The Day I Became a Cleaner

I had 15 years of marketing experience, a Master's degree, and a portfolio of campaigns for international brands.

None of it mattered.

My first job in Australia was cleaning offices at 5am.

I remember the first morning. I drove to the building in the dark, parked in the empty car park, and sat there for a few minutes before going in. I was wearing rubber gloves. I had a mop.

I thought about the version of me that used to present marketing strategies to boardrooms. I thought about my colleagues back in Serbia who were probably waking up right now, making coffee, heading to offices where people knew their names.

Then I went in and cleaned the toilets.

Here is what I learned from that job:

Humility is not humiliation. They feel the same at first. They are not the same.

Every job teaches you something. Cleaning taught me efficiency, invisibility, and the satisfaction of a task completed. These are not small things.

The people you work with matter more than the work. My cleaning colleagues were some of the most resilient, interesting, funny people I have ever met. Immigrants, all of us. Doctors, engineers, teachers — all of us with mops.

I cleaned offices for eight months. Then I got my first marketing job in Australia.

I am not ashamed of those eight months. I am proud of them.