Are you good at cleaning?

[Badtiming21]

I've had 3 cleaning jobs, all of which I took up PT when I was either pregnant or when my DC were very small and I grew tired of being a SAHM.

Each time there was nitpicking: this needs to be better, can you pay more attention to XYZ. You missed this bit. Etc.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm just not a very good cleaner!

Are you?

@Badtiming21

When I was pregnant with DS (now 3) I worked as an office and site cleaner for a water company, cleaning their prefabricated/portable offices and canteens on sites around the city.

That was difficult as i'd have to clean around the office workers as they sat at their desks, one used to complain whenever I mopped or wiped near his desk despite insisting that I did.

I got a telling off for not dusting on top of the paper towel in the mens loos despite not being able to reach it (I'm 5ft 2) without dragging a chair in from another office and standing on it, not at all safe for a heavily pregnant woman.

The construction workers used to trapse thick mud around the canteen floor as I mopped so I'd end up doing it 5+ times and it still never being good enough.

"You're using too much water" to then "You're not using enough"

The men used to leave the toilet bowls in a disgusting stage despite there having a toilet brush right next to it.

Then there was the gym, my last place, I was expected to deep clean the entire gym and changing rooms within 4 hours single handedly. The manager would follow me about saying it needed to be better. The full time cleaners all quit and I was expected to do their work on top of mine. It was just impossible.

I agree with PP who said that people assume cleaning is an easy job to take up when you're desperate, I certainly felt that way but would never delude myself into doing it again because the reality is very different

I'm a bit jealous of those who can clean to a professional standard effortlessly.

So it wasn't a case of you not being good at the job. Your employers expectations were unrealistic.

So it wasn't a case of you not being good at the job. Your employers expectations were unrealistic.

Honestly I think a mixture of the two. I had alot of redirection in all three cleaning jobs and by the end of it all concluded that I'm just not that good at it.

I think there's some disparity between what's clean to me and what's expected of a professional cleaner. I inadvertently overlooked some stuff that just didn't occur at the time to do.

I was good at cleaning pre kids!

Now it's just totally in enjoyable because it gets messed up again so quickly. And there are so many Things.

I learnt how to clean when I was young and worked in a pub. The whole place had to be cleaned at the end of the shift and before opening so there was a lot of cleaning and the owner was particular. Easier to clean with the industrial type products though, than anything available in the supermarkets. Or so I found.

I'm a good cleaner in that I'll get out the toothbrush (not one a client is using but an old one) to do around taps, plugholes, the bits you can't reach etc etc. However I'm not fast, I'm slow and thorough. I make this point whenever I'm visiting a potential new client so people know what to expect. Generally my clients preferred this.
I've only had to get rid of one client as her requests were beyond ridiculous....and she got those horizontal blinds in every window!

I'm good at cleaning but it's not of my ex-cleaners standard. I'm quite slow as well but i like everything to be as clean as possible all the time.