Do cleaners not do dishes?

I was chatting with my new cleaner the other day and told her how more conscientious I am with keeping the house tidy. She laughed and said she has the same conversation with everyone and tells us all not to wash up dishes or clean because that's what we're paying her to do.

I think just specify you want it done, like ironing or changing the bed. And if they don’t want to do it, they’ll say so, although they probably will be fine with it.

Agencies especially often have a very standard list of jobs, and you have to specify what you want.

Maybe unpopular, but I would think doing dishes was part of cleaning up and cleaning.
They left early , aren't you paying them for a service i.e cleaning.
Obviously you didn't have a 10 person dinner party and leave the dishes, just a few . I don't see why the big pile on.

@AbreathofFrenchair yes, some parents really are bringing up kids to be that lazy. As a domestic/commercial/hotel/education and medical cleaner, I can say it’s been this way forever. They grow into the most lazy and entitled adults who think cleaners seem to be ever so slightly above a dog turd in the evolutionary process.
The flip side is that there are also some kids and adults which are appreciative of a cleaner/domestic/housekeepers skills and their abilities to keep a home/workplace setting clean, tidy and a nicer place to be in.

Why is it a stupid comment? The OP has already said she would prefer to do the cleaning herself and pay someone to tidy, arrange and organise

If my cleaners leave early, I just pay for the hours they did

I cant get over how many people are missing the point, which is that the person I quoted, not the OP, let's and expects their cleaner to tidy away packets of crisps that their child has got out and not bothered to put away.

Are people honestly dragging their children up this lazy because the cleaners are expected to tidy up after them?!
I'd be mortified if that was either of my children

No.

if ours has time, she will do some windows or clean down a wall or two.

I can see the cleaner / domestic kitchen split if a business...

But in a private home?

Whenever I've been around non business cleaners, they do anything that needs doing!

@Fifi00 I live in the North west and I do dishes included in my cleaning! Send me a message 😅

Our cleaners charged extra for dishes.

@RealBecca I don't know if it's because I work in a v male dominated industry, but absolutely no one does their dishes!

At most, someone might put them in the dishwasher but mostly they're scraped and left in the sink at all three places I've worked.

Two of them were larger organisations so there were cleaners in the building throughout the day who loaded the dishwasher after lunch.

Anyway your approach makes a lot more sense!

Ours doesn’t, no. Just moves them into the sink.

@ladykale we wash up our own stuff in the office but there’s only about 3 or 4 of us that go in now. I started off loading the dishwasher but the cleaner who comes in mid afternoon to deal with the kitchen ended up taking out the few bits and hand washing them since I suppose it didn’t make sense to run a dishwasher load for a few glasses and mugs.

Are you kidding? You do your own dishes! You dont leave used mugs and stuff lying around!

Stupid comment of the day

Could be worse.. my cleaner did wash up the bowl and 2 plates I left from breakfast as we left in a rush for school.. but she didn't clean the sink or draining board. I had to do it when I got home!

Our cleaner does any odds and sods left in the sink although it’s very rare that anything is in there. She loads the dishwasher with anything around the house though (namely glasses in the teens rooms which haven’t been brought down despite me asking several times before she comes).
However I do my best to make sure everything is tidy and ready to be cleaned. I do whizz the hoover round the kitchen before I leave for work as ds leaves breakfast crumbs every day and I make sure the loos don’t have visible marks in them, bins are emptied too.

I think it's absurd to not wash the dishes yet clean toilets!

I'd get a new cleaner OP

Mine does dishes if there are any. She will always empty the dishwasher or washing Maxine if appropriate. I don’t ask her to do these things. She cleans for a set time and just gets on to do what is needed.

When I had a cleaner she always did if there were any, wouldn't have been annoyed if she didn't as she was a great cleaner but I get why you'd be annoyed if they were getting half an hour paid free time and there was only a little bit to do

I wouldn't want a cleaner wasting time on dishes day to day when there are much more important things to get done, but in this instance, I don't think it's unreasonable at all to expect that they do that (or find other things to do) rather than leaving early. I'd definitely be looking at other options tbh.

So get rid of them then??? The dishes I can understand as not part of what they do, but finish half hour early? I don't think so. Get a proper cleaning company not agency, someone who takes a bit of pride in their work. A good cleaner will stay with you for years and do a proper job always.

Do you have a dishwasher op?
I ask because many people (me included) prefer dishes not to be hand washed as the dishwasher sterilises and dries them. It’s possible your cleaner thought this might be the case for you