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“Janitor 988” is an incredibly short film—under four minutes—and it popped up on my home feed, courtesy of the YouTube algorithm gods. As soon as the film began, with a scene of an unnamed janitor cleaning an office floor after hours as the only person left at work, my mind immediately went to those viral LinkedIn posts about janitors. You’ve probably seen them too—the ones quoting, “You should treat the janitor the same way you treat the CEO.”
While watching Janitor 988, I couldn’t help but think about how janitors are often invisible in workplace settings, rarely noticed, and sometimes completely isolated from the rest of the staff. This is certainly the case for the janitor in the film, who oscillates between despair, fleeting joy, and emptiness as he moves through a deserted office. His loneliness during work hours becomes a metaphor for the social isolation many people face in life. That’s the core theme of the film, as hinted at in the title: the protagonist lacks an identity beyond his employee number, ultimately reduced to a statistic after his passing.
For a film just four minutes long, Janitor 988 delivers a swift, ad-like production that might leave some viewers spiraling about what it means to feel invisible, unappreciated, and unheard. And of-course, here’s the thing about loneliness: it doesn’t care who you are. Janitor or CEO, it can hit anyone.
You can watch it now on YouTube. It’s also embedded below.