Let's Ride w/ Paul Estrada

School Custodian

• Paul Estrada • Season 1 • Episode 4

Share episode

Have you ever wondered about the hidden heroes in your child's school? Meet Tom Guzman, a school custodian who found his passion in an unexpected career path at his child's elementary school. Tom's story will inspire you, as we explore how he transforms his role into a cornerstone of the school community. From breaking up bullying incidents to rescuing lost lunchboxes from rooftops, Tom's dedication goes beyond the mop and bucket. 

We explore the personal growth and joy found in school maintenance work. Our conversations reveal how the simple act of high-fiving students can bring immense satisfaction, transforming routines into meaningful interactions. Discover the challenges and triumphs of maintaining a safe and functional school environment, and how faith and self-reflection can guide a fulfilling career path—even if it's found later in life.

Paul:

Hey, let me ask you a question Do you know what a custodian is? No, do you know somebody on your school campus that helps clean things at school and maybe helps put out tables and chairs and helps just do stuff around the school, like a handyman, like a guy that repairs and fixes things?

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, we have a handyman.

Paul:

Do you know his name?

Speaker 2:

Mr Rodriguez.

Paul:

And is Mr Rodriguez a nice guy? When do you see him? No, well, how do you know? His name is Mr Rodriguez, yeah, and what do you guys think about him?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and what do you guys think about him? That he's good at fixing things.

Paul:

Yeah, and what else?

Speaker 2:

I think that's it, because the only thing he does is that he fixes things.

Paul:

Okay, is he?

Speaker 2:

a nice guy? Is he a funny guy? He's nice.

Paul:

Anyway, so he's a really nice guy, and that's it right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, okay.

Paul:

And he fixes things Right, right, right, right, right. So today we're going to talk to a handyman at a school His name's Tom Guzman and he works at an elementary school just like yours, but just at a different school, and we're going to learn all about what he does. All right, guys, we're just starting out here. So I feel like I could be honest with you, and when I was looking at that last episode, I realized that intro I did sounded very, very corporate-y and, pardon me, but that's just 15 years of training in the corporate environment.

Paul:

I sometimes can't help it and my voice and my speech comes off that way, and so I really want this to be an authentic space and interview and get to see people's personalities, and so the challenge is, when I'm doing intros and I'm trying to explain people's backgrounds, it can be hard to remember all the things that I want to touch on. So I felt like I needed to write those things down, and I've tried to do speeches without writing things down. I've got a terrible memory and it doesn't work out so well. So let's give this another shot today. Let's see if I can give a little more authenticity to it while still giving what you need to know about the guest that's coming up, our guest today.

Paul:

He's had a winding career path. He's tried his hand at a number of different jobs, bouncing around without direction on a career throughout his 20s and 30s, and I think for most people would have been freaked out at that point. But as he was turning 40 and by complete chance, he stumbled upon his dream job as a custodian at his kid's elementary school. He does the normal tasks you would expect of a school custodian, but found an opportunity to be more than that. He's an unsung hero that takes pride in what he does and goes above and beyond to be a positive influence to the kids on campus stopping bullying, making kids laugh and even pulling an occasional lunchbox or shoe off the roof. I'm excited to catch up with one of my childhood friends and just an all-around good person, tom Guzman.

Speaker 2:

So let's ride. Let's ride on through the rain. Come on and take me anywhere that you want to be, so let's ride.

Paul:

It's kind of giving off some of the Santa's workshop kind of vibes. I got every tool imaginable and it's just immaculate in here. Tom, How'd you put this beautiful office, workshop, maintenance shop, whatever you call it? How do you put this? And if you guys don't believe me, that's a sign that we are in the workshop. That's the school bell, that's probably.

Tom:

What time is it? Two o'clock. They're getting out of their fifth period.

Paul:

Okay, well, there you go, guys. See, I'm not messing with you, but tell me about this. You were telling me a little bit about when you put this thing together. You said you kind of had to organize things, but this is an awesome spot for you to come to work to every day.

Tom:

It really is like a sanctuary. When I got here, it was really cluttered. The guy that I replaced was here for 10 years, the guy before him 10 years, and they both seem to have a habit of fixing things, things, and then like throwing all the broken parts and unused parts like in a pile, and so I had to go through a lot of stuff to figure out what was working and what didn't. And I'm the kind of guy that, like I have to have organization, like at home and at my work, like if I don't know where something is, I get kind of frustrated, yeah and um, so yeah and I just love that.

Paul:

it's yeah, yeah, there's there's power tools, there's every screw and wrench, every type of duct tape imaginal, every color. But in addition to that, I see some Star Wars action figures in here, I see some kids' drawings in here, so just a really eclectic, interesting mix. I'm a Star.

Tom:

Wars guy. But yeah, I mean it's a kid's school. My kids come here, both of them eight and five, and I don't know. Yeah, they're little projects or they're love you notes and all that stuff just kind of accumulates.

Paul:

And you. I want to get right into it, and that's one thing I find fascinating about your career journey is that how long have you been here, how long have you been doing this?

Tom:

This is going into. I'm in my fourth year now. So, yeah, I started in my when I was 40. Yeah, and yeah it was. It was weird, like growing up, you know, everybody always asks you you know, what do you want to be when you grow up? And I didn't know, and they're like, ah, you got time. And then like, ah, you got time. And then you know, get older and older 20s come around.

Paul:

30s come around.

Tom:

Everybody wants you to pick something and I never really fell into anything. I'd screw around for a week and a half and then red bullet for three or four days and get the job done. And when I met my wife, she says you know, I don't know if that's going to work for you as you get older and you need a job where you need to kind of leave it at work, you know, like not take it home, basically. And so I went back to nursing school and so I'm an LVN. I still have my license, I keep it active, I use it to teach at the schools and sometimes do a home health on the side. But and that in itself is there's so many opportunities. People think with nursing that like you're just, you know you're a bedside nurse and that's all you do.

Tom:

But, I've done so many things with, with my, with my nursing license, like I was a COVID compliance officer for some Hollywood production, oh yeah, which was nuts. I mean, COVID was nuts. Talk about like you know your whole life. You know what the world's going to be like in a couple of years, but at that time you had no idea right. So at that I guess okay.

Paul:

So I mean becoming an LVN. That's a lot of technical, I mean, there's a lot of schooling, there's a lot of testing and certifications, I'm assuming, and so you ultimately decided not to pursue that. But I guess, help us understand how maybe you leveraged some of that skill set into what you're doing now, or is that a stretch, or I'm? Assuming that there's some overlaps there.

Tom:

There's some overlap with time management and stuff because you have to prioritize stuff with your patients. Same thing over here the pipe that broke and it sprang, a classroom full of third graders. You know, like that's definitely priority over some other stuff. But, um, really, the reason why I ended up here was, even though I love the nursing deal, um, the pay there wasn't really a pay cut to come be at my kid's school.

Tom:

This is a private school so it's, you know, tuition based. They took 50% off the tuition just to get my foot in the door. And then, you know, free daycare and I get to see them throughout the day. I get to see like my daughter and I get to learn who her friends are and meet their parents. And it's really weird Like people ask me sometimes like oh, is that in your job description? And like I never really got a job description. They told me you know, I get the shop, I fix things, but like if I had to put it down on paper, like my, my job description is problem solver, right, and it's like when something goes wrong, like get it done.

Paul:

Yeah, you know how did you stumble on this as an opportunity.

Tom:

My daughter went to the like preschool like for like two and three year old. That was at our church and it was. It ended up being it was a satellite campus of this school and then that they moved on from that church. They closed that branch and moved on to their own facility and so we just kind of we went with them, we went with that school and when she ended up here they said you know, they were looking for somebody.

Tom:

And I told the superintendent I was like I can just help you know. Like you don't have to pay me, like I can come when I have time and help you guys out. And he's like well, do you want the job? Once, like well, do you want the job? Once I heard about all the perks I was like all in man, yeah, he's a pretty cool guy. My boss is really awesome. That's another thing you know you're talking about. Like careers and stuff. Like you can't put a price going back to nursing no-transcript dealt with anybody like that in an authoritative role. He gets his people, he makes sure they're competent, they know what they're doing, and then he just lets them fly. There's a lot of trust there and it's awesome. It breeds just an awesome work environment. I'm so happy here.

Paul:

Yeah, I think to your point a lot of people that are maybe not sure of what they want to do and maybe looking for something that has less oversight. Where I mean, we're in this shop it's a little bit detached from the main school. I could see, there's no one breathing down your back. You just kind of have space to do what you got to do, right. So I think for people that are looking for characteristics of a job that might be interesting to them, I'd say, if you're the kind of person then that almost wants to be like an entrepreneur in a way, where it's like, yeah, there's certain things and tasks that you got to get done, but you maybe do them at your own pace. You're telling me you're building a shed that you know I've got the time today, so I carved out some of my day to do this right. So maybe for people that are looking for a little bit more leeway in the types of careers that they want, is that one of the main characteristics?

Tom:

Definitely. I mean, like I don't know. I would say that's part of what makes me so happy in the job, because you know it's kind of a get of my pay, like I'm just about at the same area. But yeah, that ability to kind of like set up your own day to choose what you're going to do, you know, if I don't want to do something right away, like unless it's a priority or like a danger or hazard, like I don't have to worry about it. I don't think my boss has told me to do something specific in like probably like a year or so.

Paul:

Okay, yeah, yeah.

Tom:

It's ultimate freedom. Yeah, it really is. They have a, an email set up or whenever any of the teachers or staff have something, they they noticed something's wrong or something needs fixing, they send the request. It goes out to me, the superintendent, the Dean of boys, and so, like everybody's kind of aware of it and they just see that, like you know, within a reasonable amount of time, things, everything gets done.

Paul:

And I want to go back and touch on something that I think is really important. Or there's a lot of people that, with the economy, everyone's working overtime to just keep up with things and if they have both parents, both parents are working and they're putting in a lot of hours. And yeah, I think it would be a lot of parents' dream to be more present in your child's life. I certainly wish that for myself and I do my best to coach sports and things like that. I see, right here you got a shirt for a fun run. There's things like that that happened throughout the school day where it's like, man, I'd love to be in, the parents would love to be there, but because of work commitments, it's, it's really tough. So, yeah, I guess just talk a little. You've talked about it a little bit, but just how amazing is that to be that present in your child's life.

Tom:

It's really it's a crazy feeling and I I do check in with my daughter, mostly because she's a little older and she's a little more thoughtful about her feelings, about, like, well, how's it, how do you? You know, how do you feel with me, your dad, being at your, at your school?

Paul:

And she likes it.

Tom:

Now We'll see how she likes it once a like boyfriend age comes around. But yeah, no, it's, it's really awesome. It's crazy to be like they have performances, plays. I build the sets for the plays, so I'm involved at like so many different levels of like what goes on here at the school that like it's kind of weird how comfortable I can feel when they had the performance. I'm sitting in the seats, you know, with my wife and we're with other parents and friends and and they are the all the ladies start talking about how warm it is and I'm like, okay, and I just get up and I know where the thermostat is and I know how to unlock it and you know, I don't know. I just kind of like do things and it's. It's been so beneficial in so many ways, like not just at the school, like with with things going on at the school, but they've been really awesome about like you know, if I'm having a big party and I need chairs, they're totally cool.

Paul:

Like I take, take as many fold-ups as you need and tables and easy ups and I'll say, as the, as the dad of two boys, I pick them up from school and you know. First question out of my mouth hey, how was your day Good? Yeah.

Paul:

That's about the extent of what I get. You know, I think that's probably true for a lot of parents. So for those parents that want a little bit more out of their kids, what are some things that that you just kind of noticed, whether it's whether it's watching your kids or just kids in general? Like, what do you see out there that that parents aren't getting?

Tom:

So I'm not plugging for for another podcast but there's this, if you don't mind me saying the name, uh, there's this, uh, this doc, Dr John Deloney show and he's like, uh, a therapist and um, and he talks about the same thing. You know, you get that one word answer and to really get them to start like opening up you, you ask them like kind of an in-depth question and I tried it and it really worked. And the first one I tried was tell me somebody that you helped today. Okay, and it was like, oh well, I helped the teacher do this because this kid was doing this and all of a sudden it turns into this you know those giant stories that you almost don't want to hear every detail of but you get it.

Paul:

I see, okay, yeah, that's something we could all do at home. But I'm just curious, like what are some of like that? I don't know if it's a quirk or just like what does that show that he's like funny kids or funny things kids say, or just like I'm sure he just daily? It's like you know we could be here for a couple hours. All right, he's reaching for something and it's so funny that you would say that.

Tom:

So I get, like you know, around Thanksgiving. It's Thanksgiving time right now. This stuff is from last year, but they gave the preschoolers like this page to fill out and it said oh, it's for my birthday. Happy birthday, mr Tommy. If I could give you a present, it would be. And this one kid put a guitar because I love music, but there's one here. It's so funny that I kept it. Okay, I would give him new tools to work faster, because he kind of works medium speed.

Paul:

Is that an accurate statement?

Tom:

You know, funny enough, like I think, being like a, like a bigger, like a bigger guy, kind of heavyset.

Tom:

Um, I always kind of work against myself in that Like I have this outside perception that everyone perceives me as because I'm heavy, like that, I'm lazy, and so I actually work really hard, I try and get as much done as I can and, um, a few months into my job my boss was like hey, man, like slow down, you got the job Like it's cool.

Tom:

You know, like just like from day to day, like I have made a, it's almost like a, like a rhythm now where I get here and I work hard in the morning, like the first three or four hours I get done like enough where it could be considered like the whole eight hour shift. But and then I kind of just kick back and then, like you know, put it in neutral and, you know, still get the stuff done, but not like as aggressively. And then there's issues with, you know, when kids are in the classrooms. If there's some issue in the classroom, I have to wait until they're on recess or something like that. But and then usually the last hour is making sure all the tools get put back where they belong.

Paul:

Yeah. So I guess what's it like just being on a campus? I know, you know obviously there's teachers that are in the classroom with them day to day, but it's more of like a formal setting. They've got tasks that they need to complete and you're part of the school, but you're almost like a layer detached in a way. So I'm just curious, as like a let's call it a neutral observer, what you see out there like either in trends with how kids are acting, things that they're into, just any sort of insights that you could give parents out there.

Tom:

From the kids there's a lot. I mean it's crazy to see the growth I mean I've only been here four years and to see kids that were kindergartners now, you know, going into the fourth grade or fourth graders in eighth grade, to seeing how they grow up, it's such a trip, it's such a. It's also like a flashback to how we grew up, man. Like you know, we were both in the same school and but, like you know, it really is.

Tom:

Sometimes I'm just like whoa, like where did the time go? And like you start reflecting almost on your own life, like you can feel really good about it some days and really bad at another level. Like how I see my job. Yeah, I'm like I do, I'm a maintenance, but like this being like a Christian school, I consider it part of my ministry that I'm here and so my big thing is bullying. Like if I see bullying going on, like I get involved or kids doing stuff they're not supposed to be doing, that'll cause me to have more work. Like clogging toilets and stuff like that I don't really appreciate them playing in the bathrooms but.

Tom:

But I get involved, you know like, and it's crazy Like the teachers are really appreciative of it and that's been really awesome.

Paul:

Let's talk that. I honest I don't know why I didn't even think about that, but that's obviously a huge topic. Especially when you look at social media at all, it's actually probably probably the number one topic.

Tom:

So just you know, without getting into too much detail like what what is that like these days for the kids, the bullying it's, it's weird, it's kind of like the same. But you know, I don't, even I don't, I don't see the social media aspect of it, because that's the part that you know. When it happened to us at school, it was stopped at school at least, and you had that reprieve at home and you know you're, you can be with your family or whatever. Then you have imagine having to deal with being bullied basically 24 hours a day.

Tom:

It seems like that really follows them.

Paul:

From your perspective, when you see that, what are we missing as parents? What is something you would like to see maybe done differently at home that could help address? Help you guys out right here at the school that are trying to deal with it in the moment. But what do parents need to be doing or looking out for, do you think?

Tom:

I think it's that relationship that you have with your kids. What I never realized, and like it still kind of surprises me on a daily basis, is that, like we are kids, as adults we're just grown up kids.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Tom:

We never, you know, like you know we were kids and we thought, oh, some big change was going to happen. We just got more years behind us, yeah, but having that relationship, what you're going through, my daughter has done some stuff and you know she's the older one, she's more like me, my son is more like my wife and so I can some of the mistakes she makes I can relate to and I'm able to tell her I did the same thing when I was your age. Like don't you know, don't let it beat you up Basically, like I mean, yeah, I'm, I'm, you know her, her as parents. As the kids get older, you see the parents like, for instance, my kids, get out of here. You know the kids graduated eighth grade at this point. They're starting a high school next year. But seeing some of the parents that don't have that good relationship and their kids kind of go wild that's kind of what happened to me too Once I got out of eighth grade, private school and I went to public school like I was uncontainable.

Tom:

So seeing parents have that good relationship, being able to talk to them you know I don't want to hear any sex stuff from my daughter but like, at the same time I wanted to know that she can trust me if she goes to a party and something happened, or you know, or she needs to get picked up because she's been drinking, or Right, or my son too, you know I don't just limit both of them that I'm going to be there for him. I might not be happy, but but that I'm better. Safety is more important than anything.

Paul:

Basically what I just heard there was allowing your kids to make mistakes, cause we all cause, we all did, basically and doing it in a way where they are going to come to you each time. It's not like shoot, if I go tell I was remnant you you mentioned, just like how being in this environment makes you reminisce a little bit. And you know, on the way driving over here I did the same thing. I'm like man, what do I remember about elementary school? I do remember quite a bit, but obviously in the context of today, it reminded me that.

Paul:

You know, when we were in eighth grade, uh, every, I think it was a tradition that everybody dedicate their yearbook to a faculty member, and I remember, without hesitation, we had a meeting and without hesitation, we selected our custodian. His name was Hector Puga. I'll never forget. And then we had a ceremony. It wasn't just for that, I think, it was our eighth grade graduation ceremony and it was at that point that he was made aware that we had dedicated the yearbook to him and I will I'll never forget the shock and surprise on his face when that happened, I think completely unsuspecting, I'm sure it never happened in the school's history, but that guy had.

Paul:

Just I don't know he had had an impact on it. Like you know, he wasn't there teaching us in the classroom, but obviously he had a huge impact and we were like you mentioned. We were kind of jerks. I remember making a mess in the bathroom and throwing Frisbees and him getting the balls down from the roof. But we respected him and obviously so much so that we dedicated our yearbook to him. So I don't know just what do you thoughts on that?

Tom:

I think that's super cool. I bet you he was like touched. I remember Mr Puga and, yeah, like I do feel I feel super blessed being here. My relationship with the kids and with their parents, like I don't know, it really feels like like I go to church, but sometimes I feel like more connected to God when I'm here. It's just kind of how I feel, but I do feel appreciated. I do feel like you know, and there's some parents that I don't know if they think, because I fix toilets, like I don't deserve the time of day, They'll give me like the nose up when I say hi to them or something. But I don't know. Like, yeah, it's like our school was, it's like a family here and it's really cool.

Paul:

Yeah, I think so. I was doing a little research online and like I was on Reddit and somebody was like, oh, what do I tell somebody when I say I'm a custodian at a school? Like what do I? I feel embarrassed or I want to call myself so I'm like, but then all the comments were dude. You guys play a huge role in the school, like I mentioned earlier, in a lot of ways as impactful, if not more so, than a teacher, even the flexible like. There's a lot of things to like and like just janitor or something that has like a negative connotation maybe, but to your point it's like, and the whole reason why I wanted to talk to you is it's way more than that. First off, I'm sure some come here and they literally just come and just do the job of sweeping and mopping, but like you're going five extra steps and being like a resource for kids, totally.

Tom:

Yeah, absolutely. I. That's just kind of part of my personality in that Like.

Paul:

But it seems like it's common. Like I said, I was doing research online and I read many stories of just like, yeah, this custodian was like he was a big influence in my life. That's pretty cool, which is great. I mean, right, like we need, we need that, but there's not a big male presence except, I would imagine, in the custodian and in the maintenance. It's reverse, it's all male, right. So and maybe I'm digging too deep into these things, right, but like I think there's something to that right Of you guys being that male presence and maybe at least for a subset of the students needing that in their life.

Tom:

Yeah, that's totally. I mean, I could see that because, like you said, they're mostly women. But yeah, I do step in sometimes, especially when they're not listening to their teachers and I happen to be walking by, I'm like, hey, that's my friend right there, I'll call, I'll tell the teacher, you know, call him by name and say like that's my friend, I got her back causing problems, or, and they'll say thank you later, nothing like. But yeah, just letting them know, like I'm here too, and yeah, they, they. It's funny, you hit it right on the top of the head, the nail on the head, like they need that male presence, that that father figure kind of deal, even if they have a father at home, you know, like here at the school.

Paul:

Yeah, so I'm going to keep them in check a little bit. What are just, I don't know like we've been pretty serious, but what are just some of the funnier things that you've come across that you could share with us.

Tom:

Oh man, I don't know. I don't know if I can share. No, I have a dream that one day I'm going to get on the roof, because I go on the roof a lot, like you said, for lunchboxes and shoes. I don't know what it is about kids and throwing their lunchboxes up there, but I'll let them stay there for a couple of days too. They there, but I'll let them stay there for a couple of days too. They'll come and tell me oh, my lunchbox is up there. Okay, well, I'll get to it, you know, and, like you said, I used to, in the beginning, get them right away, but, yeah, I let them sit there for a couple of days. And then, oh, the shoes too. I love the shoes, cause then you have to go home with one shoe and um, but I have this. I really want to spray them with like powder chalk as they run by, right, but I want to go up there in the summer, because they do a lot of water events, and just pelt them with water balloons.

Paul:

Yeah, sign me up for that. Yeah, dude, that'd be fun.

Tom:

But and then so the uh, the director of activities that works here. She chimes in a lot with me. She needs my help for hiding, you know, plastic the holiday is, but she gets me involved too, and so I get to. I really do get like this crazy. I get like the whole world experience of of the elementary school here.

Paul:

Is there like a other than your own kids? Like with that, again without naming any names or just a particular kid or kids that stood out to you for whatever reason, and like what? What was that like?

Tom:

Absolutely We've had.

Tom:

So it's been kind of a carryover because, again, the school and the church is loosely related and I do some volunteer work at the church too, where on Sundays we do ministry for second grade, me and my wife, and so I've actually gotten to go to a summer camp with some of the students here through the church and I didn't even realize there were like situations where they had no dad or like where the dad actually he was killed and so, like you know, he's dealing with all this.

Tom:

You know stuff that comes naturally with being a, you know, third grade to second grade boy and I know it's really cool to get to break through that stuff, having that kind of time with them, like to be able to say, hey, you know, it's all good. Like you know, I'm here for you, like I want nothing but your happiness in life, and then, like seeing that translate to how he acts on the campus now, now he's like kind of becoming like a leader amongst his peers, where he was more like the troublemaker, yeah, and then, like I hate to name drop, but I don't know if you remember Steve Tice?

Tom:

Yes, dude, like, there's this kid here. He reminds me so much of him, dude, he's just like. He looks like him, he acts like him, like every teacher, whether they've had the kid's in third grade right now and Steve was, steve, was our age but the kid here that reminds me of him is in third grade and teachers that haven't even had him yet know him Like. That's how like of a presence he is. He's like you know, misbehaving or something. I'll go and check in with him If I see him getting in trouble. Like hey, man, like did you learn your lesson at least? Like are you going to do that again? That kind of deal, and then being able to like reassure that kid's parents too, like hey, I got this buddy Like he was my best friend in elementary school and he is the split in image, both in behavior and appearance of, of Like kids like the one I'm talking about they call.

Tom:

They give them line slips for, for discipline and like. So instead of going to recess, they have to stand on the line and I think that's like the worst thing that you could do to especially a kid that has too much energy.

Tom:

I'm like you got to run this kid around a couple laps and like and you do, and he just has that kind of energy, you know. So yeah, but yeah, the parents are, they appreciate, you know, hearing from a different perspective, not just, oh, your kid got a line slip, or you know, I'm like, hey man, like try this, or so typical me went straight into like the, the deep stuff, but like taking a step back and thinking about the, the job itself, like walk us through what a a typical day.

Paul:

You kind of got into a little bit. But what is? What does a normal day look like?

Tom:

Before if I can switch to something else real quick. Yeah, yeah, of course. One of the things that really drew me to this job was I already liked doing this kind of work, like as a hobby throughout my life. I like playing with wood, building cabinets, building dog houses, just doing shelving, whatever I can, you know, working with tools. I get to do that Like they pay me to do. Just have fun all day, like work with the tools.

Tom:

So that was a big drawing point of the job. So that was a big drawing point of the job. Right, a typical day I try and get here. So I'm not like they never really told me what my hours were. They just said, like you know, like by 7.30, we want, you know, the campus has to be open. So I would imagine if I, if you know, there was paperwork that said something, it would have said 7.30.

Tom:

I get here at 6.30 because then I can get out at three o'clock, which is right after when my kids get out, so we kind of leave at the same time. The first thing I do is, you know, after I clock in, I do a sweep of the whole campus. I'm kind of like the first layer is like opening up gates, unlocking stuff. I guess before they had the perimeter gates put in, they used to have a lot of trouble with transients, like sleeping in the field and stuff, the safety sweep. And then it just depends on what I have in the email. I'll check the emails usually and then usually, by doing all that stuff, getting the little my door's not opening right. I mean, it's an old school, it looks pretty good, but the bones are old.

Tom:

And so we get a lot of. I mean these, the door handles. Those are like $1,600 door handles. It's crazy. The mechanism like goes into the door and like like to buy a new one. It's just stupid, expensive. So but that stuff breaks down. They're made to last. They obviously lasted. You know what? If you figure this was built in the sixties, you know what is that? I'm 60 years old. It breaks down Sometimes. Figure it out. Youtube is awesome. I've learned so much like just being here, like even knowing how to you know put something together, like there's things here that you wouldn't expect.

Paul:

What's something about the job that maybe is people would think is unexpected, or just that they would. You'd have no idea that this is part of your job description, really dealing with the kids.

Tom:

I think it's obviously not part of the job description but maybe, like it might just be what it is being a guy or being part of my personality. But that was one thing I didn't know before I even had kids. Like when people my friends used to show me pictures of their kids or their nieces, like yeah, it's a kid, all right. But like I love kids, man, I love seeing them be happy, I don't know, I just enjoy them. Um, one of my big things is is high-fiving them. So like when they're walking by to you know assembly or something like that, or they're filing, they'll hit it as hard as the boys tend to hit it hard. The girls would do weird stuff, like give me their forehead in my palm, like they're, they yell forehead five and I'm like all right you're a little weirdo you know, but like that's cool.

Tom:

And then, yeah, really the eye-opening part was like seeing the transition of the aging.

Paul:

Yeah.

Tom:

Like the girls, especially when they get you know into middle school and how they're all of a sudden they're too cool to do certain things and stuff and I think you know maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, but you know I obviously have my boys.

Paul:

Every day I see them growing, even once a while, like you look a little taller today or something. But then I think of, like my nieces, who I see maybe once a month, and even in them I see changes from one month to the next and you're seeing, like man, that must be wild just to see that every day, every month, like watching your kids and just other kids just grow, like that's wild.

Tom:

I feel like it's really cool to be able to talk to the parents too, because they're being so many parents and some of them have kids that are in high school or even older Like. I'm getting a lot of knowledge from those parents, like about what they've gone through and how they dealt with it and seeing what works and what doesn't.

Paul:

So I know we touched on this a little bit, but I do want to talk a little bit more about the fact that you found this career at 40 years old, right? Yeah, and you touched on it a little bit. But did fear ever creep into your mind about, like shoot man? Most people have it figured out, I don't. Or is it just like, hey, you know what, when the right thing comes, it'll come in, and it did come. It sounds like you've now found what you're going to be doing, at least for the foreseeable future, right?

Tom:

Yeah, what was?

Paul:

that journey, like just getting to this point? And what would you say to people that are maybe in that part of their life where they're still like, oh shit, I haven't figured this out yet?

Tom:

That's tough, I don't know. I mean, I love my job. It pays the bills and I'm happy, but it does every once in a while kind of hit me like I'm not scrubbing toilets but like I fix them. You know, like, is that where's the level, you know? Or I see somebody pull up in a nice BMW SUV and I'm driving my little drunker truck but no, I don't know what. You know, the path like for me being being a man of faith, like I think that like that played a lot into it. Um, even when I was like screwing around when I was younger, making bad decisions like I don't know, like I really do feel, like like God's always been there for me and that's just been a big part of of who I am, it was like the big part was just accepting that and like being all right with it. You know, not being embarrassed to say it.

Paul:

When this it seems like it kind of came out of nowhere a little bit, it sounds like you had to tap into your faith, like, I guess did it feel like, when this opportunity came up, like it was a no brainer or just like it's just one more thing I'm going to try out and we'll see what happens, kind of like that almost yeah, I was still at the hospital or you know doing doing bedside care.

Tom:

I'd have to pay a sitter. I'd be paying you know the full price for the tuition. Then somebody to I don't know figure out, like who's going to watch them while I'm still on shift or or try and work that you know schedule out with my wife. So it was really just like yeah, this seems like it'll be. Yeah, like I'm. It's kind of crazy too to hear some of the other uh, the teachers and other staff talk about me. Sometimes to me they'll say, like it feels like you've been here for years and I'm like well, you know, I don't know, I just kind of fell in, naturally.

Paul:

And then, how long after you got into this job, were you like oh yeah, this is the thing for me. Oh man, Like did you wake up one day? Or maybe I picture you walking down the hallway twirling your keys around and say this is my kingdom, I've made it.

Tom:

No, I don't, you know, very early on I really just enjoyed it. It was the. So they hired me in May, so the first summer they kind of just threw me out here and like there was no like do this every day, do that every day. It was just like okay, they'll, they'll call you if they need you for something, and like I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing. So that's when I started organizing the shop I was like we don't need a bunch of this. I mean, there was stuff in here that you can't purchase legally in California anymore.

Paul:

And I was like what am I going to be?

Tom:

like I shouldn't have this here. You know like I built the tool arsenal in here too, Like it's just been really cool.

Paul:

What would you say to somebody that's maybe considering this profession? Or, yeah, what would you say to somebody that you have like a 30 second sales pitch that you would give them?

Tom:

I don't know about a sales pitch, it is. It is tough. I tend to make it seem like it's all easy going and all at my own pace. There are times where it's hectic. Every year at the beginning of the school year I kind of question, not the job but myself Like am I enough of what I need to be to do this right and to like almost make it seamless, where I'm not like drawing energy to, oh you know, boohoo me, but like can I get the job done? Because it's intense?

Tom:

There's one thing I found with teachers and I guess this is kind of a universal thing where I talk to other people that work at schools, no matter what department they work in, they tend to believe that teachers all have the same mindset where I need this done, it's top priority, it's an emergency, do it now. And so I've learned how to like budget my time and like deal with that, because it does get stressful, but also just kind of like sticking with it, like having the faith in yourself. When they hired me, they knew I didn't have any experience in maintenance. That I told them yeah, I have tools at home, I love to fix things, you know. And they were like all right, so we'll try it.

Tom:

And I kind of had to give myself that grace, like they hired me, knowing that you know I've never worked at a school, I didn't do this before. This is not something I had like trade school experience with. So like once I learned to kind of like and this I think it goes into everything that us adults or people face is like cutting yourself some slack If we can see each other like how I see you, I see you and dude, you're like you're living the dream man. You got the two boys, you got your wife, you got your car, like I don't know what. How do you define success? You know?

Paul:

I used to define success or I would say, when I was a teenager, maybe in college, you used to define success by the size of the house that you had and the things that you had. I remember very distinctly being in college and not knowing what I wanted to do or what I wanted to major in, and what I did was I went to a very well-off neighborhood and I said I'm going to drop letters in these people's mailboxes saying who I am and really I just want to know what did you do to afford this house? Because I don't know Doctors, lawyers, professional baseball players. There were professions that I knew of that would allow you to achieve that, but I knew that there was a lot more things that I just didn't have any exposure to. So I wanted people to give me some insight. Nobody wanted my letters. They probably thought I was some scam artist trying to get after them.

Speaker 2:

Did you? Really do that?

Paul:

Yeah, I really did that, yeah, and that was like. The premise, though, was just like you're wealthy, you have visible wealth, and so I want to know what you did, and so that's how I thought of it. Then fast forward 20 years and I'll give you a very different answer, and that is that, yes, being able to take care of the needs of my family is critical, and having some of the wants is nice, but making sure that those needs are covered is critical. And then two, now, being a parent, it's being present, and that's why I wanted to talk to you, right, because I just knew that you were very present. And having the flexibility in a career that I can drop what I'm doing on a Tuesday at 3.30 and go coach my son at soccer, that's wealth to me.

Paul:

Now, right, it's like having the time of being afforded the time to be as present as possible for my family. And that's the cars, the house is like, sure, those things are nice of that, and that happens to come along the way Great. But like I now know, I don't need those things, and that's kind of what I'm hoping to achieve through this podcast is helping people maybe come to that realization as well, and you know they use that phrase, keeping up with the Joneses, and it's a saying cause it's true, right, I mean, people still feel that way. The only, the only way that I get with regards to that is when it comes to Christmas decorations. I do look across the street at my neighbor and go like this guy's spending, you know, putting up his new feature in his Christmas display. Like I got to keep up. That's about the only thing. I'm kind of joking, but really that is the one thing where I try to keep up, but other than that it's just not. You know, it's not important.

Tom:

So I know I went off question it too, but I find the same things to be true, like that's the reason I mean I can have a new truck but I don't, because it's it's a payment, it's a higher insurance, it's. It would just be more stress, more like stuff to burden me down with I have to be at work, whereas right now, like it's, it's mutually beneficial but they need me probably.

Paul:

I mean for sure, more than I need them. I love having my job and that's probably kind of arrogant, like inappropriate to say I don't think so I think, like you said, not being weighed down by having all these things, so that, like you just said, like let's just say you left tomorrow, I'm sure financially because you're not weighed down by all these different things you could do that if you wanted to right.

Tom:

Yeah, we did the Dave Ramsey deal. We're still doing it, where we paid off all our debt, except for the only thing we have right now is the house, and we're trying to upgrade the house too. So I mean, it's going to be more stress, but it's awesome to be able to yeah, like you said like be in a position where you can take that time off. Three weeks ago, well, last week my buddy did an Ironman in Tempe, arizona, and like so two weeks my brother, by the way.

Paul:

We'll have them on at some point.

Tom:

We had uh we had, uh, I had, you know, asked my boss for the time off so that way I could, you know, come back on a monday instead of the sunday. Right after he finished and he was like, yeah, sure, and it's nice. Like he asked me, you know, do you want the to dip into your personal time? I'm like no, let's save that for when I need it. You know like, yeah, it's just nice. So, yeah, money's not everything. I think you hit it on the head, man. I love being there for my family and my kids. There's all the little stuff. My parents, I know they loved me, but they never like snuggled me. You know they didn't jump in my bed and just like hug me and then turn it into like a tickle monster, fight or you know just all that stuff and like I find it so valuable. I don't think there's any better feeling than when my kids jump on my back and like that, that's, that's all of it for me.

Paul:

Well, enjoy it, man, and, like I said you're, I think you have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to your career. I think 99% of parents out there wish that they could have the level of involvement in their child's lives and get to watch them. Yeah, we all get to watch them grow up, but it's after business hours. All get to watch them grow up, but it's after business hours, so, unfortunately. And on the weekends, right, right, and you're there every single day, and that, I think, that's I mean. For that you're a very wealthy man. So Thanks, bro, thanks for the time. Tom is awesome. Thanks for letting me into the workshop.

Tom:

All right man.

Paul:

I'm going to get in this awesome fridge. He's got full of liquid, deaths and water, so we're going to dig into that. But yeah, man, thanks, it was awesome, awesome. Thanks, bro, the rockies ain't too far from here.

Speaker 2:

If we drive all night, the cold, that will do you well in the mountain morning light. So let's ride. Let's ride on through the rain. Come on and take me anywhere that you want to be. Outro Music We'll find all the bluest guys.