How to raise "toilets not cleaned properly"?

[QTPie]

Hi

We have a good cleaner (well two people - they work as a team). They do a great job, generally, and am very happy. We have a large house and it is very well dusted and hoovered. The floors, sinks, baths and counters are clean.

HOWEVER, they don't seem "completely thorough" with the toilets (we have 4). Thought this, so have been very carefully monitoring it.

Basically, when I clean a toilet, you could probably lick it afterwards (not that you would want to, but you get the picture...).

The toilets are not "dirty" when the cleaners come: I don't clean them before the cleaners come, but I do wipe/bleach anything "obvious" (if that makes sense). However I would like the "non obvious" things completely obliterated by the cleaners.

This is terribly "English", but how on earth do I raise "please clean the toilets properly"?? I can raise other things, but feel really awkward raising the toilets... :(

Thanks

[FrogIsATwatInASantaHat]

No need for that bobby is there? If people didn't need cleaners i wouldn't have a job. I also employ people so they wouldn't have jobs either.
I became seriously ill in the summer and as I couldn't oversee my jobs two under performing cleaners cost me a major client. Its vital to get it right.

[BallsforEarings]

BobbyDazzler1 - Do you not go out for a meal occasionally or to the pictures? If someone wants to treat themselves to a service which is more important to them why should they not choose their luxuries? In fact to some a cleaning service is essential as there are not enough hours in the day I may use us myself sometime soon!!

We want to clean for them and they want us to and pay us well! Simples!

[BallsforEarings]

YES Frog - well said!!

[Hatespiders]

You're right, Frog. Our holiday barn is on a website where guests leave reviews and if there were complaints about cleanliness nobody would book a holiday in it. It's surprising how the guests notice small details, especially the loos. The rental for one week is enormous and people don't want mucky toilets or cobwebs etc having paid all that. The owner (our employer) is always understandably striving to keep the guests happy.

[Hallamoo]

Sorry to but in on this thread, but my DH always says we shouldn't use cleaning products on our loo seats, as it will corrode them. WTF? How will they be clean if we just use hot water and a cloth on them? Surely that doesn't kill the germs?

Professional cleaners - your advice would be appreciated on this matter!

[BallsforEarings]

I think you SHOULD use anti-bac products of some description on a toilet seat, if not actual bleach!!

We are VERY cautious as to what we allow our cleaners to use as any damage is our liability but I want a toilet to be gleaming fresh when our cleaners have done with it!

I think some people assume these positions without looking into things properly!

Are they wooden loo seats Hallamoo btw?

[Hallamoo]

No not wooden, plastic or some sort of composite stuff.

I wouldn't use bleach on them, that has left odd marks before, but surely you need some kind of detergent/anti bac to get rid of the germs??

[BallsforEarings]

Well personally I would do but if he insists then maybe just keep washing them down with hot soapy water - this actually can keep germs down (ph neutral - can do NO damage!) but if things still remain wiffy I would apply some form of anti-bacterial cleaner - they only work fully if left on a surface for two mins btw!

[AlfAlf]

StickEm threads by people who employ a cleaner or nanny nearly always get a few judgemental respondents.

I've both worked as a cleaner and employed a cleaner, and I don't take issue with either. It's just a means to an end to me, but I can appreciate how it can be a political/ethical issue to others.

[AlfAlf]

Hallamoo when I stayed at a place with eco toilets, they had spray bottles of a water/vinegar solution for cleaning them. I'm not sure about the science behind it, buy it seemed to do a really good job. The toilets looked and smelled very clean.

[BallsforEarings]

Yes AlfAlf - vinegar will work as an anti-bac as it is an acid, but acids do corrode surfaces, probably not in this case but her hubby takes issue so it is same as any other product really!

I do love vinegar for cleaning apart from the smell but that fades! I use essental oils to counter the smell anyway!

[BallsforEarings]

essential *

[tanukiton]

I loved being a cleaner! It was so much better than some of the offices I worked in.

[BoulevardOfBrokenSleep]

Anti-bac spray isn't going to corrode plastic. Also, in worst case scenario, new toilet seat is about £10-15 from B&Q. Unless you have special designer ones or something?

[tanukiton]

the best thing EVER is the karcher steam cleaner. Thing of cleaning beauty have to be careful or it will strip the varnish of but boy does it clean. No chemicals needed.

[Bettercallsaul1]

Fanjo - your last remark to me didn't make any sense so I can't reply to it.
By the way, if you think a rude response from you and a couple of others constitutes a "flaming", I can definitely live with that!

Neverbuy - no, not bitchy, just honest. I actually couldn't believe this thread was for real at first. It is the kind of thing which gets MN lampooned as an oasis of smug, middle-class privilege. If you can point to one other thread on MN where I am "bitchy", I'd be interested to see it - you won't find one.

[DoesntLeftoverTurkeySoupDragOn]

no, not bitchy, just honest

Your first post was definitely bitchy. It is actually possible to be honest without being bitchy but you did not manage it this time.

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

Oh. Shame

[Bettercallsaul1]

Turkey - my first post was admittedly sarcastic as, at that point, I didn't believe this was a genuine thread and thought I was addressing a troll. When I realised that this was actually bring presented as a serious question, I gave it a serious answer.

[southeastastra]

yes next time try harder not to be so bitchy and I will too

I am just well jell I only have the one bog to clean and have to do that myself

[BallsforEarings]

Well, although I've been here for the best part of the year either posting a bit, when I have time or just lurking I just cannot comprehend - WHY did this question (which is basic, clear and a normal regular issue for someone using cleaners, whether that person is particularly well-off or not!) cause a person to think it were written by a troll and inspire others to write off the OP as a middle class idiot???

This is a genuine question - loads of our clients struggle financially, they just hire us cleaners because they work around the clock and struggle with everything, they are the most lovely people and it is not often we have a bad experience, if we do we simply move on to the next genuine client who needs us and loves us this will be similar in most industries, not everyone is going to be reasonable to do business with!

Why oh why would the fact someone has budgeted a bit of their income towards a service they want and need, (instead of having something else they might have liked such as a couple of meals out or new clothes in some cases), WHY then does this make them suddenly become lord and lady of the manner with their nose aloft???

I've NEVER had a client like that and i've done this for more than 15 years! Why would anyone have such a perception of a person when their crime was simply to hire the help they so desperately need and can budget for is beyond me!

Stop and think about it - if it wasn't for our clients wanting and needing us cleaning services, which are a hugely growing sector, would go out of business and millions of our employees and ourselves would lose jobs that we love, which bring such happiness to others.

The OP simply wanted help with what I would consider a normal issue sometimes for those of us who put money aside to pay for a service they need! I am definitely going to have to hire our own services soon and take issue that me having a cleaner will change my entire outlook and make me into some overbearingly posh snob! I know a few cleaners who hire cleaners (so they can cope with running their business) they are not suddenly twunts!

[Bettercallsaul1]

Well, you've certainly mounted a good defence there, Balls, and I respect you for giving your views. I don't agree, for reasons I've given above so won't bother repeating. But the point of AIBU is that it is a discussion and debate forum and not just a practical problem-solving one (for which there are many other sections on MN) so you are going to get (often radically) different viewpoints expressed. It would be naive not to recognise that there are important and emotive issues involved in the whole business of "domestic labour".

[comeagainforbigfudge]

Oh I thought this was going to be about OH that can't don't clean bathrooms very well.

Mine is useless at it and now I'm 4months preggo i won't be able to clean it so thoroughly soon. Was hoping for tips.

don't want to be asking my mum to do it for me.

Time to bring out the bossy side of me and instruct him on "how to clean bathroom thoroughly, that includes the underside of toilet seat where all your pee splashes are that I have to clean so don't moan "

[Hatespiders]

Just as a final word, my dh and I (sounds like the Queen!) really enjoy cleaning. It gives me a bit of exercise and my dh adores it, he has a real vocation and is meticulous. We feel at £10 an hour, we're very lucky. The work is down to us, nobody watches us, we're trusted to do a good job and we do. Our employer is a very nice man, not over-demanding, but he has a business to run and he has to be able to trust his cleaners or the clientele would diminish. The professional relationship is a very good one. He's happy, we're happy. No matter what he asked us to do, special-clean loos or anything else, we'd be perfectly willing to comply.

We just hope we can carry on doing this job for a long time yet, although I'm a bit old, and dh is no spring chicken either!

[BallsforEarings]

Well it would seem their is an outward perception of our industry that is not shared or noticed by either those who actually use our services or those of us who provide such and, from the point of view of the latter a lot of these perceptions go over our heads and then we are quite shocked by them when we find they are still 'out there' in near 2015.

I'm not sure our customers are aware of all the political nuances and perceptions involved either - it always just seems like straightforward business and as is the personal nature of such usually fosters very warm relationship of mutual respect.

I AM therefore fairly naive as to these issues, because from my position they do not really come to the surface, I imagine the OP never considered these issues either - we just don't, it's just straightforward business to all parties involved!