Ovens. Ovens are just…oh man, they haunt my dreams. I LIKE cleaning, don’t get me wrong. There are some jobs that aren’t as pleasant, and every now and then you get the nightmare home where they probably need a team and a full three days to make a dent, but otherwise, it’s good exercise and you can actually see what you’re doing. Making a difference, and all that.
But ovens? Yeah, they can all just hurl themselves right into the sun. People just love requesting oven cleaning at the most random times, and every time I see it on the request email I groan, both inwardly and outwardly. I’ve stuck my head into more commercial ovens than I care to mention, although to be fair, the commercial stuff is usually better. Restaurants have to maintain a standard of cleanliness or they get shut down by stern people in coats holding clipboards. Ovens at home? People just don’t care. A few wedges got lodged down the back while they were cooking? Well, they’re at the back of the oven…that’s basically the equivalent of them being cast into the ether. No need to stick your head into that dark void when you can get someone else to do it three years later. I have SEEN things, trust me. And then there’s just the fact that stuff gets welded to the inside of ovens to the point where I walk away from every cleaning with a sore everything.
No. Nope. Someone else can have the end-of-tenancy cleans; I’m happy to pass up that job. The only saving grace is that I enjoy cleaning commercial kitchen equipment, which a lot of other people avoid. What’s not to love? They’re all shiny and made with cleaning in mind. They have to be kept relatively clean, by law. And some of those commercial deep fryers and ovens are so massive you can practically climb inside. Makes cleaning a lot easier when you’re not jamming your arm into a dark void.
-Michael