We Shadowed a Sydney Janitor for 24 Hours. Here’s What You Don’t See.
Forget “dirty jobs.” This is a masterclass in quiet survival.
We always say that at Ultrix, we’ve seen it all — but nothing quite prepared us for what happened when we shadowed one of Sydney’s hardest-working commercial cleaners for a full 24-hour shift.
Meet Alex. He cleans offices, gyms, and convenience stores across the Inner West, starting at 3:30am in Kogarah and finishing (on a “light day”) by 8:00pm in Stanmore. His clients include a fitness studio, a dental clinic, two late-night bottle shops, a co-working hub, and — on Thursdays — a café where someone once vomited on the espresso machine at 6:45am.
We followed him from the first swipe of his mop to the last bag of bin juice dumped into the rear alley of a Newtown back street. What we discovered? Janitors aren’t just cleaners — they’re psychologists, hazard navigators, and part-time magicians.
3:45am – A Gym in Kogarah
The air smells like protein shakes and desperation. Alex begins with the toilets. “If you clean the grossest part first, the rest of your day feels easy,” he says. We find hairballs in the showers and something resembling spinach in a urinal. The mop water turns grey within minutes. He doesn’t flinch.
6:10am – Office in Marrickville
Alex wipes down 24 desks, vacuums two rugs, and scrubs mysterious rings off a boardroom table. There’s a box of leftover brownies on one desk. He doesn’t take one. “Don’t trust office brownies,” he mutters like a man who’s seen things.
9:30am – Dental Clinic in Leichhardt
Here’s where things get clinical. He switches gloves, masks up, and changes products. “You can’t bring gym germs into a place with scalpels.” He wipes every light switch, sanitises door handles, and makes sure the waiting room magazines are fanned out just right. The smallest details matter.
1:00pm – Convenience Store in Enmore
This one’s rough. The floor is sticky. The bin smells like old pies and panic. A rat runs across the back room. “That’s Kevin,” says the store manager. Alex doesn’t blink. He quietly cleans around a sleeping customer and makes the store shine. Within 45 minutes, it feels somewhat safe to touch things again.
4:00pm – Co-working Hub in Camperdown
This is the influencer lair. Ring lights. Herbal tea. A guy on a podcast yelling about crypto. The bathrooms smell like turmeric and stress. Alex cleans in silence. “I don’t judge,” he says, “but I wish they’d flush.” He says it like a man who’s asked too many times.
7:15pm – Back Alley in Stanmore
Final stop: a small bar where the mop water smells like regret and spilled whiskey. He scrubs the tiles. Drags out the bins. Gives the sticky countertop a final polish. No one says thank you. He doesn’t expect it.
By 8:00pm, Alex is done. He’s logged over 20,000 steps, touched things you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy, and handled it all with quiet dignity. “It’s not glamorous,” he says, “but it matters.”
And it does. Cleaners like Alex keep Sydney running. You don’t see them. But you feel their absence immediately when they’re not there.
✅ Want Cleaning That Works as Hard as You Do?
Ultrix Cleaning provides high-performance commercial cleaning services across Sydney’s Inner West, from pre-dawn gyms to after-hours offices.
✔ Reliable, professional staff
✔ Non-toxic products, deep sanitisation
✔ 24-hour flexible cleaning schedules
📍 Book today at www.ultrixcleaning.com — because the best cleaning often happens while no one’s looking.