John was a custodian for a local school district. We used to call him “20 Questions” because he would constantly ply us with questions about the boilers when we would perform the annual service. He would jokingly ask how many of the 20 questions he would have left.
After many years as the custodian, John was promoted to the maintenance department. During the first year as a maintenance technician, one of the boilers at the high school malfunctioned and covered the tubes with black soot. Rather than call us, he cleaned the boiler tubes himself with a wire brush. If you ever cleaned a sooted boiler, you will know that the soot goes everywhere. It will embed itself in your skin and no amount of soap will remove it. It has to eventually wear away.