Custodial Sanitation and Maintenance Engineers - Station Janitors

What do Custodial Sanitation and Maintenance Engineers do?

The Custodial Sanitation and Maintenance Engineer referred to more colloquially as Station Janitors, is responsible for various duties on the Variance Space Station. This includes simple janitorial work, like cleaning up junk-strewn pathways, general sanitation work including garbage removal, etc. They also conduct various advanced maintenance and repair work across the Variance Space Station, fixing broken displays and speakers, repairing broken machinery that is important for air filtration and cooling/heating, and various electrical work.
They are a lifeline for many on the stations and can assist with a variety of jobs. Countless people and businesses rely upon them for important tasks on a daily basis. Many of which are not glamorous, and often require dirty work and/or long hours.
What makes Station Janitors unique is two-fold, one they aren't simple janitor works or handymen, though that is part of it. Most are highly knowledgeable engineers, whether by formal education or on-the-job experience. They are also comfortable with risk-taking and are often expert survivalists. These last two traits are more important than one would think, but it is important nonetheless as Station Janitors must contend with the Station itself. The Variance is an ever-shifting, and somewhat of a prankster, so the janitors have to keep on their toes.
It could be something as simple as a fuse box being placed several blocks away from where it's wired, making tracking the box just as difficult as actually diagnosing the problem and fixing it. And if the janitor is working in a newly generated room, or anywhere near the Halls, then even something as simple as opening a closet door could be dangerous or at least unexpected. A Station Jantor could open a station door and find themselves encountering a Kraken-like creature or any sort of bizarre or dangerous creature or location.

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A Station Janitor, fixing an air purifier for one of their clients

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Janitor Territories

The Station Janitor position is often a freelance one surprisingly, and they are often hired on a case-by-case basis or by businesses who pay them a monthly salary for various work.
Because of this, many janitors have established territories for themselves, small to medium-sized zones in which they have unofficially staked claim. Other janitors either are not allowed to seek work there or must first get the okay from the owning janitor of the territory.

A Station Janitor completing some welding work for a client

While this may seem a bit predatory, most Station Janitors prefer this setup and are usually happy to work with each other when the need arises.
Some janitors even intentionally sublease their jobs in their earned territory, taking a small finders or managers fee and then giving the work and the rest of the salary to another janitor who has received pre-approval from them to work in the area.
Some Station Janitors have almost wholefully left the physical side of the job, and now just divvy up work for other janitors who want or need work.
These janitors are often veterans who put in many years of work in their territory, creating strong relationships with people and businesses.

When they reach an age where the physical work is too demanding they use that network to continue making a small profit entering into retirement. However, these semi-retired manager janitors still have to be careful as to who they let work in their areas because any janitor who does a poor job could potentially damage their reputation.
Other than this unofficial territory structure, the Station Janitor as a collective does not have a codified law, though some unofficial rules of engagement are expected to be followed. They are not unionized and prefer to stay as such.
They have a complicated relationship with the station's custodial union, the Custodians Local 72 to which they share some custodial duties, though on completely different scales. Station Janitors work on more daily tasks, and sometimes for emergency maintenance situations. While the Custodians Local 72 are specialist emergency workers who clean up mass spills, messes, and accidents.

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Common Tasks for a Station Janitor

The Custodial Sanitation and Maintenance Engineers face many tasks in their daily work, some are fairly mundane, others are annoying but manageable, while a few are dangerous and have to be approached with caution and an extra dose of care.

Waste Disposal

Handling and processing of waste on the Variance is often more complicated than in a typical station. A custodian can't just pack up the trash and toss it into space or a simple trash burner.
The waste must be taken to and processed at one of the station's waste management facilities, which occasionally move locations without notice. Each of these facilities works completely differently, and the station does not provide an instruction manual.

Dust Management

Regularly cleaning up space dust and micro-debris that accumulate within the station is an important task for any station. On a normal station, this is quite manageable.
However, due to the sheer size of the Variance, this has become a constant and dirty battle. And since the station is constantly expanding, the battle will likely never be won.

New Door Checker

Likely one of the Station Janitor's most dangerous jobs, checking newly generated or shuffled doors on the station. The First Floor of the Variance is typically fairly stable, though small changes do occur here and there, however when a new citizen arrives a new room is generated for them.

A strange new door appears on the Variance

On occasion, random doors appear just because the station deems it so. However, these rooms and doors of unknown occupancy appear suddenly in a completely random area.
A brand-new house could appear as a closet door in a laundromat, or a new alleyway could appear in between two buildings that once shared a wall.
When events like this occur, a Station Janitor can be called by one of their current business clients to check on the new room or space's contents. Sometimes what's beyond the new door could be hazardous.
So, the janitor will appear and open the door to check on what is inside, for additional hazard pay. If the door is safe, then the janitor gives the all-clear and moves on with his other tasks.

If something dangerous lies inside, the janitor will do one of two things depending on what the client is willing to pay for. They will either, remove what the danger is. Or they will seal the door shut as best they can to contain whatever the danger or hazard is. Either way, once the situation has been dealt with the business owner is left to deal with their new room directly.

Fuse Box Repair

A challenge that is the bane of all Station Janitors, is the locating and repairing of fuse boxes. In most stations, ships, or buildings, fuseboxes are located within the general area of the electrical systems to which they are related. Not so with Variance.
The station often finds it more appropriate to place fuseboxes in confusing and often nonsensical locations.
For example, a grocers fusebox would normally be in their basement, or in their back storage facility, but on the Variance it has a higher likelihood of being hidden in the back of an outdoor alleyway half a dozen floors below the grocers. This means that the Station Janitor has to track down the fusebox before they can conduct any repairs.

This often means painstakingly following the hundreds of feet of cable connecting the fusebox to the building, in some cases, it takes days or weeks to track down a single fusebox. So, when one is found, its location and details are marked by the managing janitory. And then they just have to hope it doesn't move randomly, as the station does on occasion. Some janitors think this is the station's way of being a merry prankster, but most, if not all, janitors do not find this funny.

Electronics Repair

A common task for Station Janitors is the repair of various electronics found aboard the station. Electronics such as monitors, speakers, air conditioners, heaters, air purifiers, etc. all require servicing frequently.
While this is less annoying than Fuse Box Repair, it does have its own hurdles. This is because much of what is on the station is a random assortment of technology either brought on board from abroad or generated by the station itself. So the janitor must have a near-encyclopedic knowledge of past and present electronics so they can service the equipment quickly and efficiently.

Graffiti Removal

A simpler and less dangerous task, but one that crops up frequently due to Vega-9 Punks running amok and tagging their art everywhere. Or from when the station is feeling saucy and wants to express itself, tagging its own bizarre and nonsensical artwork across buildings and the walls of the station.
Often businesses don't like the look of the art, so they call in a janitor to clean it off their building. It can be a time-consuming task depending on the size of the art, but overall it is one of the easier tasks for the Station Janitor.

Summary

Custodial Sanitation and Maintenance Engineers, or Station Janitors, as locals of the Variance Space Station call them, are custodians who conduct various repair, maintenance, and sanitation duties aboard the Variance Space Station specifically. Often on a freelance basis.
They are unique in that not only do they require the knowledge and experience to complete a variety of tasks, including cleaning up junk, and various mechanical and electrical repair work, they must also be adept survivalists willing to conduct their business in often frustrating and/or dangerous circumstances. These unique circumstances are almost always associated with the bizarre, evershifting and expanding nature of the Variance Space Station.

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Association with Custodians Local 72

These janitors have a tumultuous and complicated relationship with the Custodians Local 72 Union. While they appreciate the worker's rights that the union fights for, and the guaranteed work and larger contracts and such. They have also heard about the unions, less than savoury business practices, which include intention sabotage and the arrangement of large-scale accidents to artificially create work for themselves. The typically freelance janitors don't want to cause strife for themselves and try not to bad mouth the union to openly. So despite their grievances with the union, they ultimately keep to themselves to focus on their smaller janitorial and maintenance/repair jobs. Leaving the large-scale clean-ups to the union.

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