In the life of ... a Merry Maid

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Tiwona Ogan is not a celebrity or a germaphob, but you’ll want to clean your house from top to bottom before you invite her over for dinner.

Ogan, manager of Merry Maids, 2201 W. 25th St., says becoming a housekeeper has taught her easier and better ways to clean, but she and her staff think twice before eating a meal now that they know where to look for dirt.

“I have a lot of girls who come back after a week or two of training and say, ‘You know what? I don’t want to eat at that restaurant again because that’s disgusting!’”

Becoming a maid may not be students’ first career choice, but Ogan says her employees often cry when they leave Merry Maids after graduation or to take a new job.

She says her employees love working for the company because the owners send the women flowers on their birthdays and anniversaries and takes them out for dinner after especially difficult jobs, such as move-in/out week.

Ogan and her staff say they have a home with Merry Maids, but they didn’t deny the downsides of the job, such as cleaning vomit and alcohol off the walls of student apartments or cleaning unflushed, broken toilets.

The Merry Maids staff has seen it all and, perhaps surprisingly, Ogan says some of the worst cleaners are often not who you might think.

“Ninety percent of the time, guys’ apartments are cleaner than girls’,” Ogan says.

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