BYU Cleaning Checks.

One of the many unique things about BYU is monthly cleaning checks. Once a month an RA is assigned to come to your apartment to make sure that it is clean. The jobs are divided among the inhabitants of the apartment and rotated every month. If you pass your cleaning check, the RA puts a neon yellow sticker on your cleaning sheet and you are done. However if you do not pass, they give you a red sticker and come back a later day to see if you have properly cleaned.

The odd thing is that there isn't a punishment for never passing. Yet there is still a strong urge and desire to pass on the first time. Also, it seems like apartments only get cleaned right before the cleaning checks. This results in extremely dirty/messy apartments for about three weeks every month. I think that apartments would get cleaned more often if it were not for cleaning checks. The thought that often goes through my head when I think about cleaning is, "Well my cleaning check isn't until next week and what is the point of cleaning this week if it is just going to get dirty again and then I'll have to clean it again next week?"

My November cleaning check is tonight and for the first time, I will not actually be there for the inspection. I spent all of last night doing my cleaning assignments into the early hours of the morning. This month my duties included the toilet, bathroom counter, refrigerator/freezer, kitchen floor, cupboards, windows, and my half of my bedroom.

The jobs list includes instructions on how to complete each task. It seems like every single task includes soaking the area to be cleaned in Pine-sol. Unfortunately for me, the smell of Pine-sol makes me sick. This makes these cleaning checks even more dreadful than they already are.

Some of the more interesting things that have happened during these monthly events in the past include melting a container of Lysol wipes, attempts to kill a colony of ants that had made its home under our stove, and most recently having a spider fall on me while cleaning the track of my bedroom window.

I am looking forward to the next three hours I plan to spend on campus for a German assignment. However, after those three hours end, I must unwillingly go home where i will met by the revolting stench of a Pine-sol soaked apartment and will spend the rest of the night trying to air it out.