'You always learn something in this work'

When Wendy informed her work coach two years ago that she would like to do something in cleaning, she knew a place: the City Office. Wendy: ‘We went to see it together and I liked it. It immediately clicked with my supervisor and colleagues. Since then I can’t get away from here.

Qualified
Soon Wendy followed the mandatory Basic Cleaning Training: ‘You learn all the important tricks of the trade there. how to clean toilets quickly and thoroughly, how to clean, things like that. And I made it, so I’m now a certified cleaner!’ Wendy starts at 7 o’clock in the morning with a first round through the City Office, together with her supervisor Medina. ‘Then I pick up the washable mugs, among other things, and check that all the rooms on my floor are tidy.’ At a quarter to 8 she leaves for the Town Hall on the Grote Markt, where she cleans with her colleague Mike until about 10 o’clock. ‘Mike is my buddy, we are well integrated into each other. At the Town Hall we do the toilets, the messenger room, edges and ledges, and we check the rooms to see if anything else needs to be done.’

First and second house
The Town Hall calls Wendy her “second home”, the City Office is her “first home”. At about 10 o’clock she is back at the City Office to do all the cleaning jobs that occur there. “I do everything at my own pace. When I’m done with my regular tasks, I always ask if something extra needs to be done. For example, check all rooms to see if anything else needs to be replenished. Let me walk around. Eventually I’ll be done around 3 o’clock and go home.’

Among the people
Work is very important to Wendy: ‘I can’t sit at home, I have to get among the people. And with the colleagues it’s just a lot of fun. We also have fun in between: then I put such a Spanish mop on my head like a wig. That’s laughing, vultures, roaring.’ She just had two weeks of vacation, but that’s long enough for her. ‘I’m not leaving either, but stay close. I often seize the holidays to clean my own house properly – otherwise I won’t get there so quickly. And every now and then I also stop by at work to have coffee together.’

Tricks
Wendy quickly improves in her profession: ‘You always learn something in this work. Everything you can learn, you have to take.” For example, she was recently taught the whole routine of the dirty mugs: where they are, when they should be picked up, how they should be treated and where they should eventually go. ‘I’m good at that, I quickly learn the tricks of the trade. And if I don’t know something, I can ask one of the supervisors. I can rely on them, I can discuss everything with them. If something is missing or broken somewhere, I pass it on to them. And if there are problems, there will always be a solution.