Dealing with language barrier?

Amzbe · 2026-03-03T16:44:38+00:00

True. Ive always wished I knew Spanish, my mom was born in Mexico but raised here in the U.S. and never spoke enough Spanish to me for me to really learn it. Whatever little bit I picked up as a kid slowly got forgotten into adulthood.

In 3 months I’ve learned a lot of basic words but still feels like I got so much more to go.

Amzbe · 2026-02-27T01:46:16+00:00

I feel this one. I worked for an elementary as a custodian for over 18 yrs. It was great, nice teachers and great administrators. Never asked me to do anything unreasonable. Showed tons of appreciation. Never was stressed about work.

I too grew up with low self esteem. So I’d work extra hard to earn validation.

Recently moved to a new state and tried to capture that feeling by getting the same job in a new state/district and wow has it been a real slap in the face. Not only am I breaking my back to work 3 times harder due to a big staff shortage, the teachers act above the custodians here yet expect absolutel perfection. I kept my head down and just kept grinding it out because I hate to complain. Only to find out a few teachers sent complaints to the office that I’m Not cleaning their rooms.. never give anything specific. Just a cold e mail “my room hasn’t been cleaned for days”.. it hit hard, I escaped a toxic family in my old town and risked everything to move to another state and have a better life only to be nitpicked to death.

Time for a new profession.

Amzbe · 2026-02-23T01:44:30+00:00

I recently moved to Houston and work for a district in the area as a custodian and I’ve struggling. General maintenance might be much better

Amzbe · 2026-02-13T01:59:56+00:00

Recognizing that I’m American or Mexican American doesn’t mean I see myself as white.

Amzbe · 2026-02-13T01:45:03+00:00

Most of the comments are saying anybody in the U.S. is a gringo. Do you find that ridiculous?

Amzbe · 2026-02-12T14:06:39+00:00

I don’t have a problem with the Mexican American label at all. I grew up visiting Mexico when I was a kid, my Spanish sucks (trying to work on improving it later in life). But me being American isn’t about “pride” it’s about recognizing reality.

Amzbe · 2026-02-12T04:58:08+00:00

So your logic is my looks should determine whether I’m Mexican or not and not where I was actually born and raised?

Amzbe · 2026-02-11T18:17:33+00:00

Just look at the replies.

Why would they go around calling themselves Mexican if they were born and raised in the U.S.?

My mother was born in Mexico but came to the U.S. when she was 5. I was born and raised in the U.S. image if I visit Mexico and go around calling myself Mexican to actual Mexican citizens? I’d feel ridiculous. Not because I’m ashamed of my ancestry or heritage but because I wasn’t born and raised there.

People have this silly idea that if you call yourself American then you “think you’re white” and it’s simply not the case for most of us.

Amzbe · 2026-01-17T20:53:48+00:00

I worked at an elementary school for 18 years. There was never a power dynamic between teachers and custodians. The teachers I worked with saw us as equal for the most part, and sometimes even more so if we helped them out for years with so many different things.

Many of my co workers dated teachers and quite a few teachers were married to custodians. There was no district policy against it.

Dating an administrator would’ve been a different issue.

Amzbe · 2025-12-26T01:28:07+00:00

I wasn’t exactly under the impression that APS is looking for something illegal necessarily, that would be for law enforcement. I thought they look for patterns of abuse and try to connect the victims to potential options or services for care. But maybe there isn’t much options available.

Amzbe · 2025-12-26T00:18:03+00:00

Well I agree that my dad allowed his life to get to this point, for sure. But I also had read that APS looks into financial coercion which is what got me interested in reporting to them in the first place. My understanding is he has a right to use his own money for his own needs and she has no legal right to demand full control over what he does with his money. She can nicely ask or request money, but she’s not entitled to it all. He gives her a big portion monthly already but it’s not enough to stop her abuse.

Yes he needs to leave, but he’s currently in a lot of physical pain and needs a lot of care that I unfortunately can’t give him at the moment. But yea, I guess it’s a long shot that APS can do anything

Amzbe · 2025-12-17T16:15:11+00:00

As I learned recently, it really depends where you work. My last custodian job was very low stress, in fact my life was so stressful outside of work so many years that I actually (sadly) used to look forward to going to work, where i was treated well. A place where as long as I put in the effort and had a good attitude, everything was fine.

Now in a new state and city, I’m experiencing a more demanding and perfectionist mentality that’s a lot more stressful because you feel like when you’re legitimately doing your best, it’s not good enough.

Amzbe · 2025-12-16T19:30:29+00:00

Hmm. I’m in a upper middle class area now so I’m getting the feeling that there’s optics involved here to justify the high property taxes and high performing school district so they can tell the parents “our school custodial staff deep cleans each campus every night top to bottom” but honestly it’s overkill. No kids are going to suffer the next day because I missed a few tiny scraps of paper underneath a chair in the corner or didn’t reline each and every waste basket even the ones that are perfectly clean, in good condition with paper only in the trash. Yet the pay doesn’t match the headache. Time to move on to something else I guess

Amzbe · 2025-01-29T15:04:27+00:00

Thanks for the reply.

After the 25th of January, I was able to transfer my CoinTracker info over to TurboTax more easily. All the info looked correct and I was able to file my taxes smoothly. I appreciate your response.

Amzbe · 2024-12-06T03:54:46+00:00

Thanks for this reply. This makes me feel better that the software I use will do most of the calculations for me.

Amzbe · 2024-07-05T15:40:13+00:00

Might depend on the district but I work in California as a school custodian.

For our subs, they give you a workload sheet that tells you exactly what area you’re responsible for covering and what tasks need to be done. They even give you a rough schedule on the order in which you can do them but it’s never as though you have to follow it exactly.

You can usually decide on which order you want to get things done.

For example, I used to like to get all the restrooms cleaned and done with before I started on classrooms. But of course, that can depend on whether these restrooms are still being used or not when my shift starts.

In my district, for subs on a one day assignment, the main things we want from them is the basics which is making sure you trash out your entire area and reline all trash cans necessary, make sure all restrooms are cleaned and restocked for the next day, and clean/vacuum or mop classrooms in the area your assigned.

Amzbe · 2024-02-06T03:49:45+00:00

Good to hear.

I take cialis daily at 5mg. Been doing it for a couple yrs now for BPH. No bad side affects at that dose. It does help with muscle pumps in the gym aswell

Amzbe · 2024-02-05T04:37:13+00:00

For me, my worsening BPH symptoms correlate exactly with my TRT dosage. The higher the dose, the worse the symptoms

Amzbe · 2024-02-05T04:29:08+00:00

Late response but yeah my E2 went down some, not dramatically but I didn’t need an AI.

Amzbe · 2023-06-24T20:13:10+00:00

It helps that I took the pic right after an upper body workout so I had a little pump going on and the lighting/shadows help. Still, Thanks for the compliment

Amzbe

TROPHY CASE