What did cleaner do with two watermelons

Toohotforthis · 2025-08-12T18:12:34+00:00

Cleaners came today (two cleaners once a fortnight for big/deep clean) Part of this is cleaning the fridge and oven. Came home and two large half melons have gone. One I got a while ago so possibly almost on its way out, the other I only got yesterday (still wrapped in cellophane) Feels petty to text and ask where they have gone If you have a cleaner or you are a cleaner, do you chuck food out if cleaning the fridge??

SteakBakesAndHotTakes · 13/08/2025 16:53

Just text and ask. It's not a big deal

Original poster

Toohotforthis · 13/08/2025 15:01

BunniB · 13/08/2025 11:47

Ah, so you are paying slave labour rates to your hired help, and wondering if they helped themselves to a tip?😂

I bet they can’t afford watermelons. Perhaps they hate you, with your low wages and your expensive fruit, and thought “screw her, it’s hot, we work like dogs, let’s sit in her garden and eat her melons”.

Maybe check to see if they drank all your G&T too.

Eh? They get paid €2 less per hour than I get doing my job

OP posts:

CalmTheFuckDownMargaret · 13/08/2025 11:56

Cleaners shouldn’t throw away anything apart from a bin bag without asking - food, bit of paper, whatever. My cleaner told me that their firm worked on the basis of ‘what if? value’ - e.g the crisp packet could have been kept because it’s got a code or token someone is collecting. Even old tea bags might be kept for composting. As a poster said, the fruit that their cleaner thought needing binning still had value to her for juice. Old bread can make breadcrumbs. A pack of ‘expired’ meat might have been frozen and is still technically in date. So YANBU and you shouldn’t feel at all embarrassed to ask them if they threw the fruit and to ask them not to throw things without checking. The can’t assume on your behalf that you don’t want things.

NooNakedJacuzziness · 13/08/2025 11:53

Maybe the 2 halves wanted to get married and she chucked them out so they cantaloupe…. Ha, made up me own punchline - I’m here all week

RussianDoll76 · 13/08/2025 11:53

I did house cleans for years . Never throw anything away unless it’s been specifically requested or put into a bin by the owner , it’s not in the job description and you don’t know what it’s for ! One of my ladies has tortoises and she keeps all her greens and off cuts in a bowl on the side . Just as an example .

Peaceandlabradors · 13/08/2025 11:51

CoastalCalm · 12/08/2025 19:39

Is it in the bin ? That’s the first thing to check surely

This. Just ask - do you know where the watermelon for lunch has gone?

NooNakedJacuzziness · 13/08/2025 11:50

Oh I thought this was the start of a joke and came on to find out the punchline

BunniB · 13/08/2025 11:47

Ah, so you are paying slave labour rates to your hired help, and wondering if they helped themselves to a tip?😂

I bet they can’t afford watermelons. Perhaps they hate you, with your low wages and your expensive fruit, and thought “screw her, it’s hot, we work like dogs, let’s sit in her garden and eat her melons”.

Maybe check to see if they drank all your G&T too.

MeganM3 · 13/08/2025 11:46

It sounds like one was past its best and you were hanging on to it. If one was off then they probably assumed both were.

Sounds like an accident. I would just leave it.

Arlanymor · 13/08/2025 11:43

Toohotforthis · 12/08/2025 23:55

Abroad, we don’t do any of this, assuming they take it to the huge bins at the end of the road in their way home

Show quote history

Oh I see. That wasn’t clear from earlier postings.

Original poster

Toohotforthis · 13/08/2025 10:10

McSpoot · 13/08/2025 02:11

She says she lives abroad. Depending on where this is, it might not be as extravagant as it sounds. I live in South-East Asia and have a cleaner that comes weekly for the equivalent of about 15 pounds for a full day of work. I spent not much less than that on a splurge of cherries recently (they are not grown here so can only get imported ones - so very expensive).

Show quote history

Exactly ❤️

OP posts:

McSpoot · 13/08/2025 02:11

PamIsAVolleyballChamp · 13/08/2025 00:44

This, you can afford to pay for a frequent cleaner, but say melon is expensive?
Cancel the cleaner, DIY and have ALL THE MELON with your savings?

Show quote history

She says she lives abroad. Depending on where this is, it might not be as extravagant as it sounds. I live in South-East Asia and have a cleaner that comes weekly for the equivalent of about 15 pounds for a full day of work. I spent not much less than that on a splurge of cherries recently (they are not grown here so can only get imported ones - so very expensive).

Nearly50omg · 13/08/2025 02:06

Suspect they have taken them home for morning tea!

amillionandone · 13/08/2025 01:58

I'm not a cleaner, but unless someone specifically asked me to throw out food, it would have to unmistakably smell rotten for me to toss it.

I think it's worth the potential embarrassment to save future fruit and veg from being binned prematurely. Why worry what they think? Some people are pickier about these things, but there's no shame in wanting to prevent food waste, if at all possible. For all they know, you may want to give it to a friend for their compost or something.

marshmallowfinder · 13/08/2025 01:27

Mayflower282 · 12/08/2025 19:16

I would send a casual msg, something like “I can’t seem to find the watermelon I brought yesterday! Dont suppose you know where it went?”

Bought, not brought!

PamIsAVolleyballChamp · 13/08/2025 00:44

RoseAlone · 13/08/2025 00:16

First world problems 😊

This, you can afford to pay for a frequent cleaner, but say melon is expensive?
Cancel the cleaner, DIY and have ALL THE MELON with your savings?

MaraB77 · 13/08/2025 00:38

Perhaps you had a melon party that you don't remember?

RoseAlone · 13/08/2025 00:16

First world problems 😊

Original poster

Toohotforthis · 12/08/2025 23:55

Arlanymor · 12/08/2025 20:50

They take it totally away from the home - don't put food waste in the recycling or general waste into the outdoor bin?

Show quote history

Abroad, we don’t do any of this, assuming they take it to the huge bins at the end of the road in their way home

OP posts:

AlertEagle · 12/08/2025 21:17

My mother is a cleaner she asks beforehand if she needs to throw expired food. However she told me a story once of a woman who was also a cleaner, so it was they day before Christmas and the woman was cleaning someones house and at the table there was a note and a very expensive steak. The cleaner didnt read the note but took the steak home, cooked it and ate it. She thought it was her Christmas gift when the womans husband contacted her to ask where is the steak his wife left on the counter for him.😂

Typicalwave · 12/08/2025 21:06

Tagyoureit · 12/08/2025 20:11

She carried them.....

😆

dirty dancing baby GIF by Lionsgate Home Entertainment

latetothefisting · 12/08/2025 21:04

why does it feel petty? Just ask! 'Hi thanks for coming today, just checking, I had 2 halves of watermelon in the fridge but can't seem to find them, was wondering if you might have binned them?'
If she says yes just say, 'Oh okay, thanks for letting me know, but please can you not throw anything out in the future without asking me.' If you wanted to be nice you could say 'Sorry, should have clarified not to chuck stuff before.'

Either way you need to say something or she'll just keep doing it, and next time it might be more expensive than a bit of leftover watermelon!

MistyMountainTop · 12/08/2025 21:03

Oh, and we too now have a fortnightly deep clean, and like the OP's cleaners, our cleaners take the rubbish away with them too!

Beammeupscotty2025 · 12/08/2025 21:02

They’ve chucked them.

MistyMountainTop · 12/08/2025 20:55

We once had a cleaner who ate our food and drank our drinks. After we'd sacked her, I realised that over half a bottle of fancy gin had been drunk too, it had to be her because the only gin drinker in the house didn't like it and we kept it for my SIL when she visited!