Sunday Work at the Factory
Hands smelling of Windex
I was using to clean caked plexiglass.
We only clean when company comes,
some bigwig with hawk’s eyes ready
to see what’s been left. My arm
going numb from the effort, reaching
above my head. They pay me really well
coming in on a Sunday, a pittance
next to what they’d pay a cleaning service.
The grease gets into everything
so they break out the industrial-strength
to combat it. Rubber gloves handed out
to keep the new stuff off your skin.
Spray and wipe, spray and wipe,
a little at a time, pulling up years
of filth, resulting in a streak-free shine
that will, despite my best efforts,
be gone by next week.
3 thoughts on "Sunday Work at the Factory"
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I can smell it and feel the arm/shoulder ache. You put us right there. Bravo.
Really captures the defeatist spirit of cleaning in an unclean place
The irony of the company calling the speaker into work on a Sunday to clean before the big bosses come for a visit, when they’re supposed to keep things clean at all times. Typical.