Miller works late hours as night shift janitor

Sam Heie, Editor-in-Chief|April 23, 2019

Noah Siderhurst

Janitor Carl Miller sweeps the hallways after school hours as part of his job as janitor.

The eerie sound of air conditioning whispers through the hallways. It’s now 10:15 p.m. at HHS, and the usual banter and sounds of life present during the school day are absent. The only other noise in the entire building comes from a handheld radio on janitor Carl Miller’s cleaning cart.

Miller arrives at the school at 10 p.m. every school night to begin the janitor night shift. He works from then until 5 a.m. Miller chose this job to have more freedom during his days.

“I just like being off during the day so I can get up and do what I want. When I go home early in the morning, I can just go to bed and sleep and then get up and do whatever I want. It just suits me better, and I’ve been doing it almost my whole adult life,” Miller said.

Miller is usually able to get to bed by 6 a.m. when some students are getting up for school. He sleeps until the early afternoon and then has the next eight to nine hours to do what he pleases. Miller finds a way to make this time productive during the warmer seasons.

“In the spring, summer and fall, I mow lawns and then in the winter time, I just can do whatever I want during the day,” Miller said.

During the times when he mows lawns, Miller will rest more in the afternoon before coming to the high school for his night shift. The unusual sleep schedule took some time to adjust to for Miller.

“I started adjusting when I worked at Walker Manufacturing. I took the night shift, and I just had to get used to sleeping during the day. That took me a long time. After I got it worked out, I didn’t want to switch back,” Miller said.

His responsibilities for the nighttime only span two roles: cleaning the stairwells and the hallways. Miller enjoys the freedom that comes with being alone in the school for these roles.

“I just don’t have to deal with anybody. After a certain hour, I’m just in here by myself,” Miller said. “I can just do my work without being called away to deal with something else. If I was on first or second shift, I’d start some work and then be called away to deal with something else.”