Dust bunnies my ass

My home is dusty. I am not, and never have been, one of those people who dusts every week or who runs around with a cloth, swiping everything in sight. Nothing against those people who do do that, it just doesn't appear to be in my genetic makeup. As a result, we usually dust only when there's company coming (yes, we used to have a cleaning lady but that was like, two years ago--keep up, people).

When we clean house for company, as we've been doing for the last few days because my in-laws are coming for Thanksgiving, we take care of the most used rooms first. Bathrooms, basement (because someone is usually sleeping in our finished basement and we don't spend a lot of time down there otherwise), and living room/kitchen. We hit the bedrooms least of all, and our master bedroom definitely gets the short end of the stick because there is no reason for guests to go in there.

The unfortunate result is that the room where I spend the most hours at home is also the most dusty. Not awake hours, sleeping hours, but still.

It's worse at work. Oh, we have janitors (so-called) but they only pick up garbage and do very very cursory vacuuming. Because I'm in my office when they do the vacuuming, they never actually push the vacuum anywhere inside my doorway. As a result, I don't think the carpeting in my office has been completely vacuumed since it was installed, which was--let me think--about five years ago. The top of my desk hasn't been completely cleared and wiped since I moved into this office. That was two years ago.

Fortunately for appearances, my office is inside a factory. No one cares how my carpeting looks. It's not unusual to have undercoating (a tar-like substance) somewhere in the hallway. Most upholstered chairs have stains that have come from the clothing of visiting employees, especially paint. You just kind of get used to it. And despite improvements in the air quality outside my windows (which overlook the manufacturing floor), eventually weld dust gets inside everywhere. Did I mention the air conditioning system? It runs year round because we're located over the cafeteria and we get a lot of heat from the kitchen below and from the vending machines. Every once in awhile, the maintenance department must attempt to partially clear the ducts or something by back blowing, because I'll come in and my conference room table is covered with bits of black grit (it's right under the vent).

All in all, it's a good thing I'm not asthmatic. Not yet, anyway.