Need to get the facts straight

To the Editor:

I would like to respond to a letter dated 10/11/12, and published in your paper, from Shannon Moxcey, to address inaccuracies and untruths.

In that letter Miss Moxcey talks about businesses and organizations not being allowed to hold “meetings, events or forums that consist of more than 20 people, because the housekeeper cannot do all the moving and cleaning necessary to accommodate them” due to her “getting older.”

First of all, the administration never made such a statement to anyone and has always been accommodating to area businesses and organizations regarding room rentals.

I know this because as the lead custodian at the Western Maine University and Community College Center (WMUCC), I have personally set up many meeting rooms and cleaned up afterward for upwards of 50 people.

In the past year alone, we have served many businesses and organizations in meeting their needs for space. Some have thanked me personally for the small part I play in the process.

We have had a long tradition of renting rooms to outside folks over the span of time that I have worked at the building, all at very minimal rates.

Secondly, Miss Moxcey’s phrase that I am getting older implies that I cannot perform the work associated with the above tasks. These words are from Miss Moxcey’s own mind and perpetuates negative stereotyping and age discrimination. I am perfectly able to perform my job duties as written in my contract.

Thirdly, I am a custodial sub-contractor and am paid $14 an hour for 15 hours each week. When benefits are subtracted, the per-hour rate comes down substantially.

Pretty modest wages, if you ask me, and ones that are far under what the lawn care and snow plowing folks, who service the WMUCC building, are paid.

Additionally, Miss Moxcey’s letter seems to suggest that the custodial job was awarded to me because of a close personal relationship with the director. As she puts it, “The housekeeper in question is a close personal friend of the director and has been for years.”

For the record, the first time I ever met the director was when I applied for the custodial position. I was interviewed by three people who were complete strangers to me at the time, the aforementioned director and two others, one of them being Shannon Moxcey.

It seems odd to me that when Miss Moxcey was one of the people who helped make the decision to hire me, she would now be writing a letter to the editor implying that I got the job because I was “a close personal friend” with someone I had never met before.

Miss Moxcey needs to get her facts straight. I wonder what the motives are behind her writing the letter. Why would she malign such a valuable institution that provides post-secondary education and meeting space to folks in this community?

If she makes up the part of her letter about me, your readers should question the credibility of the rest of her letter.

Claudia MacKillop

Sumner