My father knew a janitor during his time at the Air Force Academy who commanded grudging respect from the professors and cadets. Upon doing some research, my father discovered the man had been an officer and was a Medal of Honor recipient.

This Troper had seen something about him in a cheesy History Channel documentary at school. According to the movie, he got rid of a German machine gun nest by himself while the rest of his squad was pinned down. Badassery. This ''might'' be a different person, but the movie mentioned that he was now a janitor somewhere.

Yeah, that could be someone else you're talking about. Unfortunately, far too many vets discover it's a CrapsackWorld once they get back because they can't really adjust to society after what they've been through, don't get treatment for PTSD/Shell-shock/Battle-fatigue/whatever, and can't find themselves a stable job because they themselves either just don't have it in them anymore and/or are nervous wrecks. The worse the war situation they went through, the higher the likelihood.

This Tropette heard about something similar. This black janitor with no training gunned down three or four planes during Pearl Harbor. The worst part was he didn't get awarded a medal because he was black, and he died when his sub sank a few years later.

Aside from the job, that guy sounds a little familiar. You sure his sub sank? Or was he killed by a Tank instead?

You may be thinking of Dorie Miller, a Mess Attendant 2nd Class aboard the battleship ''West Virginia'' at Pearl Harbor on 7DEC41. Ordered to help load two .50 caliber machine guns - a weapon he had never received any training on but had watched being operated - he took charge of one and fired it until he ran out of ammunition. Whether he shot down any Japanese planes is not known. For his "...bravery in combat, above and beyond the call of duty..." he was awarded the Navy Cross, the first black sailor to receive that medal. He was killed when the ship he was later assigned to, the escort carrier ''Liscome Bay'', was sunk at the Battle of Tarawa.

This troper has a janitor at my secondary school with equal respect to the teachers, low as that may be.

Our elementary school janitor once played rodeo clown to a bull that had escaped a nearby farm and was running around the playground while the teachers stood by helplessly. From then on he became a MemeticBadass.

This Troper's Uncle "Bob" WAS the Almighty Janitor. He had worked at the school for nearly 30 years, had access to every room in the school, knew every student's parent, donator and upper-level administrator by name. He was the janitor when hundreds of now-alumni were students. To top it all off, he was so well-beloved by the students that he was repeatedly made an "honorary" member of the graduating class. This Troper's every move, misdeed and accolade was reported to him first.

This Troper and his friend joke about their school's janitor. The janitor in question, Frank, beats up bears on a regular basis, is too tough for a bed, so he sleeps on the hard patch of dirt near the library, keeps human beings as pets, steals all the other teachers' porn [=DVDs=] for his own use, throws kids that annoy him too much off the roof, and can walk into any shop and demand a drink -- if he doesn't get it, he WILL kill you. He's also not even a real janitor. He's just too BadAss and awesome for the school to kick him off the grounds. Oh, he also once won a fight against Samuel L. Jackson. Almighty Janitor, thy name is Frank.

A janitor at my school frequently is allowed to go anywhere she wants (hardly working at all) on Friday, yelling "IT'S FRIIIIIIIDAYYYYYY!!!!!" all day long. There are also rumors she's been around long enough to get more pay than most teachers and that she once managed to cuss out the principal over some argument (I heard it was over some argument about some kid getting detention) and not get fired. But the Friday thing is still awesome.

@/KrazehPenguin once joked with his friends about his jr. high's janitors being ninja because we saw them on the roof and behind the trophy glass more often than cleaning.

The janitor at this troper's grade school knew every student by name. He was every student's favorite person on campus.

I've got an almighty Substitute Teacher and Track Coach. He's a 'Nam Vet. Fear the Wrist-Thingy, it's worse than you think.

When I was in college the janitor was a bald man named Flash, who wasn't almighty but did command quite a bit of respect and fear. Now that he's at university, the cleaner for his accommodation could count as a rare female version.

If your name is Flash, you're already almighty by default.

If you also have the last name Gordon, you are a god among men.

The Janitor at This Troper's middle/elementary school was a retired cop with the city's K9 unit. It was implied, but never tested, that he could take you out and the times he got mad at students, you knew you crossed the line when he told the student body in the cafeteria that the dogs he trained were smarter than this. His high school janitor fought in WWII at Iwo Jima. Although he gets mild respect from the students, he gets respect in spades from returning alumni that have entered the Marine Corps.

One of the security guys at this troper's high school was known pretty much only as "Abe", due to his uncanny resemblance to the 16th President, who commanded more respect that just about any other member of the staff.

This Troper knows that if anyone at your occupation needs to be respected, it's the person in charge of keeping the bathrooms clean. If you give the janitor any incentive not to do so, your life can easily be made a living hell.

This troper works a mere six hours a week at a [=McDonald's=] as a janitor who cleans the lobby. And yet he can name all the United States Presidents in chronological order, and is working on a personal project where he lists all the famous people ever, by going to websites like Snopes or this very wiki, and looking for important people. What's the deal?

This Troper's favorite janitor in middle school, Abdi, just so happened to be a ''mujaheddin'' in the Soviet-Afghan War. Said troper and his friends used to joke and talk about how he ate AK-47s for breakfast, had torn [=MiGs=] apart with his bare hands during the war, two-fisted Stinger missile launchers without breaking a sweat, took bears as slaves, and shat solid iron. He was a pretty awesome janitor, too.

One of this Troper's middle school janitors was also the supervisor of the chess team and had an IQ of 133. Why he was a janitor I'll never know.

Probably something along the lines of why Lu-Tze of {{Discworld}} is just a sweeper; There's something... satisfying about a clean room.

To add a theatrical variation, this troper's Drama teacher warned us all never, ''ever'' to get on the wrong side of the stage manager.

The janitor at my school is a veteran of... I believe the Vietnam War, he said, but my memory is dismal. He spent about 20 minutes telling horror stories about it to me and one of my classmates. His office is also in the basement, which is very creepy, and probably home to many rats. (He claims the rats are the size of small dogs and that he kills them with a broom. I don't quite believe him on that one.) There is a bit of a joke among my group of friends that he is a werewolf, due to his rather scruffy appearance (and the fact that the elevator has padding on the walls. Secret chamber of transformation if I've ever seen one.) He looks kind of scary, but is one of the most loved of all the staff members, even if his sense of humor involves threatening to steal my favorite hat and throw it in a bucket of paint.

Subversion: this troper's school janitors only work after school, and no one even knows their names. It's sad, really.

You don't expect to see ninjas do you?

This Troper's high school had a janitor named Rodney who was possibly the coolest guy who ever lived. He formed a rock band called the Rodnafarians (appropriate because he had some kickass dreads) when he worked at the middle school and performed lead vocals in the high school's faculty band that consisted of him, the choir teacher, an English teacher, a Special Ed aide, and a middle school music teacher. He also knew everyone's names and was treated with the same respect as teachers and administrators.

This Troper's high school had a janitor named Bruce Campbell. 'nuff said.

Good. Bad. He's the guy with the mop.

Ours was named Mr. T (short for something unpronounceable).

Did he pity the fool?

This Troper's elementary school had an ''awesome'' janitor. He was mostly bald, except for a sort of bristly toothbrush mustache ( no, not that kind), and always wore a striped shirt and jeans. He was colloquially referred to as 'Mister Jan' (which is a common name in Holland - and get this, his name was ''Jan Jansen''), and whenever I felt down, Mister Jan would find some chore for him to do. In my last year of elementary, we named the schoolyard after him - roughly translated, 'The Mister Jan Yard'. He also ''never'' raised his voice or sweared ''once'', even when somebody dropped a hammer on his foot - oh, and should I mention he probably could've tipped over cars if he wanted? Like fucking steel cables, those guns of his.

This Troper's high school had a free day one time (sorta - we were supposed to be doing community service around the school grounds, but this Troper and some of her friends were seperated from their group and after failing to find the group after nine laps around the school we gave up). While the janitor was not almighty, he ''did'' show this little group of lucky girls all the hidden rooms, secret passages, and other hidden bits of school lore. Best day of school ever, following the janitor around as he unlocked all those doors that we'd passed every day but ''nobody knew what was behind them'', going into the old boiler room that was never used anymore, finding all the hidden janitorial shortcuts through the school, and even being shown the location of a room that was walled off forever, complete with the old desks still inside (they weren't suitable for use anymore anyway). Further, we were told about the trapdoors in the school that he pointed out to us but wasn't allowed to open - it was too dangerous down there even for him. But it was ''awesome'' and the janitor gained a ''lot'' of respect from us after that. #QUOTE# This Troper: *looking around a dark, dusty old room* Wow... When's the last time a student was up here? #QUOTE# Janitor: Never. You guys are the first students ever to see this room.

This Troper worked at a restaurant with a small cadre of busboys. Now, if you've worked in a restaurant, you ''know'' the busboys are the restaurant equivalent of a janitor, and generally get stuck with the nastiest and most menial jobs. One of the busboys was in his early twenties, but was built like a compact truck who had been in that particular job for five years. By comparison, the average turnover rate for busboys is about six months. He was pretty much the strongest person in the restaurant short of the bodybuilder who was the butcher, and he knew as much about cooking steaks and operating the fryer as most of the actual cooks, and generally gave tips to the servers on handling customers on food. He actually got paid more than most of the cooks and even one of the ''managers'', and was virtually unflappable - even in the middle of a Mother's Day rush, he was a freaking glacier. When the managers called their weekly meetings, he usually sat in and weighed in as well, and knew the district manager on a first-name basis. He was, for all intents and purposes, an informal manager, and yet never did anything but bus tables.

There was a lot of mystery surrounding this troper's high school custodian. He roamed the campus in a golf cart and spoke English with an undecipherable accent, but the other janitor knew what he was saying. Rumor had it that he was a doctor in Vietnam, but couldn't work as a doctor in America. I suspects that it was due to some supernatural calling to clean American high schools.

This Troper works in a church whose sexton qualifies as an AlmightyJanitor. He was just hired a few months ago and cleans the building better than it has been for at least ten years. He also cooks the spaghetti for church fundraisers. His other job? He's a medic in the United States Army and takes off at random intervals to do military training or service.

The janitor in this ttroper's elementary school was an incredibly nice and friendly guy whom everyone liked. Being a BadAss Korean War veteran who fought in temperatures of 50 below also helped.

The Caretakers (British term for janitors) at this Troper's Sixth form/secondary school are a combination of invisible and secret society that have their own utility corridors dubbed "Caretaker world" that an intrepid student may have a tour of if they ask nicely on a day when they're in a good mood and aren't too busy.

About thirty/forty years before, we had a socialist system in our country (and I mean SSSR socialist, not the modern kind). And there was this catch - if you did trouble, you couldn't get a decent job. But, by law you had to have one - the government had to give it to you. So, when you was a disident, you got the lowest ranked job possible - for example janitor's. Sure, some of these people were just problematic guys who wouldn't go with any laws, but some were highly educated. So you could actually have janitor who was a university professor of philosophy before.

I went to a school where the janitor who was a veteran of both the Korean War and WWII, had married the school cook, and actually lived on the school grounds for many years. He knew every hiding place and shortcut in the school and not only stood up for me when one of the several bullies at school were beating the tar out of me, but showed me how to get around school without any of them seeing me. I was devastated when he died in '92, though I had graduated by then.

Tropers/{{Excel-2010}}. I am rather skilled with technology, made above-average grades in school and currently study film in a four-year university. To pay for tuition, I scrub the heads and take out the garbage at a nearby military base. I'm not in the military, but cleaning up after them pays well enough.

Pretty much all the guys at my school are pretty talkative with janitors, even more so than the teachers themselves. I'm not sure if this counts, but this troper's mother is also a cleaning lady at another different school and she is a no-nonsense chatty indifferent and impatient female that can blow anyone away by merely opening her mouth. Just for that, the troper feels she has the most awesome mom in the world.

This troper was a janitor at a large R&D facility for a few months. I was moved to new areas all the time, so I had cleaned nearly every room and lab on every floor. I could give accurate directions to just about everywhere, even to restaurants close by outside. The old Minded Professor}} Absent Minded Professors who didn't know their way around were flabbergasted that this 21-year-old always knew which direction she was facing and could rattle off clear, concise directions like a human GPS without even pausing to think about it.

This troper's High School has a janitor named Rodney (who ''might'' be the same guy mentioned further up the page). Before becoming a Janitor he was a Marine for 20 years, and a Drill Sergeant at one point. I've heard that he once used those skills to make a past football team ''cry'' during practice. On top of that, ''everyone'' likes Rodney, he is respected way more than the teachers. He only has the job because he wants and enjoys it. He has achieved MemeticBadass status, he hilariously rants about stuff during announcements, and he gives us candy. Rodney kicks ass.

Apparently my school's janitor was a sparring partner of Muhammad Ali. Yes, ''that'' Muhammad Ali.

This troper has recently been hired as a full-time night janitor at a chicago retirement home, and intends to personify the trope to its fullest.

At this troper's high school there was an old man that lived in a little house in the middle of the school that everyone called Fred. None of the students knew why there was a guy living in the school, except that he helped out when the school had sausage sizzles planned (One story was that when the boys school and girls school that made up the high school joined into one that his house was in the way and they couldn't get him to move so built the school around him) I got to know him because of his dog (which was the school's unofficial mascot) and found out he's the school's caretaker (he got paid less than the janitors, had to put away their supplies, take care of the school grounds and did the janitors' jobs during the school holidays) He was an awesome guy that among other things has helped quite a few previous student with their Year 12 Muck-Up Day, which included releasing a full grown pig in the English Block, throwing all the heavy steel bins on top of the canteen, taking over the principal’s office and carrying a teacher's car to the top of the Science Block (which had 5 floors while the other blocks have at most 3) While I was still in school he removed three large trees that hand started to cause damage to the school by himself. Fred was 72 when I graduated.