By Sarah Jones
Reporter
Q&A Michael Moon
Michael Moon, custodian, says farewell to Crowder after 12 years of service.
What has been your favorite part of the job?
The people.
What has been your least favorite part of the job?
Outside trash. It gets a little smelly.
How has the coronavirus changed your job?
Mostly, it has intensified what we normally do. We have to be more diligent than we have been in the past. It hasn’t changed the job that much, but we have to think about our procedures more just to make sure that they cover all the bases so that nobody gets sick.
What was the worst mess you ever cleaned up?
I think it was the third or fourth month I was here at Crowder College, and my first position was over here in Newton Hall. At the Students Center they had an event where they had enchiladas and pop and punch and stuff like that. I cleaned overnight, so no one else was here. I pulled the bags out of the trashcans. At that time, we didn’t have as good of bags as they have now, and the bags ripped. We have four trash cans in here and all four of them ripped. So, I would clean up one, go and pull the next one and it would rip too. So, I had to call my boss at the time and say, “The rest of the building is probably not going to get cleaned tonight.” I literally had to mop the Student Center four separate times.
How would you spend a week off with no financial limitations?
I would probably be in front of my computer writing.
What are your plans for the future?
Next week I will be leaving Crowder. I have a part-time job right now, but they are having me go to full time.
You said you enjoyed writing are you planning to do more with that?
That is more of a dabbling. I would love to be a novelist, but that is going to be way in the future.
What can students do to make the maintenance personnel’s job easier?
Probably be more aware of their surroundings. Because I have seen quite a few mid-hallway collisions where they have spilled their drinks because they were on their phone texting or looking at their homework or something like that, and they run into each other and spill drinks. Or they caught their coffee cup on something, and it’s created a leak and gone all the way down the hallway. You would be surprised by how many times that has happened.
What is your biggest fear?
Probably losing my family in an accident.
What has been the best learning experience in your life and what did you learn from it?
Probably the best learning experience has been the entire time I have been here at Crowder. There are so many things that I have learned how to do that I didn’t know before. I’ve been a custodian, but I have also been a student in the adult education program and a student in the college program. I’ve helped out with the maintenance department on different projects. I’ve interacted with so many different people from so many different walks of life, and you learn something from everyone that’s around you.
Are there things about this job that you think you are going to miss?
I would say interacting with the different people here. It is definitely a family. You hear the term “Crowder Family” a lot, and it is very true. Like with any family there are the ones you get along with and the ones you don’t, but all in all, it is a pretty inclusive community. We might not always agree, but we agree that we are here for the students.
What was your least favorite part of your own education?
I honestly don’t know; it has been a few years since I was a student. Probably finding the time to coordinate working and being able to take classes because most of the classes I needed were not offered at the time I had off to take them.
What are your hobbies?
Writing, woodworking, and spending time with my family.
What is your family like?
My family is my wife and my kids. I have two girls, and I’ve been married for the past 16 years. I’ve been together with my wife for 18 years. Honestly, I consider us to be a pretty normal family.
What is your biggest pet peeve?
Probably people making the same mistake and expecting a different result. When they do the same thing over and over again but expect something to have changed.
What personality trait do you like most about yourself?
I really haven’t given it that much thought. I guess I try to do the best job no matter what I am doing.
What do you enjoy writing?
There are a lot of different genres I like: dystopian, fantasy, science-fiction, just fiction in general. I don’t do a lot of poetry or anything like that; I think the only time I ever did that was when I was in class and actually taking writing classes.
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