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Things that have shocked me as a cleaner

263 replies

CleaningDiscoveries · 25/04/2019 19:54

I have 15 clients a week

95% use ‘disposable ‘ wipes

90% don’t recycle (I root through their bins & recycle but it’s obviously only 1 day a week)

OP posts:
DizzyPhillips · 25/04/2019 20:50

I work for a large company. Other than the shredding of confidential paper waste, there is no provision for recycling at all.

I find it utterly bizarre and have been known to take home the empty milk cartons Blush

SihtricsHorseWitnere · 25/04/2019 20:52

C'mon, tell us something juicy! Friend of mine went back for a file she left and found her husband in bed . . . with another man. Surely you've something spicier to tell us.

MenuPlant · 25/04/2019 20:52

Having wipes =/= flushing them though

Disposable stuff = not great but pretty much everybody has stuff that is disposable
Flushing stuff that shouldn't be flushed = awful ridiculous thing to do as the consequences have been repeatedly on TV / papers / posters and stuff periodically for years now!

MenuPlant · 25/04/2019 20:54

Dizzy I have worked in offices (big & small) with "recycling" and it's fairly commonly known that it's pretty meaningless.

Also paper cups "recyclable" aren't at all usually due to the coating.

So all these fancy officed with paper cups and recycling bins it's all nonsense.

I mean I still do it obv but feel a bit defeated when I do + irritated that most people will think they are "doing their bit" when they're kind of being lied to, to make them feel the company they work for is ethical.

DrWhy · 25/04/2019 20:54

Fortunately my cleaner has youngish children herself so isn’t judging me for using disposable nappies and wet wipes for bums. They obviously don’t get flushed but I don’t have the physical or mental energy to wash poo off more stuff than i already do. I’m very glad I don’t employ you OP.

MenuPlant · 25/04/2019 20:55

I also was expecting stories of sex n drugs by the way OP!

Birdsfoottrefoil · 25/04/2019 20:56

Is it terrible that I expect my cleaner to use cut up terry nappies, vests the kids have grown out of, old T-shirts, etc? (She has quite a big choice). I also have some fancy eco-cloths but I don’t think either of us remember what is meant to do what. I shove them in with the towels wash, which I wash at a higher temperature, ready for the next week.

puppy23 · 25/04/2019 20:58

Surely its their choice what they do in their own home?

Theninjawhinger · 25/04/2019 20:58

Not at all Birds my cleaners would adapt to what each house provides. Cut up cloths and eco sprays for Mrs Smith, fine. Disposable wipes and bleach for Mrs Jones - also fine. The girls just wanted to do a good job and makes the homes nice for people - there was genuinely no judgement from us at all as both were equally as common.

bibbitybobbityyhat · 25/04/2019 20:59

@DrWhy - 3 billion nappies thrown away every year in the UK alone. Your children won't have the choice to use disposables, I'm certain of it. They will be banned like all single use plastics.

MenuPlant · 25/04/2019 21:03

It's always nappies isn't it.
Baby wipes.
There's so much else disposable stuff but the focus is so often on teh behaviour of women esp women with kids and esp babies.

Much less focus on the mountains of waste generated otherwise. This grates me.

Same as with cars it's always the school run that everyone says is outrageous. Never vans / lorries idling for ages etc

Anyway, personal bugbear.

81Byerley · 25/04/2019 21:04

I don't clean houses any more, but I used to clean a big posh house where the en-suite bathroom was always filthy. The bath would always have several tidemarks, the bathroom sinks were scummy and filthy, and the toilet was so difficult to clean with the brush I used to put bleach round it as soon as I arrived and still had to really scrub it when it came time to clean.... They didn't clean anything in between my weekly visits.

TreadingThePrimrosePath · 25/04/2019 21:05

Cue hundreds of women feeling insecure and rethinking employing a cleaner. Imagine someone investigating every aspect of your home and judging it...weekly.
Hideous!

SchadenfreudePersonified · 25/04/2019 21:07

She had normal waste paper bins in her bedroom and bathroom into which she would throw used sanitary towels. She didn't wrap them or even roll them up

That must have stank!

Dirty mare!

Biolama · 25/04/2019 21:09

Used to clean domestic property. Once, when i was still very new to it and only had 2-3 clients, this woman rang me asking for a one off clean. She got my number from an online advertisement, told me the address and where to find the key. I went to the house and she had left so many very very valuable items out in plain sight. New iPads, one was still in the box just left on the dining room table, an old iphone and a new iphone left in the kitchen. A clear money jar in the WINDOW that was clearly visable from the main road with alot of cash stuffed inside. This woman had never met me, only had one phone conversation with me, knew my first name and phone number only! I thought she must be crazy.

Obviously I’m no theif, but the money jar stuffed with £10s and £20s in a clear jar right next to the window I thought was taking the piss abit. All it would take is a quick brick and it was within reaching distance! In not the best of areas too!!

She turned into one of my regular customers and it bothered me everytime I went there.

Also, big adult size poo logs in the toilet of one that actually wouldnt go down so i had to break it up! Surely you’d flush the toilet knowing the cleaner will be looking down it?! Pants with blood streaks left half poking out the bed. A used tampon in the airing cupboard (i know!).

End of tenancy clean on a house where 3 men lived - the toilet seat had that much wee on it (old and dried) that it was stained yellow and under the seat was like a thick yellow and brown substance that stunk! I thought men left the seat up

Theninjawhinger · 25/04/2019 21:11

treading I always used to say to people that i wish they could see my house. I am a single parent and the chaos I live in matched theirs at least. Everyone has piles of washing and toys all over their floor at some point. Kids forget to flush loos. Sinks get covered in toothpaste. It’s life - and if any of my cleaners had been at all judgemental about it then I wouldn’t have employed them.

That’s said, we used to get contracts with landlords who would provide a weekly clean with their student properties because they were aware the students wouldn’t clean..... those houses were something else entirely, and you would def Want bleach at your disposal to tackle them!

OhJustElfOff · 25/04/2019 21:14

My cleaner insisted on me buying those disposable floor wipes so she could do the upstairs bathrooms without taking the mop upstairs. My children were in reusable nappies at the time, I felt I was fighting a losing battle when she also demanded that vile cillit bang stuff so now we don't have a cleaner and live in an unclean house with very few chemicals

MsLucyHoneychurch · 25/04/2019 21:19

Re: pillow and mattress protectors - could someone please enlighten me as to why they are needed.

I thought pillow cases "protected" the pillows and the sheet that covered the mattress also "protected" it. Do we really need another level of protection?

pineapplebryanbrown · 25/04/2019 21:21

A friend of mine used to clean for another friend of mine. They didn't know each other. The cleaner friend told me that every time there would be the most enormous poo log that would not flush. She would flush it over and over throughout her visit. She became phobic about the poo log and was terrified that the friend of mine she was cleaning for would think she was doing a massive shit and leaving it there every week.

Eventually she pretended she was going back to Poland so she could leave the job. I had to keep up the "gone to Poland" lie and hope she never saw her. I was very relieved when she did go back to Poland.

TeaAddict235 · 25/04/2019 21:23

Can you do an AMA thread so that we can get some real stories out of you OP please?

I was hoping to have a real laugh before bed.

Autumnchill · 25/04/2019 21:27

Our cleaner is coming tomorrow and without reading this thread, I've removed undies and socks drying on radiator, put paperwork away, tidied up coffee table, put my shoe collection away where it should be and hoovered up round cat litter trays 😁

dementedma · 25/04/2019 21:29

use old t-shirts, towels, tea towels, vest etc as cloths. Easy to have dozens of the things so never run out when some are in the wash. You really dont need gallons of bleach or tons of chemicals to keep your house clean. laughing at the poster upthread who doesn't have "the mental energy" to rinse poo off clothes. poor princess!

Wellhellojonsnow · 25/04/2019 21:38

When I was 18 I worked as a chambermaid in a local hotel - disgusting findings included a used tampon on the bedside table, a bathroom sink blocked up with sick and certain bodily fluids everywhere the day after valentines. It was rank 🤮

DrWhy · 25/04/2019 21:42

dementedma are you that rude in real life to people?
I have a baby and a toddler, baby in nappies toddler just potty training so I’ve been washing plenty of poo off clothes recently. Neither sleep through the night, I’m being monitored by the HV and GP as I’m suffering mild depression. I’m afraid I’m not going to tip myself over the edge into actual depression and being unable to give my best to my children by adding extra washloads of poo covered wipes and nappies to my daily workload. I do use reusable wipes for hands and faces and plenty of other reusable stuff. I’m afraid I don’t care if someone behind a computer screen thinks that makes me a princess.

Bramblesheep · 25/04/2019 21:45

If you don't use wipes what do you clean the toilet with?

Cloths? And then boil wash them?

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