Alan worked as a Cleaner. 
He worked for a company that contracted cleaners for various businesses. They mainly provided services for offices and shops. 
Alan was contracted to work in a shop. It was one of a large chain that ran across the county. 
The shop was no more than a fifteen-minute walk from where Alan lived. He would walk there every day, arriving at 6 p.m.

Once there, he would sign in, call head office to tell them he had arrived, then go to the cleaning cupboard and gather the few things he needed to work. 
He would begin by cleaning the staff-only bathrooms because they were closest to the cleaning cupboard. 

He would then move on to the staff break room, where he would mop the floor and wipe down the cheap Formica table and the counter top, ignoring the scattered coffee cups left to dry by the sink. 

He would then carry the mop, bucket, and a few other things to the storefront while dragging behind him a vacuum cleaner by its long black nozzle. 
He would then mop the floor, clean the hand prints off the glass door, and vacuum the large carpet doormat by the front door. 
Much to the curiosity of the staff, he would mop the concrete just outside of the glass door and vacuum along the very edge of the long cashier’s desk. 
Much to the dissatisfaction of the staff, he would then empty the mop bucket in the break room sink. However, no one ever said anything about this to him.

He would then return the cleaning equipment to the cupboard, sign out, call head office to tell them he was done, then walk home. 

Alan had followed that routine every weekday for the last five years. In those five years, no one at the store had said much more to him than “Hello” and “Goodbye,” apart from at Christmas time, when they wished him a “Merry Christmas.” On one occasion, a female manager told him he needed more vacuum bags, to which he said, “Okay.”
In the five years he had been cleaning the store, he had seen many members of staff come and go. Only a few managers remained the same. 

On one summer evening, a young man who had spent the last six months working at the store spoke to Alan while he mopped the shop floor. 
“It’s pretty quiet tonight.”
“Yeah.” 

“Makes you wonder why we stay open until 8 p.m.” 

“Yeah….everyones probably out in the nice weather or watchin’ the football.”

“Yeah.”

In his five years of cleaning, this was the longest conversation Alan had ever had with anyone at the store.
 It would be another five years before he had a conversation like this again.