professional cleaner, professional editor

You know how communal spaces don't stay clean? (Think of the apartment you shared with five strangers. Now think of the kitchen. I think you know what I mean.) No one is willing to take responsibility for the upkeep of those sorts of spaces, unless they're getting paid.

Call me a neat freak, call me OCD. Call me what you will. (If that thing you call me is mean, though, please don't tell it to my face.) I admit that I am frequently the one who takes the responsibility for maintaining cleanliness of shared spaces. My roommates loved me! I often cleaned the kitchen, the living room, and my room (which was always shared).

Former roommates, back me up on this.

I love having my own place now where there are no neglected communal spaces. But at work, the communal space problem is ever-present. There are plenty of neglected areas around the office. And I have been known from time to time to be the one who cleans those areas.

Consider the following:

An "award" given to me at a work retreat:

An old Facebook status update:

So yesterday, we got a memo saying that the services of professional cleaners have been secured to clean the break rooms weekly.

I fully support this, but I seriously want to submit an application to the VP of HR, who wrote the memo, for this job. In my cover letter, I might say, "I've cleaned the break room on my floor from time to time. Please consider contributing the money you might devote to a professional cleaning service instead to an increase in my salary, and I will then consider adding weekly break room cleaning to my job responsibilities. Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you!"