Category: British Heart Foundation

Another Busy Day At BHF

It has been another busy day at the shop today. I have been an apprentice till operator, so my ‘Work Wife’: Maria, has been showing me the ropes. I got the hang of it quite quickly! So for once, I was on the shop floor all morning!

At lunch, myself and Maria managed to miss each other again, as we were both going to Macci’s for lunch, but managed to both be in the wrong place at the wrong time!!!!

Then I ended up using my deck brush to scrub the lino in the loos, locker room and the kitchen as part of my daily clean. The Lino has never looked so clean! You can click here, to view my post on cleaning Safety Lino.

I did manage to pick up a bargain though – a really nice hoody, with staff discount. (£1.50, which is a real bargain!!)

I’m on the air now with Drivetime.

Brilliant Day

I had a absolutely brilliant day down the shop. For a start, I had a lady chat me up, which was really funny and has myself and Maria in hysterics. (Especially when we were going on about fit Fireman!) Even Lucy was caking herself with laughter, when Maria called her on the Radio.

Then I had to take care of a customer that wasn’t feeling too well. She felt dizzy, so I got her a chair to sit on and kept an eye on her. Good thing I am a First Aider. Of course, I was up and down spot cleaning the shop floor too.

For lunch, I had a Macci’s. I thought Maria was going to Macci’s, so I thought I would join her. However, she went to Burger King, so we missed each other! This afternoon, I came out as gay to my colleagues, which they had no I’m gay. (Isn’t it obvious lol!!!!)

So been another busy day of cleaning and tidying, even though I had to drag the bin out the way – as the pub next door have no idea of Health and Safety. (They left their bin so it blocked the fire escape route!!!! – A big NO NO!)

A Day in the Life of a Facilities Manager

In my job, no two days are alike. My job is very fast paced, always busy and great fun. For those of you that do not know, I work for the British Heart Foundation, which is a charity that champions research for heart and circulatory illnesses. I am a volunteer, even though I have a job title and love every minute of it.

I suppose I am a glorified Caretaker with a “fancy title”, as I do more than cleaning. I fix things, I tidy and help to keep everyone safe, I take the bins out and I make sure we have plenty of supplies. I love working at BHF, as it is such a worthwhile charity to work for and helps so many people.

So lets have a look at what happens during my day.

My day starts at about 9.45 when I get up. The 1st thing I do is put the kettle on and (*coughs*) have a “fresh air stick”. I let Splodge out the kitchen and feed her at the same time. Normally, I have 2 Weetabix for my breakfast and I then go to the PC.

I check my emails, read the headlines on the local paper and check if the busses are up the creep. Thankfully today, there is no disruption, so I should get in OK.

10:45 and I am out the door. I walk the 30 yards to the bus stop and wait for the good old No. 6 at 10:50. Once on the bus, I stay on until Church St. Today I have forgotten something, so I nip into the newsagents on the way in.

11:30 and I arrive at the shop. The 1st thing to do, is to sign in. (This is to comply with the Fire Regs and for security. I run upstairs and say hello to Maria and to Anne, who are already working away. I offer cups of tea to them, nip to the locker room and put my Tabard and my ID Badge on. I then fly downstairs and ask Lucy if she want’s a brew, which she did. – Milk, 2 sweeteners and coffee.

11:40 and the brews are made and I am down on the shop floor. Spot cleaning takes up most of my time, but I do not mind. The floor takes a lot of traffic, so I am constantly up and down sweeping. I talk to customers as I tidy and hold the door for a few people. Denise is her usual chatty self, so I have a quick conflab with her. I like Denise, she is so luverly. Maria is my fav at the shop though!

11:45 and I am back upstairs. Today’s jobs include deep cleaning the toilet area and deep kitchen cleaning. So I get my Vel Mop ready and the bucket and start washing down the walls. I needed the ladders to do parts of the walls that the mop won’t reach, so I get on with that. I give the loo a good clean while I am at it.

12:00 and I nip down for a bit of fresh air and then go and spot clean the floor again. The shop is really busy,  so I am back sweeping the floor with my long handled dustpan and brush.

13:00 and someone wants a brew making. I make them a brew and then get asked to make another. I don’t mind making brews, so I get those made and grab a drink myself. I then take everything out the cupboard in the kitchen and wipe down the inside. They only need doing every 3 months, so that’s another job ticked off.

13:15 and I have a break, except I need to go for an eye test. I sign out and nip to Vision Express. I had no idea I would be there till 2, but that doesn’t matter.

14:00 and I am back. Time to scrub the safety lino. Tabard back on and I am down on my hands and knees, scrubbing the floor. This takes some time, as the locker room floor also needed doing. Once scrubbed, I mop the floor and give the toilet another good clean. I leave the wet floor sign up and wring out the flat mop heads, which I had put into soak earlier. These then got hung up to dry.

14:45 Shift almost over and there’s just time to get the Henry out and vacuum the carpets. Upstairs is quite a large space, so it took me around 14 minutes to hoover through. This includes the Stock Room and Office. While I am at it, I put a new battery in the clock in the office, as it had stopped.

14:58 it’s time to finish. I take my tabard off, put my walkie talkie on charge and nip downstairs. I say cheerio to Lucy and walk round to Corporation Street to get the bus home.

Tomorrow is another day and I am sure I will have another long list of jobs to do. But for now, I need to get home to sort out my Drivetime Show. Thankfully, I will get back to Grange at 3.30, as the 5C only takes 20 mins from town.

Deep Cleaning

So for those of you that don’t know, I hold a voluntary position at the British Heart Foundation, as their Shop Facilities Manager. (Basically I am a Caretaker with a fancy title.) I actually have done Caretaking before, so am not new to it. I was a volunteer in the last place, looking after a Church, Church Hall and Grounds.

So the BHF has me cleaning the store, I keep things tidy and I do a lot more, that would take up too many pages! It’s a very busy job and I am there every day of the week, 11.30 – 3 Mon – Sat and 11.30 – 4 on Sundays.

Deep Cleaning is needed, often where a normal clean will not get rid of the dirt. Before I continue, I must stress, that the cleanliness of the shop it is not the fault of the staff or volunteers. We had no one that could do the cleaning regularly, until I came along. My boss and even the Area Manager, have said that I have really turned the shop round in the space of a week!

So today’s task, was the toilet. (Not the nicest of jobs) but it needed deep cleaning. Using my Vel Mop (a mop with a fluffy flat head) I got down all the dust and cobwebs off the walls. I dipped my pads in the bucket and then wrung it out. Then when it was reattached to the head, I used it to wipe down the walls. On a ladder, I then went right up to the area above the window and used a microfibre cloth to clean round the top of the window and get the fan clean. The bucket contained disinfectant and water, which I used to rinse the cloth and the Vel Mop Pad in.)

Next came the floor. Now the floor is Safety Lino, so it is a real pain in the neck to get clean. (This is because the lino has grips, which the dirt can easily get stuck in. To clean the floor, I had to mop the floor with neat floor cleaner to get it damp, then use a stiff brush and scrub the floor. This meant removing the Sanitary Bin and the normal bin, while I did this. Then I mopped the floor to clear off the suds. Once done, I was able to put the wet floor sign in place, to warn everyone that the floor was wet and leave it to dry, before coming back later and doing another toilet clean. (I cleaned the toilet during the deep clean, cleaning all surfaces, including the sink, toilet, door handles, toilet paper holder etc) The 2nd clean was carried out at the end of my shift. The deep cleaning, took me most of my shift, because there was so much to be done.

I still managed to get down on the shop floor and spot clean the floor, as well as hoovering through, making cups of tea and having the odd “fresh air break!”

 

May be an image of hat shop and text that says "500ks"
Our Stock Room has never looked cleaner!