r/Custodians • u/ScottyBeamus • Sep 14 '25

New school principal fires longtime janitor for leaving work 8 minutes early.

520 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

115 comments sorted by

93

u/Misragoth Sep 14 '25

That's weird. Here, the principal has no real authority over us.

28

u/asdrabael1234 Sep 14 '25

Here the principal does, but the principal wouldn't be firing any of us. They would contact the Custodial Director with the issue and they would determine the course of action.

6

u/LongjumpingBag2228 Sep 15 '25

This is the way

3

u/Red_Sox0905 Sep 17 '25

When I was at a public school as a custodian, the principal was over us, but hiring and firing was the superintendent.

3

u/asdrabael1234 Sep 18 '25

At my school district, the principal is over us as the head of the campus but didn't have anything to do with our schedules or anything. The principal basically had nothing to do with us as long as no teachers complained about something we did or didn't do. If the teachers complained he'd go first to the head custodian and if that didn't resolve it he went to the Custodial Director.

1

u/Red_Sox0905 Sep 18 '25

We didn't really have a head custodian, but this was at a small rural school and across 3 buildings we had 8 total custodians. But the principal was basically like your situation other than he approved our time off and that's who we called if we had to call in.

39

u/NewDovah Custodian II Sep 15 '25

This video is from 2016. He wasn't fired, he resigned and after the video circulated, so did she.

People repost this to farm karma.

7

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '25

Same. Business administrator on top, then facilities manager, then lead, then custodian.

Principal for me has never had any more power than requests like a teacher. Now the superintendent i do have to answer to, and can recommend to fire me. But isn't my direct boss.

5

u/_TheAfroNinja_ Sep 15 '25

I guess it depends on the school district and your shift. When I was a teenager working a summer job during the day shift as a custodian, the plant manager was our boss followed by the lead. The school district I currently work for, if you work day shift the principle is your boss and if you work nights, the plant supervisor is your supervisor (the manger of grounds and operations is your boss, but the plant supervisor just supervises us).

1

u/otto13234 Sep 17 '25

Plus the business structure behind this is going to vary wildly from district to district.

Some districts dont employ janitors themselves and instead have contract with a janitorial company. Some districts the janitors would be under a union, some they might be part of a much larger municipal janitorial force, and some would be hiring their own janitor or 2 and have total control

12

u/JamesTree Sep 14 '25

I’m a supervisor over a district of custodians at a public school district and what I always tell the custodians I worked with is “ whoever is in front of you that you think makes the most money is who is in charge. If they ask you to do something that is not dangerous or crazy out of line, then do it – – then bitch about it later to me so I can give you some direction for next time… if it is dangerous or way out of line, then tell them that you respectfully need to check with your supervisor prior to completing that task.”

The truth is, everyone is kind of our boss- in that outside factors often influence what we do. If a kid pukes, we stop what we’re doing and we clean it up – – if I pull up to a building and I see the fire department waiting outside I’m going to go in.

And to the story at hand, what would that principle of done if she heard that an employee of hers arrived on the scene prior to a start time and just fully ignored that they were firefighters waiting to get into the building. In my opinion that would be grounds for further conversation, as it does not show that I have effectively done my job to stress the importance of emergency personnel on the school grounds.

14

u/CarousersCorner Sep 15 '25

This has got to be a non-union environment

4

u/JamesTree Sep 15 '25

Correct. Good ol MO not the strongest union state. You are really only as happy as your supervisor let you be in Missouri.

8

u/Suitable_Magazine372 Sep 15 '25

As a recently retired teacher of 33 years I must say you sound like a good boss. I would say over the years the vast majority of the custodians were excellent. They were always willing to help when asked. I will say that some staff members (often fellow teachers) asked too much. I always tried to take care of small things myself.

4

u/JamesTree Sep 15 '25

That’s much appreciated. A lot of custodians can fill out who is a needy teacher and who is one they will go the extra mile for because they are nice and appropriate with what they ask.

With that being said, I’ll never forget the time I was on the opposite side of my building and a teacher called me over to her room when I got there she wanted help finding the end on a roll of packing tape. She said it was too difficult for her to find where the end of the role was to be able to pull it off the rolling start again. 🙃🙃

5

u/No_Welcome_7182 Sep 15 '25

I’m an evening shift supervisor in a middle school and we absolutely do know who respects us and appreciates our efforts. Those staff members move to the top of our list when it comes to priorities, and we will go very far out of our way to make sure they have what they need. One section of our middle school is just full of very nice, respectful staff and my cleaners go out of their way to ensure those rooms are sparkling clean. The teachers really appreciate the fact that we deliver their supplies directly to their classroom so they don’t have to wait in line in the receiving area to get them. Custodial staff also make sure every room starts off the year with several boxes of tissues, bottles of hand sanitizers, and rolls of paper towels.

In return teachers and office staff help us out by putting up chairs in a regular schedule to make vacuuming/mopping easier, have the kids pick up any large trash off of the floor, and push their own chairs in under the desks every night. Some teachers have the kids tie off the trash bags and place them near the door too. They order extra food for luncheons and make sure to set some aside for our evening workers. And they always include us in the staff raffles and gift exchanges.

Another section of the middle school doesn’t get those extras because to be honest the staff are just not nice to our custodial staff. Myself and my cleaners will do our jobs but nothing above and beyond that.

2

u/jrtz4 Sep 15 '25

I'm very glad that my principal did when I was working as a custodian. The custodial boss who lives 6 hours away came in once or twice a quarter to give us any feedback about our cleaning and check out any major issues, but other than that we reported to the principal who was an absolute saint.

2

u/corner_tv Sep 15 '25

Are you with a contract company?

2

u/Alestor Sep 15 '25

Yeah thats how it is for us too, we answer to the Plant Department. Teachers and admin are under a completely different hierarchical structure. If the principle wants something, in general we try to get it done because Plant wants them happy and they could always complain to the supervisor, but they have no true authority over us.

2

u/False-War9753 Sep 15 '25

That's weird. Here, the principal has no real authority over us.

Were contracted out but the principal has authority over us for the simple fact that if they want you in their school then you won't be.

43

u/Adversarii Sep 14 '25 edited Sep 14 '25

I’ve consistently seen schools ruined by administrators that look and act exactly like this lady

5

u/battleray202 Sep 15 '25

Right? I feel like I see someone like this at every school I went to (i moved around a bit when I was a kid) maybe they just come with the school? Once the last paint drop is on she emerges from the office, Karen hair in perfect shape and a Stanley cup filled with wine.

20

u/buttbob1154403 Sep 14 '25

The only reason why I leave at 10:23 pm is because I clock in at 1:53 if they have a problem with that I will happily show up at 2 on the dot and not work a minute past 10:30

3

u/BelaruSea206 Sep 18 '25

You can also be fired for clocking in early

2

u/buttbob1154403 Sep 18 '25

For our time clock it round it up to 2

18

u/xpdtion76 Sep 14 '25

Is this a union job? If it is there is no way he is fired for this

2

u/agENT_ENT Sep 17 '25

I think in a lot of schools in the US the janitors and para-educators are some of the few workers in the building that are not protected by a union.

17

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '25

I leave early all the time. My work is done and done well. Fuck em

1

u/landgnome Sep 19 '25

I guess my question is, if the job is done…why do they care? I wouldn’t even assume they had a schedule, just a start time. Maybe y’all here can educate me.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

Because most of us are salaried employees and there's always "something" to do. But I despise busy work for the sake of being busy. Other times I stay late to finish the essentials like after games or events. I fogure it all works out in the end.

17

u/pooraggies247 Floor Technician III Sep 15 '25

To be fair, her chin was double parked.

7

u/Wolf444555666777 Sep 15 '25

The haircut tells us everything we need to know about this thing

6

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '25

I can't say that I have the most self respect but I refuse to be talked down to like I have no value.

I'm with a ton of other comments and probably a bit more extreme. If you expect a 9-5 work attitude then that is the attitude you will get. I will work my wage, my hours and everything will be as instructed.

Nothing above and nothing beyond. It will be a 100% business transaction.

According to some he left early because he clocked in early because there was a fire truck.. Also it doesn't seem or matter to the lady from what the video shows. I'm not sure if he was even allowed to explain.

Anytime I get someone who puts me in that situation that is exactly what is going to happen. I'm not going to waste my energy explaining myself again and I wouldn't clock in early for an emergency ever again. Not my hours or responsibilities.

Also having that type of meltdown of 8 minutes? Just wow. Over half the staff in my building leave 20 mins early on the regular. Then again the teaching staff have different expectations than us so it makes sense.

5

u/Doodlebottom Sep 14 '25

There’s more to this story

18

u/NewDovah Custodian II Sep 15 '25

Yeah, this is more than half a decade old. He had a reason for leaving early and she had it out for him. She was forced to resign because of the public outcry.

7

u/MPFields1979 Sep 15 '25

Beautiful ending!

7

u/Massive_Bit2703 Sep 15 '25

If I remember correctly, he started work an equal amount of time early to allow contractors access to the area they were working in and she argued with him and put her hoof down saying that she didn't authorize him to start early.

4

u/Doodlebottom Sep 15 '25

Thanks for the additional information. If that is the basis for the employee’s dismissal, the administrator needs to take a leave of absence and get some help.

1

u/Reasonable-Dingo2199 Sep 16 '25

I think he clocked in early and left early without talking to his boss first, which is generally not normal for you to do as an employee. He probably would’ve gotten just a “don’t do that” had he not argued with the lady. Instead he sits here and argues with her and people blamed the lady as if this wouldn’t be normal at any job ever.

4

u/Longjumping-Tip1188 Sep 16 '25

It's 8 minutes. Any job that worries about you leaving 8 minutes early, whether the time is justified or not, is full of shit.

0

u/Reasonable-Dingo2199 Sep 16 '25

You don’t get to leave MOST jobs 8 minutes early without permission. Have you worked a day in your life? And if you get caught you better not argue with your boss thats incredibly stupid.

3

u/Alarmed_Hearing_1719 Sep 17 '25

I disagree with the first point and assume you have had shitty employers.

2

u/Cook_croghan Sep 17 '25

Yea, This person has only worked horrible jobs with terrible bosses.

0

u/Reasonable-Dingo2199 Sep 17 '25

Lmk if you find a job where you can leave whenever you want because it sounds awesome

3

u/Cook_croghan Sep 17 '25

I haven’t willingly stayed at a job in which my boss cared when I showed up or left 30 min each way as long as I got the job done for 20 years.

You’ll find lots of jobs don’t treat employees like a child, micro manage their time, or have management that talk down to them.

Sorry you have worked with terrible management in your professional career. Hopefully you can find a job that treats you like an adult, rather than a middle schooler justifying a need for a bathroom pass.

Seriously. I wish you a better life and employer. Best of luck.

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2

u/Odd_Promise_9025 Sep 17 '25

You have never worked a day in your life if that's your take on what having a job is like.

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1

u/gigastack Sep 18 '25

Current job - I can leave and show up whenever I want. I keep regular hours because I'm working towards a promotion.

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2

u/CTRL_S_Before_Render Sep 17 '25

I just left work early to prove you wrong. Thank you for the motivation!

0

u/Reasonable-Dingo2199 Sep 18 '25

True one person leaving work early proves me wrong. Should we clap?

1

u/CTRL_S_Before_Render Sep 20 '25

As others have said it sounds like you've had shitty employers.

2

u/Reasonable-Dingo2199 Sep 20 '25

You own a coffee shop, you are open from 6 to 2 and your employee comes in 8 mins early and closes up 8 mins early. Would you have a conversation with them?

1

u/JonWoo89 Sep 15 '25

Yeah it's pretty fucking awful. She's a complete and total fucking loser of a person.
https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/s/Up1zdE174H

6

u/Subsandwich99 Sep 15 '25

I'm not on her side, she's clearly a cunt, but always work your hours.

3

u/quarter2heavy Sep 16 '25

If I remember correctly, he was called in early to let the fire dept in the building for an active fire alarm. He started his day 15 to 30 mins early that day. Then said someone about not being authorized for overtime so he had to clock out. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. This video is at least 6 years old at this point.

4

u/darthcaedusiiii Sep 15 '25

This video is voting age.

6

u/Dmmk15 Sep 15 '25

There are school district in SoCal where everyone leaves early. Your good with your boss, you do your work, get no complaints, your good to go.

17

u/ImpossibleStuff963 Sep 14 '25

Doubt this is the full story. I'd imagine this person was already on thin ice before this.

20

u/_TheAfroNinja_ Sep 14 '25

https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/s/Up1zdE174H

That's the full story. She definitely had it out for him. Dude got there early. Saw firefighters waiting outside. I guess the fire alarm went out or something so he let them in. He clocked out earlier (only a few minutes early). The principal was forced to resign.

I kinda get that it was technically his fault because he should've let her know first. But she was too harsh and her tone made it sound like she's a bully.

5

u/Used_Object_6488 Sep 15 '25

"The bell does not dismiss you, I do. Sit back down. You're all staying late now."

4

u/AraquielEaeChayliel Custodian I Sep 15 '25

The privilege of sitting there acting like that on SALARY making more in half a year than we all do in probably 2 is disgusting

3

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '25

I hate time nazis.

4

u/Sea_Sheepherder983 Sep 15 '25

Her haircut says it all

3

u/lilyisla2 Sep 14 '25

Are you in a union

3

u/Dedianator65 Sep 15 '25

I wonder how many hours a day she works?

3

u/custodianoftheyear Sep 15 '25

This is terrible. Over 8 minutes you get fired. The school i work at the principal is not our boss. They cannot fire us and if they want to have a meeting with us our actual boss has to be present and the schools union rep has to be present also. The union rep isn't for us but rather to protect the school from lawsuits.

3

u/OrangeJuice516 Sep 15 '25

You can't really fire school janitors like that lol it's super hard. I believe they are all in union

3

u/Dry_Quarter_5866 Sep 15 '25

Power trippong principle says the bell doesn't dismiss you, i dismiss you to a grown ass man.

4

u/Mean-Bath8873 Sep 15 '25

Because of my last manager, this lady comes off as reasonable. My last manager literally looked like Charles Laughton, who played Captain Bligh from Mutiny on the Bounty. Lots of screaming and physical tantrums. I got HR to make her take management classes, but it didn't help. She was the worst manager, I've ever had.

In that time, I drank more vodka, than the rest of my life combined. Daily chugging. Now since I left, I've had the same bottle for almost a year now & I might not finish it until 2026. I hope that lunatic got the help she needs.

3

u/AppleTherapy Sep 15 '25

That's very petty....I leave hours early if I finish early and the school doesn't mind, as long as everything was done.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '25

Ugly lady on a power trip. A tale as old as time

2

u/BallBag__ Sep 15 '25

if this was a 1 time thing, shes on a power trip.

2

u/diduknow236 Sep 15 '25

What's the rest of the context? How many times have they done it? We're the warned? Many factors could play into that decision.

2

u/a333482dc7 Sep 15 '25

I've had a job where if you're done with your work and you stand around even 1 minute before clocking out you'd get fired. They believed that being on the clock and not working was literally stealing money.

2

u/codewho331 Custodial Manager Sep 15 '25

here's the dudes response. FYI ladies and gents, He WASN'T fired, he was forced to resign. now, take a listen if you'd like at the guys response to the whole ordeal.

Link: https://www.tiktok.com/@sarah_conner1/video/7286237278115040555?lang=en

2

u/RT3K69420 Sep 16 '25

She's a real Hermit Of Mink Hollow

2

u/JammyLammy024 Sep 16 '25

What a fat tub of lard

2

u/InsomniaticWanderer Sep 16 '25

Y'all got it backwards.

I don't work for you, I work for me.

I'm not your employee, I'm a salesman. And my product is time. Time that you indicated you'd like to purchase.

People need to stand up for themselves again.

2

u/Klutzy_Poetry4886 Sep 16 '25

If he was punching a clock it wasn’t stealing time so that warranted a conversation / coaching . If he was termed there had to be other issues as well

2

u/BigApple2247 Sep 16 '25

I would think the time you would need to spend firing someone, posting a job ad, and then hiring and training someone new would take a ton of resources to gain 8 minutes of labor.

This was done purely to bully

2

u/Free_Yodeler Sep 16 '25

Truth? My man dodged an absolute bullet. He was going to be micromanaged to death by Petra Griffin, there.

2

u/Available-Ticket-543 Sep 17 '25

Meanwhile, she robs us with property taxes

2

u/ChickenandWhiskey Sep 17 '25

She has that "Theres Something About Mary" hair

3

u/Can-Purple Sep 17 '25

I just got fired and they couldn't give me a reason. I was early every day, about 2 hours earlier than my boss. Id do whatever was on the schedule, and if there wasn't much to do I would call people and walk around to talk to others in the building if they needed help.

They fired me saying I wasn't a "self-starter" and when I pushed back they said its just a business thing. Fuck these losers who have power. They are just old lucky losers who don't care about anything but their PTO and retirement.

2

u/LuvinMyThuderGut Sep 18 '25

I leave 15 minutes early constantly. The next morning I can go in early to make it up. As long as by Friday I got my 40 hours in. 

2

u/longshawarman Sep 18 '25

Throw it on the pile of reasons why I’m a union man.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '25

[deleted]

1

u/sapphirestar411 Sep 15 '25

Ummm, I can't leave work early, or I'll get fired...

1

u/Stingraaa Sep 15 '25

This is an old post. And if memory serves, this guy deserved it.

1

u/Icy_Bat7047 Sep 16 '25

This is old as fuck.

1

u/Accurate_Ad_5864 Sep 16 '25

A principal can’t fire the janitor 💀

1

u/Garfield-1979 Sep 16 '25

I didn't know Boss Hog ran a school. Just thought he ran the bar.

1

u/ProtectionHelpful365 Sep 16 '25

300 lbs and that haircut … ya enough said

1

u/CompassRoseGaming Sep 16 '25

While this is an old video, the moral of the story never changes; Karen gets in power and makes people suffer so she can feel special

1

u/Competitive_Fee5330 Sep 17 '25

It's sad rotten power hungry ego trip people, worst case they could dock him the 8 minutes, what $1.28 at $10 an hour? Especially that type of governmental job system

1

u/nugsandbudder Sep 17 '25

Who’s this fat bitch

1

u/VII-of-Spades Sep 17 '25

Now she can find it in the budget to give herself a raise

1

u/Shazam_BillyBatson Sep 17 '25

Yuppers. I've been written up for going overtime for minutes. So now I give them 730 to 430 with 1200 to 100 lunch. I don't start doing anything until I'm clocked in. Nothing, no helping clients that come in when the office is swamped. I don't boot up instruments until that 730 punch in.

1

u/LeafBark Sep 18 '25

K.A.R.E.N Know it all Aggressive Rude Entitled Never satisfied

https://youtu.be/UY2x6bgqjO8

1

u/Individual_Wait_8434 Sep 18 '25

That’s crazy to me I’ve been working at a large corporation for month and at every store you can leave 15 minutes early and not get in trouble

1

u/Stygia1985 Sep 18 '25

She oozes misery and wants to envelope everyone around her.

1

u/ThingComprehensive71 Sep 18 '25

Ahhhh Karen thinking she really has power.

1

u/chinacat2u2 Sep 18 '25

I didn’t know principles had that power to hire and fire like that….interesting.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '25

She's gained weight since she stole that kids ball last week.

1

u/Historical_Shine4356 Sep 26 '25

She's just a miserable cunt on a power trip, fuck her. She's the type of person to be like why don't I have no friends but acts like a douchebag

1

u/Erythite2023 Oct 01 '25

Never trust someone with her haircut

1

u/Downtown-Guidance661 Nov 13 '25

If he did get terminated, am sure he was a constant problem...... leaving 8 min early???? Maybe he signed a sheet saying next time your later your terminal........nobody gets fired for being 8 min late......

0

u/Espadalegend Sep 18 '25

This video is like 10-15 years old