After 18 years of custodial work at the University of Idaho, Chuck Hatfield decided to look for a job that better fit his friendly personality.
Now, he sits at the front desk in the Facilities Building and is a customer service representative for the department.
“About 2008, this job came open. I was looking for different challenges, kind of a new pathway for me to go,” Hatfield said. “I feel like I’m a really good people person, and so this came open and I applied for it and got it. I love it.”
In 1990, when he was 18, Hatfield got a job as a custodian at UI. He said the most challenging part was the strange hours, but it was a rewarding job at the end of the day.
“It’s exciting. Being a custodian is a lot of fun, a lot of challenges,” Hatfield said. “I think the best part about it was just dealing with the customers and dealing with the students. The students are a lot of fun.”
As a custodian, Hatfield said he would ask students about their day and they would tell him the interesting things they did over the weekend. Now, 27 years later, Hatfield said students haven’t changed much.
“They’ve always been really pleasant to deal with. They’ve always been a lot of fun,” Hatfield said. “Students just have a lot of energy and they’re just eager to learn. It’s fun to deal with students and it hasn’t changed much.”
If there is an issue around campus, such as burnt out lighting or a sidewalk in need of shoveling, the call usually goes through Hatfield. These are his customers and he said it’s nice to be able to help take care of them.
“We all work as a team. It comes to the front desk and then we send it out our shops and they take care of it,” Hatfield said. “I really enjoy working with them. They’re like my family now, I’ve been here for so long. You just get to know them.”
One of the people who enjoys working with Hatfield on a regular basis is Judy Pankopf, office manager for university communications and marketing.
“It’s always a pleasure to make a request of facilities because we get to work with Chuck,” Pankopf said. “I mean, he’s always upbeat, he’s efficient, he’s just a very lovable man and a pleasure to work with.”
She said people typically only call facilities when there is a need for it.
“I think he’s in the perfect job for where he’s at, because so many people rely on facilities services, and when they have someone pleasant and upbeat at the front desk it just makes it much less painful for everyone,” Pankopf said.
Despite seeing just a little less than three decades of campus changes, Hatfield said the construction of the Integrated Research and Innovation Center (IRIC) is a big deal for him. He said facilities had a live camera feed from outside the building that streamed every day on a TV behind his desk, which fueled his interest.
“I’ve never really seen a building go up like that before,” Hatfield said. “Because you walk by and you see, ‘Oh, new building is coming up,’ but to actually watch it from its first step to its last step, that’s just been really interesting.”
Something Hatfield said hasn’t changed is the character of Moscow and the university.
“I think that people are very positive natured,” Hatfield said. “I think people are very hopeful. I think they are hopeful about the future of the University of Idaho and they haven’t really changed that much.”
He said he may just think that because he’s a positive person, but he thinks people living in Moscow grow to love the community.
“If you work at the U of I, I can’t help but feel that you care about the U of I. And everybody I know that works here at the U of I cares about the U of I,” Hatfield said. “Here at facilities we have some of the hardest working people on campus and all of them care about the U of I. They care about our customers, and it’s just nice to see that throughout the day.”
Hatfield said working at UI has been one of the most important and enjoyable aspects of his life.
Building relationships and sharing friendliness is at the core of Hatfield’s experience and he said the positive attitude of the people around him makes it a positive experience.
“I love it here,” Hatfield said. “It’s really been a huge part of my life — working here at the U of I, living in Moscow — it’s huge part of who I am today.”
Jack Olson can be reached at [email protected]