Thank Your Cleaner Day is a global initiative that celebrates the more than 40,000 Kiwis.
To celebrate the day today, Estelle Courtney, who works at the Nelson Superloo for OCS New Zealand, talks to Jesse Mulligan about the importance of her role to her community.
Estelle Courtney Photo: supplied
Courtney, who is known as bit of a legend in the city, recalls how drastically her attitude changed compared to her first day, when she cried and was worried about people seeing her there.
"Oh my god how silly was that," she says, remembering those times. "Because I soon got over that and at the end of the day, it's a function we all do, isn't it?
"And what the hang, someone has to do it, and I'm really pleased that I'm doing it and the other three girls that work with me, we all have that same attitude. I'm proud of the fact that I'm Nelson's loo lady and that's exactly what I call myself."
Nelson's superloo is at the heart of the city - consisting of a laundry area, family room, showers and toilets - and welcomes everyone from locals, the homeless, to travellers.
And Courtney does more than just clean the place, she also spruces it up with flowers without ever being asked.
"Then it got to the stage that other people, customers, would pop in and [say] 'have you seen this plant?' and they'd bring in bunches.
"Better to have them here than at home, because I'm [at the superloo] more than I'm at home. So it works really well and I'm proud to have it looking as nice as it is for everyone."
She also goes further, chatting with lonely customers and cheering them up.
"We have people come in with their little Zimmer frames and they can sit down and we can have a little chat with them.
"Sometimes they've told us that we're the first person that they've spoken to in the day.
"So it's really important, it's far more important than just a cleaning job. It's important to make people feel valuable and wanted and so we do that."
Two people from Slovakia who were passing by and had trouble sewing their curtains found the right person to help them at the superloo - Courtney.
"They'd come in with an iron and some hemming web and they thought they'd be able to make some curtains, but it got the better of me in the end.
"So I suggested they come around home after work and I'd help them and we'd make curtains and that's what we did and in fact, it went beyond that and we ended up covering their swabs for them and had a wonderful time.
"They're still in contact with me and they call me their grandmother in New Zealand and I certainly love those two.
"Everyone that I've had through is really special, but some have just left real marks on my heart."
Courtney says she considers herself lucky because it's rare with her public-facing job not to be thanked.
"And as they walk out, I say thank you to them because that's important too, they're supporting us and without them, I perhaps wouldn't have a job.
"This is where I'm lucky, Jesse, because I'm in a place where we see lots of people and during working hours.
"Whereas a lot of our cleaners, throughout the country are working afterhours ... and they don't get the thanks quite so much as what we do.
"I would just really love to say if anybody is listening out there that does work in an office or somewhere like that, that they can write notes and leave them somewhere just to thank their cleaner every so often because there's just nothing like being thanked.
"Lots of people wouldn't choose to [be a cleaner] lightly but it's a most important job as we've certainly found out with Covid and it's nice to have some thanks, and in saying that, it's important we all thank each other no matter what our role is."
