Humour connects at the workplace, say textile care workers Vimukthi and Jaan

JAAN PAAVOLA: In the spring of 2017, I was thin­king about where to apply for a summer job. My brot­her worked at Comforta and I asked him if I could also get a job here. I was a summer worker for the first two years before beco­ming a full-time employee.

VIMUKTHI MADANAYAKA: I’m from Sri Lanka and came to Finland to study textile and mate­rial engi­nee­ring in the autumn of 2022. My teac­her at Tampere Univer­sity of Applied Sciences told me that I could do my interns­hip at Comforta. After working for a month at Comforta Vantaa, I trans­fer­red here last summer. We’ve been cowor­kers since then.

JAAN: We were assig­ned to the same team at work and star­ted getting to know each other more. I also trai­ned Vimukthi on the proce­dure for recei­ving deli­ve­ries of dirty laundry. We worked at the same station for a week and got to talking a fair bit.

VIMUKTHI: After the interns­hip, I conti­nued here because I enjoy the work. I have really nice cowor­kers and a flexible emplo­yer. If I need time off for my studies, it can usually be arranged.

VARIABILITY IN TASKS A PLUS

VIMUKTHI: When I star­ted my interns­hip, the only thing I knew about Comforta was that it was a laundry. My tasks rotate between recei­ving deli­ve­ries, opera­ting the mangle, packing and folding.

JAAN: Deli­very recep­tion deci­des which of the used laundry coming in is washed. At the mangle station, clean towels and bed linen are fed into the machine. At the other end of the mangle, the texti­les are coun­ted and packed into roller cages for ship­ment to custo­mers. At the folding station, we fold the clot­hes to be ship­ped to customers.

VIMUKTHI: I like recei­ving deli­ve­ries the most. When I was being trai­ned by Jaan, I felt that the job was difficult, but when I got used to it, I found it to be quite exci­ting. There’s always somet­hing to do, the tasks vary and I don’t have time to get bored, unlike with the mangle.

JAAN: I enjoy collec­ting hospi­tal textile deli­ve­ries. I can walk around with a roller cage and load texti­les from other rollers for the ship­ment. Unlike at the back end of the mangle where things can get hectic, there’s no rush when collec­ting hospi­tal deliveries.

VIMUKTHI MADANAYAKA

Textile care worker
Comforta Oy
Tampere

EVENING SHIFTS TAKE THEIR TOLL

JAAN: We work in three shifts. I can’t quite get into the rhythm of things in shift work. Every week, I have to think about the cycle of working and slee­ping that week.

VIMUKTHI: Morning and night shifts are okay, but I don’t enjoy evening shifts. They tend to mess up your whole day since there’s usually no time to get anyt­hing done before your shift.

JAAN: I’m not fan of evening shifts either. We put more of oursel­ves into our work than we get in return, but I suppose that the same is true in many other jobs. I have no complaints about the work itself.

VIMUKTHI: I think my pay is okay. It’s enough to keep the bills paid.

Jaan is my first and only Finnish friend.

JAAN: Safety at work has become our number one prio­rity, but there are always problems with the roller cages. Some of them are croo­ked and can’t be opened or closed. A roller cage full of texti­les can also burst open suddenly on the employee’s face, for example.

VIMUKTHI: Those who handle the sorting of hospi­tal laundry work hard because the laundry is so dirty. They were recently given works­hirts with long sleeves.

JAAN: Because of how dirty the texti­les are, a long-slee­ved shirt is more comfor­table even as the work is often sweaty.

JAAN PAAVOLA

Textile care worker
Comforta Oy
Tampere

“WE JOKE ABOUT EVERYTHING”

VIMUKTHI: Jaan is a really great cowor­ker. He’s plea­sant and kind. Jaan is also my first and only Finnish friend.

JAAN: Vimukthi is always cheer­ful. It’s conta­gious. It’s plea­sant to work with him because he’s not afraid of lear­ning new things and doesn’t hesi­tate to ask if there’s somet­hing wrong. Our chemi­stry is good preci­sely because I like to teach and he likes to learn.

VIMUKTHI: I like working with Jaan because we joke around a lot.

JAAN: We joke about everyt­hing there is to find humour in. It’s our way to liven up the work day. We haven’t gotten toget­her outside work yet, but we do exchange messa­ges on Instagram.

VIMUKTHI: Recently, Jaan asked me to play basket­ball with him.

JAAN: English is our common language. I feel like my English is pretty good, but some­ti­mes I struggle to find words. Vimukthi helps me with English voca­bu­lary or gives me time to think of the right word. And I don’t need to speak perfect English to unders­tand others and make myself understood.

VIMUKTHI: I didn’t know much about Finland when I first came to work here, but I’ve learnt a lot from Jaan about things like culture and the school system.

JAAN: We like to compare each other’s home count­ries and cultu­res and talk about diffe­rences, things like how rice is cooked and so on.

Read the article in Finnish!