Cintas You're so Funny

[BLewis]

So I just have to share my Cintas story...your gonna love it! So a few months back I was notified by 3 of my accts that home office was switching to a national chain and we would only be cleaning for another month. So I was given the contact name where I could inform them of my interest of staying on. I managed to keep 2 of the accts, picked up a new one and lost one. So GM calls me 2 weeks ago and told me the guy servicing this acct now was sub contracted by Cintas and didn't even want to make the drive to service this one but felt he had to to keep the other 7. So GM calls Cintas and told them he wants me back and gave Cintas my contact number. So I get a call from them today inquiring if I was interested in keeping the acct that I had serviced for 5 years and I told them definitely. She said "we are prepared to offer you a monthly service for (ready?) $135", I laughed and told her I was not remotely interested! My old price was $325 monthly.
Hell, Cintas can make more subbing them out than they can doing the actual cleaning

 

[Chokemaster]

I don't understand how they stay in business like that. They must have a hard time getting and keeping good cleaners.

 

[Mikey P]

Most Cintas accounts should be Cimex'd not HWE..




What a waste of a perfectly good Aerotech.

 

[Onfire_02_01]

I don't understand how they stay in business like that. They must have a hard time getting and keeping good cleaners.

There are a lot of reasons why. Consistancey is one, for every one of us that did a good job there was one that showed up to collect money and several in between. Business owners/regional managers want to see consistency across the entire company, even if it is low quality they want the customer expierence to be the same in the New York store as it is in the LA store. A national chain with a job scope can provide that. Also the regional manager has to only deal with one contact person when a service is needed. If you have 15 stores across 4 states do you want to call 10 different people to schedule a cleaning or call 1 person? There is also the race to the bottom price. There will always be someone to underbid you. I hate to say this but there will always be a Mexican willing to do the same work for $2 an hour less than you. Why pay a white person $15-20 an hour to do what a latino will do for minimum wage. I clean carpet at a movie theater in town and while I am there the nightly cleaners will come in and do the janitorial. The movie theater won't even turn the lights on for them. They all go around with flashlights to do their job. I have to ask to have the lights turned on so I can see what I am doing. Also there is volume. We all want to make a 20-40% profit on the jobs that we do, but a national company can make a 5-10% profit on each job and still have money left over. It is a larger scale of the apartment vs residential cleaning debate.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I hate to say this but there will always be a Mexican willing to do the same work for $2 an hour less than you

Add some one zero's or we ain't budging. I'd much rather have them wash and wax trucks then clean for peanuts.

 

[Cleanworks]

There are a lot of reasons why. Consistancey is one, for every one of us that did a good job there was one that showed up to collect money and several in between. Business owners/regional managers want to see consistency across the entire company, even if it is low quality they want the customer expierence to be the same in the New York store as it is in the LA store. A national chain with a job scope can provide that. Also the regional manager has to only deal with one contact person when a service is needed. If you have 15 stores across 4 states do you want to call 10 different people to schedule a cleaning or call 1 person? There is also the race to the bottom price. There will always be someone to underbid you. I hate to say this but there will always be a Mexican willing to do the same work for $2 an hour less than you. Why pay a white person $15-20 an hour to do what a latino will do for minimum wage. I clean carpet at a movie theater in town and while I am there the nightly cleaners will come in and do the janitorial. The movie theater won't even turn the lights on for them. They all go around with flashlights to do their job. I have to ask to have the lights turned on so I can see what I am doing. Also there is volume. We all want to make a 20-40% profit on the jobs that we do, but a national company can make a 5-10% profit on each job and still have money left over. It is a larger scale of the apartment vs residential cleaning debate.

The problem is that it is usually some fat assed white guy, taking advantage of the poor Latino guy who is just trying to feed his family, doesn't have to be Latino, we have lots of immigrants who aren't able to ply their trade because of government regulations. So who is the worst offender? The Latino worker or the white guy who takes advantage of him and won't pay proper wages?

 

[Able 1]

Does it have to be a fat ass white guy? I love generalities!

Usually they get taken advantage of because they are here ILLEGALLY and can't speak english. If they don't like it, they can go back to where they came from! BUT they don't because they still do better here then whatever chit hole they came from.

 

[Nate The Great]

Does it have to be a fat ass white guy? I love generalities!

Usually they get taken advantage of because they are here ILLEGALLY and can't speak english. If they don't like it, they can go back to where they came from! BUT they don't because they still do better here then whatever chit hole they came from.

Add some one zero's or we ain't budging. I'd much rather have them wash and wax trucks then clean for peanuts.

July................... King of Cimex...... You'll find a way to make it profitable...... These dang Mexicans who use white labor are flipping the script on "The Man"......

 

[Cleanworks]

Does it have to be a fat ass white guy? I love generalities!

Usually they get taken advantage of because they are here ILLEGALLY and can't speak english. If they don't like it, they can go back to where they came from! BUT they don't because they still do better here then whatever chit hole they came from.

No it doesn't have to be a fat assed white guy, I used to do work at night cleaning carpets in a buffet chain restaurant. Their cleaning crew was all old Punjabi grandmothers and grandfathers who were working for next to nothing for the fat assed Punjabi guy who owned the cleaning company. People take advantage even of their own people all the time. Look, we all have people here illegally, they are running away from something worse than working for low wages. Doesn't mean we have to take advantage of them. There is usually nothing waiting back home for them. Yeah, sure, they should all stay home and work for better conditions in their home country but it is not always possible.

 

[hogjowl]

It's the Patels that are the enemy.

 

[hogjowl]

I lost a huge account to them a couple years ago.

Got it back two months ago.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I like when they say "they sure don't charge like Mexican's".

We can't, we need to charge enough to make profit.

 

[Able 1]

No it doesn't have to be a fat assed white guy, I used to do work at night cleaning carpets in a buffet chain restaurant. Their cleaning crew was all old Punjabi grandmothers and grandfathers who were working for next to nothing for the fat assed Punjabi guy who owned the cleaning company. People take advantage even of their own people all the time. Look, we all have people here illegally, they are running away from something worse than working for low wages. Doesn't mean we have to take advantage of them. There is usually nothing waiting back home for them. Yeah, sure, they should all stay home and work for better conditions in their home country but it is not always possible.

It sucks that we can't take in everyone that has a sob story, because we have a crazy government dependency issue here in the US.. Why don't you guys in Canada let us ship our problem up there?

 

[hogjowl]

Half of Mississippi and Alabama and most of Detroit would be gone.

 

[Cleanworks]

we already have too many Americans here

 

[Able 1]

Lol..

 

[WillS]

Was the chain you were cleaning for Darden Restaurants? They own Olive Gardens, etc.. We had a monthly cleaning contract with one of their higher end restaurants on the strip that paid $720 every month. A few months ago I received a call from the GM saying they were going with this national company. Last month, he called me and said the contract fell through with corporate to go over to a national cleaning company and they wanted us to restart our cleaning contract with them.

 

[Old Coastie]

I like when they say "they sure don't charge like Mexican's".

We can't, we need to charge enough to make profit.

Remember the Alamo!

 

[Desk Jockey]

Fook it, I'm moving to Belize, they speak English there. I'm just waiting for a free trip there courtesy of Trump.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Remember the Alamo!

I bought a Santana T-shirt there. I thought it waz pretty ironic.

 

[Cleanworks]

Was the chain you were cleaning for Darden Restaurants? They own Olive Gardens, etc.. We had a monthly cleaning contract with one of their higher end restaurants on the strip that paid $720 every month. A few months ago I received a call from the GM saying they were going with this national company. Last month, he called me and said the contract fell through with corporate to go over to a national cleaning company and they wanted us to restart our cleaning contract with them.

No, it was called Uncle Willy's. Low budget buffet. I had 6 stores to clean. I believe they are out of business now

 

[Willy P]

No, it was called Uncle Willy's. Low budget buffet. I had 6 stores to clean. I believe they are out of business now

Nope - Metrotown is still running.

 

[Nate The Great]

It sucks that we can't take in everyone that has a sob story, because we have a crazy government dependency issue here in the US.. Why don't you guys in Canada let us ship our problem up there?

The Canadians cross the border to get better medical attention...... I say blow the fkn borders to Mexico and Canada.... I can live without Tapatio and Maple syrup....

 

[encapman]

A couple of years ago, we got a call to help "solve a problem". A carpet had been cleaned in a commercial building. The carpet looked HORRIBLE! It was a Cintas facility (part of their fire/safety division). Naturally the carpet was cleaned by Cintas before they called us. Well the big truck made a mess out of it. We encapped it and it turned out great!

Couldn't resist taking this picture of one of their wall calendars while we were in the building. LOL

Here's what ti looked like before we cleaned it. Photo didn't do it justice.

Here's what it looked like after we cleaned it.

 

[Cleanworks]

Rick, good on you but you have to upgrade your photography skills. At least on my phone, the after pic looks worse than the before. I'll take your word on it though

 

[Desk Jockey]

I agree with Ron, not the best photo.

 

[ruff]

Unlike the two gentlemen above, it is evident that Rick has not yet mastered the use of Photo Shop.
Hang out with these masters of the art and soon, you too will have skills.

 

[hogjowl]

Being technically challenged is not a thing to joke about!
We have feelings too!

 

[BLewis]

Was the chain you were cleaning for Darden Restaurants? They own Olive Gardens, etc.. We had a monthly cleaning contract with one of their higher end restaurants on the strip that paid $720 every month. A few months ago I received a call from the GM saying they were going with this national company. Last month, he called me and said the contract fell through with corporate to go over to a national cleaning company and they wanted us to restart our cleaning contract with them.

Yes it was and you are correct that they had like a 4 month run with that company (I think they were called CSc) then the corporate scrambled to fill as many voids as they could but then Cintas pick up a bunch of them and I believe are subbing out most of them

 

[encapman]

Unlike the two gentlemen above, it is evident that Rick has not yet mastered the use of Photo Shop.
Hang out with these masters of the art and soon, you too will have skills.

Hahaha... Yes, the photos didn't turn out great. The swirl pattern from the Cimex made it look kind of shadowy. But I can honestly say the carpet did turn out nice, and they were very pleased!

Part of the reason why Cintas bombed when they cleaned the building was because there was terrible air flow inside the building. They had an HVAC system that cut off at night, and there was extremely high humidity inside the building. So wicking was inevitable with HWE cleaning. Encapping solved the problem easily and made us look like a hero. But what we did was really nothing extraordinary - just a simple scrub with the Cimex and Releasit!