When you are next travelling through an airport take a few moments to look at how clean it is. Are the floors strewn with litter and detritus? No, its sparkling and clean.
Most busy airports employ an army of cleaners whose job it is to keep the airport terminals clean and safe for passengers. They perform their work surrounded by people hurrying off to overseas business meetings and vacations. There are countless fast food outlets who appear to have conspired to serve up their food in enough packaging to fill and refill all of the airport bins several times over every single day.
Marie is an airport cleaner at Glasgow's busy international airport. She has worked at Prestwick as well as Aberdeen and Edinburgh airports but she says that she prefers Glasgow as it is so much busier.
A typical day for her starts at 4 a.m. when she starts the early morning shift, preparing the airport for that days influx of travellers. She says that the biggest problem she encounters is unattended bags. 'Even though people know about terrorism they can still forget and leave their bags unattended. If i come across an unattended bag I am obliged to report it to airport security. Some people become quite upset when they find their hand luggage being treated like a suspect device.
Marie told us that she doesn't really meet many rude or obnoxious passengers but it does happen occasionally. She said: ' Last week a drunk man decided to be sick on the floor that I had just polished'.
Along with unattended luggage Marie often finds things that people have left behind. She said: 'I've lost count of the number of laptops, mobile phones and MP3 players that I have picked up over recent years. I've even found baby's pushchairs, toys, medicines and I even once found a false leg.'
A key skill needed by anyone working as an airport cleaner is the ability to deal with all nationalities and people from all walks of life. 'The ability to stay calm and help a passenger who is about to miss their flight remain calm is definitely a bonus' said Marie.
Remember: You will get the best deal on Glasgow airport parking, Aberdeen airport parking or Edinburgh airport parking by booking in advance to get up to 60% off the normal cost.
