Janitors at the UA see the calm side of the union as they spend the night cleaning up the trash a day of student activity leaves behind.
Two of the 15 full-time janitors for student unions, Stella Siqueiros and Ed Bare, clean bathrooms, floors, kitchens and food service areas from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. four days per week.
Students are messy sometimes, Siqueiros said.
She said she frequently cleans up bathrooms that seem messier than they should be at the Student Union Memorial Center.
"It's like the kid comes out of them in the bathrooms because no one is watching," Siqueiros said.
Siqueiros said she likes the late-night work because, unlike other jobs she's had, she does not have to deal with customers.
"It's quieter; I get to work at my own pace," Siqueiros said. She said she likes that it's independent work and that her manager is not always looking over her shoulder.
She works every Friday through Monday and has the other three days of the week off.
Her favorite work is on the first floor, where all of the food is prepared for the union.
Bare said the job is interesting because he hears noises he can't explain late at night at the Park Student Union, and another janitor told Bare he saw a shadow and heard voices when he knew he was the only person in the union.
The hardest part of the job is his sleep schedule, Bare said.
"You never get used to it. You just deal with it."
He said it's impossible for him to change his sleep schedule on his days off, even after he gets off work at 6 a.m.
"You gotta go until you wind down," he said.
But Siqueiros said she changes her schedule between her days off and the days she works because she has a 17-year-old daughter.
On the days she works, they are on opposite schedules.
"When I'm making her breakfast, it's my dinner," she said. "She didn't like it at first because we used to go to the movies on the weekend; now we have to go Tuesday or Wednesday night."
She said she feels safe because there are always people around, the union is well-lit and the janitors can park right outside the building.
Greg Stinnett, a cook in the Cellar, said he has not noticed any safety issues, but sometimes he has to watch out for unruly students.
"On Halloween, UAPD came and closed us down because there were people rolling down the stairs · peeing in the fountain," Stinnett said.
Despite what seems like a long night, Bare said he likes his late-night shift better than his last. He used to work a 3 a.m. to 1 p.m. shift for Facilities Management, cleaning classrooms and other buildings on campus.
"This is better because we've got the full night," Bare said.
The union is cleaned in stages as it closes for the evening.
The janitors start on the upper floors when the offices and the Cactus Grill close.
After they have finished cleaning those areas, they move down to the second floor, which closes at 10 p.m., Siqueiros said.
Last, they move to the first floor after the Cellar and Wilbur's Underground close.