My Blog

My new office, a francophone hospital in the northern part of Montreal
island, does its best in keeping nosocomial infection to the lowest
level as possible. Everyday starting at 3.30PM you can see the cleaning
staffs all over the place and they will finish not earlier than 8PM.

Because I live so close to the hospital, just 7 minutes walking distance, I often spend my evening at my office in the hospital; witnessing the cleaning team on the left wing of the hospital do their daily duty. Around 6PM when there’s almost nobody left on the 3rd floor, a janitor - a middle age man, more or less my father age- will come to my office to sweep the floor. Usually I stand up and let him does his job sweeping the floor under my desk; in less than 1 minute he’ll be gone, cleaning other rooms. Other janitor, a pretty and friendly young woman, will come a bit later to collect the garbage bags. We usually greet each other with "Bonsoir" (good evening in French), and she’ll leave quickly.

Last week, as usual I stayed late trying to finish my analysis. The same janitor came and swept the floor. But this time, something  unexpected happened. All of a sudden, he returned quickly to my desk, and there it was, I saw a creamy candy  next to my keyboard! I was so surprised that  he left already without giving me a chance to thank him. I was still astonished by his act when I saw the young woman came. Suddenly I wanted to know their names. The next thing happened, we exchanged our names and Annie gave her smile before leaving. That night I promised my self that I’d find out his name the next time I see him.

Last Monday, I stayed late and the same janitor came. I was talking with my officemate, when for the second time he returned to my desk quickly and put another candy on my desk. This time I was succeed catching him before he left.

"Monsieur, quel est votre nom?"
"Michel"
"Merci beaucoup, Michel!"

His simple act moved me. I wondered what’s in his mind, he might has pity on me, "What a poor
girl, almost everyday stays late in front of her screen," hehehe… At first I don’t feel like eating his candies, then I decided to write this blog. For Michel and Annie, thank you for being  my  evening companion.  Indeed  a simple act of caring is sufficient to make someone happy.  Give your sincere smile to other and you might brighten up someone’s  day!

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 21st, 2007 at 5:49 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.