Gaming app gets people thinking about cleaning services
Janitorial services are vital. They often operate in the background of many businesses and organisations – keeping offices, restaurants, retail outlets, and more clean and tidy. Office workers, for instance, may find they take janitors for granted, realising only when putting in a late shift one evening and overlapping with the start of the daily office clean.
In some ways, this is exactly the kind of inconspicuous service that cleaning firms and staff should hope for. Office employees won’t necessarily notice the janitors until they notice the smell emanating from an unemptied bin. Shoppers will take cleaning for granted; but if a spillage is left to present a safety hazard – or, at the very least, create a sticky, unsightly mark on the floor – they will soon note the lack of cleaning.
In short, janitorial services can – and often should – operate effectively in the background. Yet this fact can diminish their perception as a vital part of any business operation. And this outlook could negatively influence decisions on accommodating or investing in cleaning services and supplies – ultimately to the detriment of conditions, and businesses.
Though janitors perform in the background, their absence – or a lack of prompt, professional and comprehensive service – is soon noted, as mentioned above. And a lack of consideration for investment in cleaning services and supplies could create a scenario where safety and hygiene ends up being compromised.
An initiative to get people thinking about cleaning via a smartphone gaming app is a much-needed boost for the profile of janitorial services. International cleaning association Issa has launched a smartphone gaming app that turns cleaning into entertainment. In Angry Janitors (http://www.issa.com/?id=angry_janitors), players control a team of janitors called Sweepy, Squirt, and Speedster. They are tasked with tackling King Dirt, King Germ and their cronies, who are infecting people in the game. Gamers score points by eliminating dirt and germs.
Angry Janitors has three stages (the school, the office and the hospital), each with 10 levels. Players earn ‘Golden Plungers’ for achieving high scores for completed levels, and can post their scores on the game’s ‘Top Cleaners’ leader board, competing with the thousands of people who have already downloaded the game. The game also offers facts and tips on cleaning and hygiene between levels, to intersperse the entertainment with educational elements.
Angry Janitors is available to download from the Apple Store for iPhones, or the Google Play Store for Android.
The game is a smart way to get people thinking about cleaning and hygiene. It’s easy to overlook the role of cleaning, until the absence of a regular service starts having a negative effect on us. Janitorial services are vital to many day-to-day operations. If initiatives like this can get people thinking about and appreciating their role in the smooth running of businesses and beyond, they will help safeguard this vital element of our daily lives.
