Cleaning ladies like to talk to me. I used to think that was because I was the only one working late into the morning hours in my old lab. But the cleaning ladies in my new building stops by just after lunch and they still talk to me.

I wonder if other ppl interact as much to cleaning ladies as I do. When I first started grad school I fixed one of the cleaning ladies' glasses for her. Then I slowly get to know about how many children she has and what they were studying. One time a cleaning staff asked if I was a student, and started asking me if university or polytechnic would be better.

The first cleaning lady in the new building first looked at me for days before she finally ask if I was chinese. Then she asked if I speak cantonese. The second cleaning lady today told me she was very upset yesterday because someone from another floor sent a complaint email to the building manager saying that the floor was not mopped the day before. She said she did, and she is still on probabation. I can't help but to feel bad for the poor philipino lady.

My old boss put up a sign on the wall above the garbage can once. It read, "Please throw garbage into and not around the garbage can, it is disrespectful to the cleaning staff." One of the many reasons why I think he is a great boss.