Do cleaners not do dishes?

We always do a thorough tidy before the cleaner comes. The cleaner is there to clean (hover, mop, dust, sweep, wipe down, dust). Not to put away.

I don't have time to do breakfast dishes before we leave for work/ school so our cleaner does do them (2 kids plates or bowl, 2 kids cups and 1 glass). If the cleaner wasn't coming, the breakfast dishes would be loaded in to the dishwasher in the evening when I come home from work.

You need to communicate. When my cleaner started she had a whole list for me to tick which I wanted prioritising and a box to fill in for specific requests. Also. If they left half an hour early they only did HALF the time? So each cleaner only did half an hour. I wouldn't particularly be pissed off about the dishes not being done but I would be pissed off about that. There's ALWAYS something that needs doing to take up the time. Blinds, tops of kitchen cupboards, inside cupboards. It's endless.

I was a cleaner. I got far less real cleaning done in houses that were untidy. Tidying first takes a lot of time!

That is absolutely minging!

My rule of thumb with my cleaners is to treat them with respect and never ever expect them to do anything disgusting! Whether that's dirty toilets or gross items!

Christ a little bit of common decency doesn't cost much!

No wonder you never went back....

I’ve had cleaners all my working life.

Modern cleaners talk about deep cleaning. Deep cleaning is just a decent clean. When a cleaner says they think a deep clean is needed then they’re not the cleaner for me. Cleaning is always a deep clean otherwise what’s the point. If not deep cleaning then it’s just tickling the clean.

when I first had cleaners many years ago, they did the domestic work like washing the floors, skirting boards, of course the dishes, the entrance to the house etc., then as years went on I heard no - I can’t do that when I’ve asked why there’s dust under the chairs.

Seems to be the more I pay, the less cleaning is done.

I've had a few cleaners over the years and they ALL did dishes. You are right to be cross - especially as they left early! My cleaners have done everything requested including doing windows, and even cleaning an 'overdue' oven. .....and a bit of ironing! Depends on the cleaner or company they work for I guess. Maybe you would be better off with a privately hired local Mrs Mop?

Sack your cleaners!

I'm sorry but no house is ever THAT clean that the cleaners leave 30 minutes early!! There is always something else to dust, another surface to clean, a shelf to wipe, etc - or do the damn dishes (exception or not).

No, I wouldn't normally expect my cleaners to do my dishes, nor would I leave them for my cleaners (but I do have teenagers and sometimes there are dishes in or near the sink however hard I try). I think that 30 minutes could have been put to better use and for this I would be re-thinking my cleaners.

@journeyofinsanity

Please see attached pics - left for me by (several years ago) by a weekly client on the third clean I did for them. Sink full plus extra next to sink … and mould. Oh, and broken glasses in sink too just for good measure. Agreement re. dishes was ‘small amount of breakfast items’.

Cleaned it up, got paid, never cleaned for them again.

Paying for an hours cleaning is just that …if they had 30 mins to spare then l would reasonably expect them to find something to fill that time not leave . And yes l would expect a few plates ( not a dinner parties worth ) to be washed up.

All of what you just said is nonsense

I'm part of a nationwide network of domestic cleaners. You'd be surprised at the level of filth people actual leave for their cleaners. And yes, that includes a week's worth of pots. AND the Sunday roast pots, pans and dishes will be there too. I've had it happen to me (when I first started out) and other cleaners have shared with the network what has been left for them.

And most people who pay for a cleaner care about cleaning.

MOST - yeah, true. Most do. But a good number hire a cleaner and think they can literally create a shithole over a week/fortnight because they're paying for a cleaner to do it. Every single cleaner in the network has a handful of horror stories each. All manner of bodily fluids, used sani pads and tampons just thrown on the floor, used condoms on bedside tables or bedroom floors, dog shit & vomit left on INDOOR floors, a week's worth of pots piling up, mess that makes a squatters crack den look tidy... I could go on.

Sorry, but cleaners are often treated VERY poorly. They need to instill strict boundaries right from the get-go. Something I learned quickly when I set myself up in business.

Who in reality would leave a mountain of a whole week's dishes growing mould. I mean really. That's nonsense. For one thing, people don't have that many pots and pans and dishes. And most people who pay for a cleaner care about cleaning.

My cleaner does the dishes and tidies up too. Otherwise, what are you paying for? My house looks immaculate after each visit.

Maybe a detailed list of cleaning duties they will be carrying out while at yours will help clarify this?

The lady that provides my cleaning would do any cleaning tasks in the time she has, she does dishes for other clients, doesn't need asking, rotates jobs round etc and is amazing. I also pay annually for a big clean where she does tasks not in the usual clean.

Get new cleaners. I’m not sure about expectations of the full sink load regularly but given all the other prep you did and knowing they left early that’s taking the piss. Any good employee works with a pride whatever the work and if one or two dishes c’mon! But you need clarification with them. I’d just not use them again. Get it clear with new ones leaving early on first visit not OK

I think the general is no..

But I have a wonderful cleaner who will wash up for me but I have known her years.

I pay her by the hour and when she comes in I let her know what I want doing and then however long it takes I pay her for it.. But like I say known her for a long time and she’s happy to do it 😊

Wtf
If I was paying cleaners and they were too petty to wash a few dishes as you hadn’t asked them to do so I’d ask for thirty minutes refund and tell them not to bother to come back!

I've been having my house cleaned for over 20 years and in that time had about 20 cleaners. Every one of them has done any dishes that are needing to be cleaned.

In your case, the cheeky bastards left 30 minutes early when they SHOULD have used that time to do the dishes!

They generally do not do them because some people start by leaving a few mugs which they will probably do and then before you know it they have a full days dishes left for them to do.

I’m a cleaner. When I take on a new customer I always ask what they expect or which jobs they prefer me to do. If they expected me to clean the sink and there were dirty pots in it I would wash up. Some customers just want the floor doing as they are constantly using the sink/worktops. I use the products they supply or I take my own and use my own cloths etc. each customer is different and has their own preferences. If I had ‘finished’ the usual clean and they were in the house I would ask if there was something else they would like me to do - occasionally they say no and let me go early…. If they’re not in the house I would look for something extra to do and would never leave before my allotted time was up.
However, I do clean for a couple of single men who have no clue so I do the basics first and usually strip/remake beds etc otherwise they would never get done 🙈

Completely understand, not doing the hob and sink properly is fairly standard stuff and the least you should expect. You're right to seek another cleaner in these circumstances.

I do cleaning and housekeeping too - laundry, watering plants, topping up pet water, bed making and bed changing etc. But I still won't do dishes. I explain this right at the start though, explain my reasons why and advise that I like to focus on the things that don't get done daily. Pots SHOULD be done daily when they've been finished with. Not left for hours/days/a whole week/a fortnight.

I do very detailed high standard stuff, so I don't want to be held up by dishes and have to compromise on my standards with the rest of the house because a mountain of greasy mouldy pots has slowed me down. Clients understand that when they hire me.

Because I do the rest of the house, the dishes are just one small task they have to do themselves. And 99% ofnthe time, they have dishwashers anyway. If they can't even be bothered to pop stuff in a dishwasher, then I'm lost for words.

Glad to.hear you have someone new though. Wishing you well. Hope they are what you need from a housekeeper. Just be careful.of how many pots you're leaving for this new cleaner. If you leave a lot, expect that some other area of the home will have to be left if they're unable to fit it all within a 2hr timeframe.

Clients having unreasonable expectations ie. a massive/varying list of jobs in an unrealistic timeframe, is a cleaners/housekeepers biggest reason for ditching a client (because cleaners dump clients as often as clients dump cleaners btw)

The cleaners my mum had, left an empty milk bottle in the fridge and their dirty cups in her sink!!

NRTFT, but...

Cleaner here. I don't do dishes. Simply because you do a couple one week because it wont take long, but next week there are more. The week after, even more. Before you know it an entire weeks worth of dishes have been allowed to grow to the size of Mount Kilimanjaro, growing bacteria and mould and hard as cement. It's not on. It's vile on a health & hygiene level. It's just downright disrespectful on a personal level. And it affects the length of time the clean takes, so if I'm spending an hour scraping, rinsing, scrubbing, degreasing, drying and putting away, it's going to eat into the time. Other tasks don't get done because I need to leave at the end of the slot time to get to my next job. And then complaints start. And then arguing ensues when I have to point out I had to spend so much time on the avalanche of mould-ridden dishes.

So I set my boundaries from the off - I don't do dishes. End of, no negotiating.

However, I would never leave early. If you're paying for 2hrs of my time, 2hrs of cleaning is what you get. (Just not dishes!)

Ps. 2 cleaners for 1 hour = 2 hours. Not, as you put it "I pay for 2 hrs, but have 2 cleaners, so only 1 hour". You have 2 MAN hours. Each cleaner needs to earn the hourly rate for the hour of work they've EACH completed.

But do chase up with management as to why they left 30mins early (unless they gave you a job rate for an agreed set list of tasks, rather than an hourly rate for a set time - then that's different. If they completed all the agreed tasks for the agreed job rate, then you have no right to complain)