Making of a Janitor Cover


After more than 50 years turning keys, pushing mops, and battling invisible threats, industry veteran David Thompson releases the first volume of his powerful trilogy, A Janitor’s Life—Volume 1: The Making of a Janitor.

Thompson entered the profession at age 15, when a broken-legged custodian handed a Colorado high school sophomore a ring of keys and an unexpected opportunity. What began as a temporary favor became a lifelong calling that carried him from rural school hallways to executive bathrooms, from million-square-foot floor contracts to personal bankruptcy, and ultimately to a mission of changing how the world sees individuals in the cleaning profession.

“Janitors as a group are gravely misunderstood,” Thompson says. “So, I felt it was time to tell my story and the real value of ‘Being a Janitor.’ We are more than people who clean up after others. We are sons and daughters, parents and grandparents—the frontline caretakers of public health.”

With unflinching honesty and dark humor, Volume 1 traces Thompson’s journey from a turbulent childhood across Midwest ranches to building (and losing) a cleaning empire in Tulsa, Okla. before fleeing to St. Louis with nothing but a pickup truck and crushing guilt. Readers will enjoy reading about the gold-plated toilets, recoil at jail-cell nightmares, and cheer the relentless grit that turned every setback into forward motion.

The book celebrates the unsung passion behind the profession: the quiet pride of restoring a grocery aisle to deep shine at 4 a.m., the science of removing pathogens most people never see, and the deep satisfaction of knowing every janitor’s key unlocks a door to protecting lives.

I AM a Janitor, and I Save Lives. ™ has become Thompson’s personal creed—and the heartbeat of this trilogy.

Volume 1: The Making of a Janitor is available now wherever books are sold. Volume 2: A Salesman’s Path (1989–2015) and Volume 3: A Legacy of Health, which chronicles the founding of the Academy of Cleaning Excellence, will follow.

You can purchase your eBook or paperback at: www.JanitorKatt.com. You can also connect with Thompson to review copies, conduct interviews, or discuss speaking engagements.

It’s not where you start, it’s the lives you protect along the way—this is A Janitor’s Life.