the human resources director
revising and updating
the dignity at work policy
wouldn't notice the cleaner standing beside her
well why would she
the cleaner..a cleaner
a cleaner..a phantom
a collection of molecules and atoms of falling sand
the cleaner a quark..
and the cleaner waited
the human resources director
eventually directed her gaze
at the cleaner's pelvis
gifting the cleaner's pelvis her cup
the cleaner no longer shocked or embarrassed
..i only need your recycling paper sorry
may i have your used paper please..
and at that the human resources director
morphed a sink hole concave face
it might have been the cleaner's soft lilting accent
or was it the deep ask to mull
finally the human resources director
sonically sighed her cup back onto her desk
then lifted her sidewinder eye
two feet to the right of the cleaner
to some empty shelves
suggesting to some empty shelves
you can do it later..can't you..
sing-song autotuned upward inflection
order-question-smile
she's got the air miles
and with that the human resources director
returned to updating the dignity at work policy
while the cleaner..
the tea point had been cleaned
the cups and cutlery emptied wiped and dried
the worktop wiped
then lightly polished to an admirable gleam
the green orange black and blue steel bins emptied
the dumped half-chewed under-utilised food
the congealing consistency and look of freeze-dried puke
carefully tipped from the used food collector tub
into a used food disposable heavy-duty bin liner
to be picked up later
by one of her colleagues
traversing the orbits
with the big and battered blue trolley
the goods lift rodeo the bends its vertical horizon..
new j-cloth folded neatly over the mix-taps
the cleaner stood back
to survey all the tea point zone
finally after wiping down an invisible mark
she gave the all-good nod
all sparkled..
floating over
a daffodil sculpted by the fists of moloch
a human resources assistant
tipped a half-full plate
of microwaved organic fair trade slop
with herbal tea bag used condom
still swimming inside the mug
the spoon and fork
fell rattling in the sink
a knife
so the cleaner..
the cleaner cleans the toilets
the staff forget to flush sometimes
jackson pollock art work piss-sprayed
around beneath the splashed dripping urinals
scrunched used paper towels
disposed of on the floor tiles
such busy administrators
so the cleaner..
the cleaner
vacuumed all the human resources area
all the area
except that bit..my bit
because the human resources director
asked if my bit could be vacuumed later
because the human resources director
..am busy..see
..need to concentrate..it's important
hate to say this..
it's the noise you make..
so the cleaner had to pick up the crumbs
all the paper-punched snowflakes
and the used staples
some like needles
with her hand
some were stuck to the carpet
so ever so quietly she used the brush
delicate strokes of a painter..
and as the cleaner placed all the bits
in the polythene bag
the polythene bag rustled a little
and the polythene bag shouldn't have done that
and the human resources director
turned around..
and the cleaner..
a couple of days ago
the cleaner
hiding within one of the fire exit stairwells
was discovered crying
and the human resources director
asked the cleaning supervisor
to comprehensively address the issue eh-ess-eh-pee
so the cleaning supervisor spoke with the cleaner
and asked the cleaner right away if she was okay
and right in front of the human resources director too
and the human resources director
shook her head
no i didn't mean it that way..but hey..
so in what way did you mean asked the supervisor
and the cleaner had to turn away
so as the human resources director
could not catch her little smile
one little victory..
the end of the shift
the cleaner changed back into civvy gear
the human resources director
didn't meet her in the lift
no acknowledgment was merited
the ghost-face mentor
can't ever do cleaners' bodies-to-faces
never mind names on lanyard display..
so the cleaner..escaped first
cheered hello to the security guard
he grinned a hello back
they cracked a delicious secret smile
a beat..a silence..
and the human resources director
could not help but wonder
whether the telepathy she just witnessed
was a disguised micro-aggression directed against her..
meanwhile
the cleaner wished the security guard a nice weekend
and if you can't be good be careful she teased
he winked back
and away she flitted to the bus stop
Veronica pulled out her mobile
and sent a smiley face to..everyone everywhere
while the human resources director...
