Is my cleaner overstepping?

FFS!!

I clicked YABU because you haven't told her.

Really? Why would you not have told her immediately? Unplugging the clock? Absolutely nuts.

I thought you were going to say something like she reorganizes your cupboards or throws away nearly empty toothpaste and gets rid of plants you want to rescue (my cleaner does this but she is an excellent cleaner)…but this is not usual no! I would just politely ask her not to. She sounds like a highly motivated cleaner and those are hard to come by. Is it possible you have her for too many hours and she’s looking for things to do?

Just to do with organising clothes. Everyone's clothes!

90% of the time the solution to the problems on MN is... talk to them.
10% LTB.

So did mine and that's how I interpreted it.

I have had it where smaller items of furniture have been moved to clean behind and then the cleaner forgot where they went. That meant sometimes they went back in a different place.

Mine used to do things like this- I always felt it was a way to prove she had cleaned that bit - e.g bins moved around she must have cleaned under and around them

I’ve had various cleaners over 25 years and one a few years ago did this. It drove me nuts. She would do things like move a vase from a windowsill in one room to a table in another. It was on the windowsill because I wanted it on the windowsill, in my home! I let her go. It felt invasive to have someone rearranging my home, and that was not what I was paying her for.

😱wow - the unbelievable cheek!

Omg!!

No, you absolutely shouldn't have had to tell her that. It should be common sense for her not to overstep like that!....but I would've told her after the first time it happened....as awkward as that would've been.
I know you tried but she laughed it off and didn't take the hint. How frustrating.
I can understand her maybe rearranging your spices or something very disorganised but to actually move furniture and picture frames is a completely overstepping and frankly very odd

Wtaf? No. It's absolutely not normal!

Pleeease cn you tell us what it was?

I suppose it will be too outing, won't it? I'm intrigued though!

Maybe just assume she’s cleaning under and around things. Perhaps you could ask that she pop things back where they were.

Just tell her.

I’ve had several cleaners and none have done this. It’s weird, invasive and a waste of cleaning time.

I used to have a cleaner do this! I’m convinced it was to show she had cleaned the kitchen, because everything had been moved. You have my sympathy!

To add
I work with someone quite senior who has a cleaner and she has lots of lovely clothes

her cleaner “borrowed” a dress off senior colleague our her wardrobe for a function, photographs on social media and then my colleague saw the photo

cool as a cucumber she commented on the photo, great dress I have the same one and posted a photo of herself in it! Cleaner then apparently messaged colleague and said she was really sorry but couldn’t afford a new dress and colleague said she should have asked she’d have lent it to her with pleasure but she’s broken the trust so she didn’t have her back.

Has she got some kind of system going whereby she clears a space and puts stuff behind her so she can get to the new bit and thus ends up shuffling things around ? .Or something like that ? In other words, it all looks random to you, but to her it makes sense ?

Well why on earth haven't you told her not to? How many weeks is "every week"? It sounds to me like she's mischief making. If she's not, she's deranged. You are the employer therefore it's perfectly ok for you to tell what is and isn't ok. She's there to clean, not dress your home for you.

Our cleaner rearranges things but it usually looks better than I had them (somehow she makes things look beautiful on shelves and I don’t have the knack for this) so I don’t mind/enjoy it!

She also measured our cupboards and took it upon herself to buy cupboard organisers and arranged all my products for me. She is absolutely amazing!

But randomly moving things unhelpfully is weird!

This would drive me absolutely insane!

you need to have a polite word like “hi Margaret, we are very happy with the standard of your cleaning HOWEVER please can you stop moving stuff round my house as I don’t like you doing that, thank you”

Ooh no, this is weird and definitely not normal. I'm wondering if she's a Feng Shui enthusiast... (only half joking there!)

This is very strange behaviour and completely oversteps. I've been a house cleaner and would never ha v e done this . She sounds bonkers ! You'll have to tell her firmly not to move or change things , it's not her job .

Maybe she's a revenge cleaner, sent my an ex to drive you slightly mad!

No that's not normal, she's making more work for herself. If she's short on things to do in that time you could leave her a list of things that it would be great if she could do if she had time. Clean the fridge, dust the Venetian blinds etc.

You should tell her, I wonder if she thinks she's got better design ideas than you etc.

Resetting the clock every week, arghhh