To report the cleaner

I am going to say you are being VFuckingU

My mum has a cleaning company. Recently, she was asked to consider sacking one of her staff because he was talking to himself whilst he worked. It was dressed up as some "welfare concern", but the reality as that they just didn't want him there. He is actually a good cleaner. The person complaining just didn't want to hear him.

Being a cleaner is shit. I have cleaned offices, and it is usually after all the actual office staff have gone home. I have had complaints for hoovering by the staff that have stayed behind. Complaints that I did not clean their desk, but I could not because they were still there and would not let me clean.
Got a bollocking for being there in the morning, when the lady complaining was turning up super early. I mean, who turns up for their 9-5 at 6am?

You sound as though you like things the way you like things. From what you say there are people who are neurodiverse in your department too which may be impacting the tolerance level for this person who is trying to do her job.

I can see what the previous poster said about punching down and it does seem a little bit like that but I honestly don't think it's your groups intention.

Talk about it among yourselves and perhaps prepare a few sentences asking the person to be a little quieter. There's no need to mention research or PhDs or anything like that, it's not important in what you are describing.

Possibly something along the lines of

Hello we are a group of students who study in this space. We really appreciate the work that you do and it is good to be able to work in clean conditions so thank you so much.

We have to concentrate quite hard on the work that we do and it can be very easy to become distracted when someone comes into the space or there are loud noises and people speaking.

We wondered if it would be possible for you not to take phone calls when you are in this space and try to be as quiet as possible? We are sorry to ask but we would be very grateful.

Perhaps give her the note with a box of chocolates or something and a big smile. Also make sure you acknowledge her with a smile when she does come in to do her work. Every single person has an equal role to play whether it's the Dean, the cleaner, professors or security guards.

It will be better coming from you than her boss.

Crazy responses on this thread!! You have chosen to work in a specific quiet zone area. When I was at Uni you would be immediately removed from the silent working zones if you were being noisy. The rules should be respected by everyone who enters the room. Emptying bins once per day is reasonable but doing so while chatting on the phone loudly is not. It’s completely disrespectful and it wouldn’t kill her to work for 20mins in silence.

@EmotionalLimbo are all users of the space very quiet? Why not simply post a sign,
"Shh... quiet study space."🤫

If it goes ignored, just simply, and politely, go up to the person and tell them to please keep disturbance to a minimum as it is a quiet work area. It is your space to be respected. Not theirs.

The desire to work without any distraction whatsoever is unreasonable. That's why I asked about stress.

Everybody experiences stress. Some have a higher tolerance for it than others. Some have a lower tolerance.

You have claimed here to be a cleaner on the side, and seem to be using that claim to justify your position that you can have a say in how this cleaner conducts herself while doing a very boring and unstimulating job. Yet you are not really addressing the posts from academics here who are suggesting to you that when you leave the rarified world of PhD research you're going to have to deal with rough and smooth alike in your daily work.

You have no idea whether the cleaning job is a side hustle for the cleaner or whether she's also a student just trying to make ends meet, and finding the work of emptying bins crushingly boring. Maybe set aside some time to have a pleasant conversation with her? Or maybe just take 15-20 minutes per day to do some seated yoga or some mindful breathing, a short meditation tape, listen to classical music, do a little crochet... It's not good for the brain to be so wrapped up in one sort of task all day with little or no left brain engagement.

There is something inherently patronising about not expecting a cleaner to conform to standards of professional behaviour. It is as if her job is so casual and unskilled that it has no expectations or requirements, that she can perform it in any way she sees fit, oblivious to the environment she works that she shares with others who are also working within it.

I am sure that if her manager had a quick word with her, she would take professional pride in doing a good job and not allow herself to be distracted with loud conversation whilst emptying the bins in a quiet environment.

Oh right - when you said "three of them" I thought you meant cleaners, but you mean areas.
I think you just need to approach her at some point during the 25 mins, when she on her own and ask her to be quieter as it's a quiet area.
She must be in her own world somewhat not to realise she is disrupting a whole floor of complete silence - like walking into church during prayer.

Well said and thank you!

most people supporting OP have been on here assuming the same

You're saying the environment isn't even her workplace though. That your research is superior to her cleaning. It isn't.

You are clearly not 'just getting on with it'.

You are trying to establish conditions of work for the cleaner instead of just 'getting on' with your own.

You have probably wrongly assumed that the use of the 'foreign language' means the cleaner's conversations are not work related - the assumption that her manager and/ or co-workers must speak English is one you need to examine for all its unpleasant assumptions.

A sarcastic phrase from another post of yours - 'you know...research' indicates you're inclined to lose patience quite easily - as does, obviously, the topic of your thread. If you intend to continue to a career in academia, especially as a professional dealing with students, department secretaries, porters, etc., you are going to need to combine the focus on your important work with shrugging at life's little annoyances.

Well I agree with you.
However, I'd take the cleaner to one side myself, and ask her to stop disturbing the peace in your part of the building.
I wouldn't go to her manager.

So there are 3 cleaners looking after quite a large area, including a kitchen and toilet area. Is that right? And it take 25 mins, during which time the bin-emptying cleaner is either talking in a language you don't recognise using her Bluetooth headset, or talking to the other cleaners.

When they are not there, the whole floor is entirely quiet. No chat in the kitchen or outside the toilet area, or passing each other coming and going?

I'm in academia and am struggling to picture this.
During my career when there have been times that people have been disruptive, whether they be cleaners clattering around during a conference call, or a manager thinking everyone wants to hear how amazing they are, they've been politely asked to desist, take the conversation elsewhere, or come back later.

Is this a serious question? Are you happy to put someone else’s job at risk because you can’t be bothered to be a bloody grown up and either a) ask her to keep it down or b) understand that the world doesn’t revolve around you, and you may be ever so slightly inconvenienced some times.

Haven’t read the whole thread, because it was a bit boring… but came on to say… why do phd students start every announcement with “I’m a phd student”

it’s a thing and it makes me laugh

Agree.

You said that better than I was going to.

OP, you sound either very precious about your peace and quiet or maybe you're rather tightly wound.

Is there some stress in your life that you're not addressing in a healthy way? 'Punching down' means selectively picking on people of a perceived lower status, for some reason.

If no one has asked her to be quiet then why would she take any steps to be quiet. One of you needs to say excuse me, could you be quiet please, I'm working. Then if later on she was still noisy you would email estates.

Wow involved her manager instead of asking her direct...you don't sound like you understand the world and consequences..#Team Cleaner

I understand its annoying and disturbing if you are concetrating on your research. I too easily get distracted by cleaners at work.
The way you talk about it here sounds a bit odd though.

@dottiehens , same here.