I didn't like cleaning the refrigerator but orders were orders when I was in the service. When I left the military, either I did what my boss says or I hit the highway.

Ms. Green doesn't have my sympathy and I'm clueless as to why the Orlando Sentinel thinks this is news. The article makes me wonder-

Who cleans the refrigerators at the Orlando Sentinel?

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