Person driving a piece of floor cleaning equipment.
Barry Duncan (Night Shift, Rayburn House Office Building)

Cedric Mosby, Night Superintendent for the House Office Buildings, explained the comprehensive process for servicing the buildings under his jurisdiction and ensuring that they meet AOC cleanliness standards. Floor care includes scrubbing the floors nightly, as well as routinely stripping and adding seven coats of wax throughout the House office buildings. Maintaining environmental standards is vital to the AOC, and all Floor Care team members use Green Seal-certified products whenever possible.

Mosby's team is also instrumental in the congressional office moves that happen every two years, ensuring that existing and incoming Members of Congress are well-situated in their new office spaces.

"Our team takes pride in ensuring Members, staffers and visitors enter into a clean and welcoming environment each day," said Mosby. First impressions are a big deal, and the Night Floor Care team plays a key role in giving the House office building interiors that "Wow!" look. A group of House Office Buildings Floor Care employees were kind enough to answer our questions about their work.

Any fun facts that you can share about your position or the tools you use?

"People don't realize how long it takes to clean the Rayburn! These are long hallways with lots of corners to clean." — Barry Duncan (Night Shift, Rayburn House Office Building)

How has your job changed since you have been with the AOC?

"Before we had the floor scrubbers and buffers, we did this all by hand with mops and buckets." – Pedro Flores (Night Shift, Cannon House Office Building)

Person pushing a piece of floor cleaning equipment.
Pedro Flores (Night Shift, Cannon House Office Building)
What's one thing most people don't know about what you do?

"I operate forklifts and use heavy equipment." – Oscar Bolanos-Umana (Night Shift, Rayburn Building)

"I take pride in what I do, and I show employees that are new to the agency how to do the right things at the AOC." – Daryl Riley (Night Shift, Rayburn Building)

What's the best part of your job?

"Coming to work to perform my job at a high standard." – Daryl Riley (Night Shift, Rayburn Building)

"Coming into work and seeing the results of my effort every night." – Paul Alexander (Night Shift, Rayburn Building)

What's the best thing about working on the night shift?

"I love working at nights cleaning the floors. It's so peaceful and quiet and I get to see our buildings in a different way. During the day it's so busy and loud that I can't appreciate all the beauty." – Carlos Lopez Miguel (Night Shift, Cannon Building)

Person pushing a cart of floor cleaning supplies and tools.
Carlos Lopez Miguel (Night Shift, Cannon Building)
What do you like to do when you are not caring for the House office buildings?

"I like to watch a movie at my local theater and spend time with my family." – Oscar Bolanos-Umana (Night Shift, Rayburn Building)

"I love taking care of my grandson." – Paul Alexander (Night Shift, Rayburn Building)

By The Numbers

The House Office Buildings Floor Care team cleans over 565,000 square feet of main corridors, subcorridors, main lobbies and rotunda space! That's equivalent to:

  • Almost 13 acres
  • Almost 10 football fields
  • 120+ basketball courts
  • Over 10x the size of the White House

Comments

Derek Boyd HankersonJanuary 12, 2023 - 2:16pm

This is excellent and I really appreciate you all highlighting AOC staff and what they do to make the capitol shine, look pretty and more inviting for us all.

I remember as young intern I would always make it a point (regardless of how important I thought I was at 19) to say hello and thank you to the AOC, cafeteria staff, and other non-political staff!

Today, some 38 years late I still say thank you for making our U.S. Capitol look beautiful.

Ranaldo RobinsonJanuary 17, 2023 - 2:49pm

I enjoyed this article. It's great to highlight the night-staff. They make the buildings' look that much better in the day. It's takes hard work and dedication to complete those tasks. Thanks for giving this team a well-deserved shout-out.

Kate HolderJanuary 18, 2023 - 8:50am

This informative Q&A is a great reminder of the amazing things AOC workers do every day, and it’s a nice way of highlighting hard-working individuals. More Q&A’s please!

Karen SchmittFebruary 2, 2023 - 5:21pm

Our constituents are interested in all aspects of the Capitol, not just the history, architecture, and officials that walk the halls.....but the people who work there and how they keep everything in ship shape. I always make a point to engage any of the AOC team that we may meet on our tours so that constituents have a chance to get to know the real people, the real professionals in the Capitol. Without fail, your team is always very gracious and takes a moment to answer a question or share a thought. Everyone without fail is very proud to work at the Capitol. Me, too!

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