Do I persevere with trying to hire this cleaner?

[katiegd]

Had a slightly bizarre experience with a cleaner today and wondered what others thought...

Was due to meet a potential cleaner today for a preliminary chat about her possibly coming to clean regularly. She was recommended by a friend of a friend, so I thought was worth meeting.

I texted her the address (and some instructions on finding us) yesterday and she was due to come at 9.30 this morning. I got a call shortly after 9.30 to say she was lost. This is fairly standard as our flat is slightly weirdly located on a corner, so the address says one thing but the entrance is on another road (which is one-way, so you have to drive round the block to get to ours). I ascertained that she was literally just round the corner and provided what I thought was a fairly clear description of exactly where we were and how to get there (I mentioned walking, she didn't say anything about being in a car at this point).

I was expecting her to ring doorbell 30 seconds later, so when she still hadn't arrived 10 mins later I called again and couldn't get through. She finally called me 20 mins later to say she was in the same place as before and still lost and couldn't work out where we were, sounding a bit pissed off. During this call I realised she was driving. (By this point my toddler is climbing the walls as i am distracted dealing with the lost cleaner and she desperately needs to go out). I then gave more instructions for how to find us by car.

25 minutes later (almost an hour after she was due to arrive), she still had not arrived nor called me again, and toddler was full-on tantrum-ing, so I texted cleaner to say I was sorry but I had to go out and sorry for her wasted journey. She texted me at around the same time (not clear if this was a reply to mine or not) to say she was sorry but she couldn't find us and was going to head home.

I'm finding the whole episode a bit disconcerting, as although our address is a bit confusing, it's not that hard to find us (plenty of people manage it!) once you know that we are basically on the corner of two roads. It makes me a bit concerned for her levels of common sense that she couldn't find it even after an hour of trying. Surely most people would just have just found somewhere nearby to park and just walked to find it, or called again and asked for clarification on the directions.

We haven't been in touch since but I don't think I really want to persevere with trying to hire her.

Is there anything I'm missing here? Am I being harsh that this makes me not want to hire her?

No, I wouldn't bother.

If she texted you again to say 'so sorry about this morning, I'd still very much like the job, would really like to reschedule if you are still interested' I'd consider trying again. I think her silence means she can't be arsed.

Yeah give this one a swerve - if she can't find you with your full address, instructions on how to get there, google maps, etc, she probably won't be able to find your cleaning products or any dust or dirt.

Thanks both. Yep, those are both thoughts I've had - her inability to find the flat does not fill me with confidence about her ability to do anything really. Looks like I need to start looking again for a cleaner...

I must admit, I'd probably have popped outside the building just to meet her. It seems a bit rotten to just leave her circling around. It's not like she didn't bother trying! And I know you have a baby, but it wouldn't have taken much effort on your part.

@Dieu hmm, yes I suppose I could have done, although it would have required quite a bit of faffing about. My flat is on the first floor so popping outside involves getting down the stairs with a toddler in tow, locking the door, then unlocking it again. I think I still feel on balance that although perhaps I could have done more, that doesn't really mitigate the way she approached it!