Dan Hettinger erupted in laughter as he described a particularly eventful day on the job: a cascade of black water streaming from an overhead pipe that he said left his co-worker looking like a drowned rat.
“It was like siphoning a gas tank. I laughed so hard that day,” electrician Brian Sneddon said.
The rest of the men snickered at the memory, exchanging high fives and making good-natured cracks about their co-workers for the remainder of their lunch break.
The familiar white trucks and carts parked near Lu Valle Commons parted ways as the lunch break ended, a daily tradition this particular group of facilities management workers, mostly electricians, have engaged in for as long as they have worked at UCLA.
The people behind the trucks and uniforms emblazoned with the facilities management logo can be found throughout campus, maintaining everything from university buildings on and off campus to the campus grounds.
“We provide utilities to campus. We’re basically our own little city,” said Bob Parker, facilities management customer relations officer. “We have our fingers in everything.”
More than 1,000 facilities management workers are employed by UCLA, he added. They work in various departments as custodians, grounds keepers, plumbers, masons and electricians.
When the workers arrive each morning, they are given their list of tasks for the day. Depending on the department, tasks can include making sure buildings are clean, trimming hedges, or installing a new projector.
However, some workers have a regular daily routine.
Every morning, Ricarda Mancilla, a senior custodian, unlocks the doors to the four buildings she is in charge of maintaining, including Young Research Library and Campbell Hall. The rest of her duties include restocking rest rooms, cleaning special offices and making sure everything is in order for the day.
Mancilla said students are always respectful, and she loves eating her lunch outside in the sculpture garden.
“It’s a nice place to work. Not the best salary, but I’m trying to make it,” she said.
Pedro Morales, a grounds keeper in charge of Bruin Walk and the surrounding area said he has to work two jobs to support his family, but he believes he is blessed to have a job at all.
“I wish I would have more time to study, but I have to support my family,” he said.
Some workers declined to comment because they disagree with the structure of the job, despite the love for their craft and the work they do.
Henry DeCarli, an electrician, said that oftentimes jobs are basic, but one of the most interesting projects he’s worked on was installing the half-million dollar Dolby Digital sound system into the James Bridges Theater.
The manager of the theater invited everyone who worked on the renovations and their wives to an exclusive premiere, a nice and unusual reward for the work they did, Hettinger said.
The length of each job for an electrician varies and can be as long as a year, depending on the renovation or repair, he added.
Certain jobs give electricians the freedom to design and build the whole project, one of his favorite parts of his work, aside from lunch, Hettinger joked.
Despite the wise cracks about the work they do, the electricians agreed on the pride they take in their work and the campus, and truly appreciate when people comment on the beauty of the campus.
“I get people who go by and walk my area all the time, and people say you did a nice job. You take pride in your work, whatever you’re doing,” Jorge Rodriguez said, a grounds keeper in charge of the area from Le Conte Avenue to Sunset Avenue.
Rodriguez and Hettinger said they even keep maps handy for lost students.
“Students shouldn’t be afraid of us. If they’re lost, we’re always here,” Sneddon said. “We really do care.”
Socorro Alvarez, a senior custodian who has worked at UCLA for 24 years in a variety of buildings, said she loves her job and the security it provides her.
She said the experience of working with sick people in the hospital changed her life and made her appreciate everything she has.
“I like that (visitors) have good impressions and tell me it’s a beautiful university,” she said. “People say it’s not important, but it is.”