To my BYU Friends:
Do you remember cleaning checks? I do. The day of the checks would be completely set aside for the deep cleaning that was necessary to pass inspection. Yet, the boys could sleep in, stack the clutter into piles and pass without a second thought. Fair? Hardly. After many years of brooding on the subject I've come to a conclusion. BYU expected girls to be the house-cleaners and so wanted to be sure that they knew what was required to keep a clean house. It's the only reason that I can see for the complete polar opposites of cleaning inspections.
As I look back now, I'm grateful for the tough inspections. They really did teach me how to clean well. They also gave the roommies and I a good excuse to order pizza once a month (we wouldn't want to get our clean kitchen dirty, after all). And it was much nicer to live in a clean apartment.
But I still wonder about BYU's expectations...
7 comments:
oh...the memories. I also think that is why they would move which buildings had girls and which ones had boys. We were literally cleaning years of build up when we first cleaned.
Some of the places that I lived didn't even do the checks. They were supposed to, but management was too lazy. I always tried to make sure I wasn't the last to move out of those apartments, because they ended up being nasty to clean after two semesters of non cleaning!
I think I agree with you there, either that, or the boy RA's just didn't have a clue about what a clean apartment was supposed to look like... :) I also am grateful to have learned so much about cleaning in college too, and cooking for that matter. Did you know I still use some of the recipes I got from you and some other roomies?
I see that all of the comments have been left by girls...I wish that I had lived in your wards so that my inspection could have been such a breeze! I can't even count the number of times that we didn't pass. Not one of us! I grew up knowing how to clean (as chan can attest to), would clean until there was nothing left, fail, do it again, fail, do it again and finally pass. There was no difference from the first time to the last time. It was clean the whole time!
Yeah, I don't think I ever paid attention to how clean the cracks in the rubber piece on the inside of the freezer door is until I lived in Provo!
Chan, I totally remember those days (and the crazy cleaning ladies in Centennial - good thing we were friends with her)! Currently, my house looks like I didn't learn anything from cleaning checks, but my husband has done a pretty good job since I've been pregnant and not doing much around the house!
I finally got through to your blog. For some reason I was having a hard time connecting to it. I am so glad to hear from you. And I remember cleaning checks. I feel like I always had a bathroom or the kitchen floor. To this day I love a clean bathroom and a clean floor.
Shirlyn
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