Building Service Workers Award Honoree Jahdal Benjamin: Taking Care of Deliveries at The Andover

Just past the sharply dressed doorman, through the lobby and to the left in the all-rental luxury Andover building located at 1675 York Avenue, you will find Jahdal Benjamin – of Service Entrance Personnel, or just “security” – and other members of his team who ensure that the service entrance on East 88th Street is fully attended from early morning through late at night.

Benjamin has been in his position for 14 years, referred by a friend who worked for Glenwood Management.

“He told me to apply, and I applied, and they hired me,” said Benjamin who worked in various building services positions in maintenance and security before working at The Andover.

His day starts at about 5:30 a.m., when he leaves his home in the Bronx by 6 a.m. to be at work for the early shift that starts at 7 a.m. and goes through 4 p.m. He is the person who opens up all the service facilities in the building each day.

“The first thing I do when I come in, I open the service entrance door, the office; I open the garage door, I open up the laundry room,” he said. “Then from there immediately after, I log on the computer and do an inventory of everything that’s in [the package room],” to cross-reference in the system that everything his co-worker entered the night before was still in place. In the package room, they keep track of every single thing that enters the building – every letter, every package – of all sizes, and ensure that each piece is accounted for.

Throughout the day, deliveries from FedEx, UPS and the regular mail is joined by the now frequent food services such as Fresh Direct, Instacart, and others. In addition, workers who may be renovating a vacant apartment have to check-in at the service entrance desk to have their information entered in the system. He also maintains the building’s bike storage room.

Benjamin enjoys his job. Getting to meet a lot of different people, “a lot of different personalities” over the years at the 383-unit building, and interacting with the tenants is “by far one of the best things” about his job, he says.

Benjamin has been married to Virginia for 11 years and they have four children. “I am a very family-oriented man,” he said. “I love my family – my wife, my children, my mother – we do all the holidays together.”

He and Virginia enjoy traveling, especially to Mexico where they’ve been the most. They also enjoy cruises, and just this year traveled from Miami, the cruise ship making stops in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Grand Cayman Islands, and back to Mexico, in Cozumel.