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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To set some traps for the cleaner?

204 replies

Dothetwist · 05/11/2015 21:20

Not thinking the wire abd bucket kind...

I have never had an experience with a cleaner before, she starts tomorrow morning

I was wondering how people manage to gain trust in someone coming in to their house, I've given her a key and asked it to be posted back through each time..

Wibu to set some little traps? Like a dirt patch somewhere i would expect to be cleaned or a £10er somewhere?

OP posts:
Pipbin · 05/11/2015 23:09

I once read that you should leave a £5 note under the rug.

If it's still there then she's not cleaned properly.
If it's gone then she's taken it.
If it's on the mantle piece then she's a good'un.

DanglyEarrings · 05/11/2015 23:11

Those criteria are all true Pipbin but in the case of the latter - she probably wouldn't wish to return!

SurlyCue · 05/11/2015 23:12

Goodness! I'm a cleaner. My job feeds my children i would be insane to risk that plus a criminal record for the sake of a few quid in a dish or a lollipop! Hmm

I remember realising at one job that they had set up a (not so well hidden) camera in one room. I was really offended tbh. If you dont trust someone (and you dont if you are setting traps!) then you just dont have them in your house.

ConferencePear · 05/11/2015 23:16

What a sorry state of affairs if we start trying to trick people before we even have cause to suspect dishonesty.
It reminds me of a tale my father used to tell about joinery apprentices being expected to sweep the workshop floor. The joiners used to put a coin among the sawdust to test the boy's honesty. One boy screwed the coin to the floor and I'm still applauding him what must over fifty years later.

SurlyCue · 05/11/2015 23:16

I once read that you should leave a £5 note under the rug.

If it's still there then she's not cleaned properly.
If it's gone then she's taken it.
If it's on the mantle piece then she's a good'un.

What was that in? How to keep your domestic staff in line? Was there anything about how to stop the mangle squeaking whilst the laundry girl was using it?

DanglyEarrings · 05/11/2015 23:17

Wow SurleyCue is it legal to film people without telling them?

We've had client's with a camera but they told us exactly where it was and which corner of the room we could be viewed in (the camera wasn't to film us obviously!)

StealthPolarBear · 05/11/2015 23:17

" Pipbin

I once read that you should leave a £5 note under the rug.

If it's still there then she's not cleaned properly.
If it's gone then she's taken it.
If it's on the mantle piece then she's a good'un."

If it's left on the kitchen table with YABU scrawled on it in sharpie, then she's an MNer

DanglyEarrings · 05/11/2015 23:20

Stealth Grin

Please god let someone do that in RL and report back how it went over! Grin

SurlyCue · 05/11/2015 23:26

Wow SurleyCue is it legal to film people without telling them?

Do you know i never even thought about whether it was legal or not! I left shortly after that as they were always "forgetting" to leave my money.

landrover · 05/11/2015 23:35

The thought of a trap is really horrible, sorry. Shock

DanglyEarrings · 05/11/2015 23:39

Surley I just googled it and i don't think it is legal, unless they put signs up saying CCTV in operation. They mustn't film you in a private place without making you aware in this country it seems.

Even if it was legal it's still dubious and sneaky, like the whole 'traps' thing.

Pipbin · 05/11/2015 23:43

What was that in? How to keep your domestic staff in line? Was there anything about how to stop the mangle squeaking whilst the laundry girl was using it?

Yes, exactly one of those books. I have an ancient book of 'household management' which says what tasks a day girl should undertake and the correct order to dust a room in etc.
I'm not saying I agree with it at all, I was just passing on something I read.

Pasithea · 05/11/2015 23:47

You are joking. If you want a cleaner take up references or employ a reputable company.

Why you think you have to trap one is just awful.

DrSausagedog · 05/11/2015 23:49

Wow setting up traps for our cleaners had never even crossed my mind!

I think that clear communication is the key to ensuring that you're happy with the work they do. I typed out a room by room checklist of jobs, with some to do on rotation. If something isn't as clean as I'd hope for one week, I (nicely!) suggest she try a different tripe of cloth/equipment next time and it's always worked out fine.

I knew a former colleague who got a cleaner in and moaned after the first week that she only cleaned the obvious things such as kitchen worktops, rather than skirting boards etc that she actually wanted cleaning. Yet she gave the cleaner no instructions or priority list of jobs. They aren't mind readers!

I don't leave cash or anything lying around purely because I tidy up as much as possible so that the cleaner can clean effectively- doesn't seem fair that she should have to keep shifting piles of our stuff to be able to do her job, and means she can get more done in the time.

JoelyB · 05/11/2015 23:52

No.
Just assess her work and feedback/terminate contract as you'd like to be treated yourself. Traps. Meh. Just not nice.

LuisSuarezTeeth · 05/11/2015 23:53

Ugh, why would you do this, apart from exerting control and gaining the upper hand?

Daft, pointless, and sad.

blueshoes · 05/11/2015 23:54

I'd just leave a fake diamond ring in my bedside table. Heaven forbid if the cleaner would snoop in there Wink

JoelyB · 06/11/2015 00:02

I'm wondering if management at the care home where I work as an administrator should possibly kill someone off so that they can see if I process the paperwork correctly?

SecretWitch · 06/11/2015 00:08

I bless my house keeper every Friday when I open the door to lovely, fresh home ( wrecked come Sunday) She has a key to our home, cares for our cats when we are on vacation and often leaves little snacks for my eight year old. It would never occur to me to treat her or anyone I would employee in my home with such disrespect. Would you play " tricks" on your hair dresser or your dentist for fucks sake?

bettyberry · 06/11/2015 00:15

blueshoes my mind instantly went to buttplug Blush

The things I have seen when cleaning...

queenMab99 · 06/11/2015 00:17

No need for vitriol
the plan is vitriolic, I'm glad I don't have to work for someone who distrusts me without any reason. Hope she isn't on mumsnet, the complicated arrangements will be a giveaway.

Garlick · 06/11/2015 00:29

Well done, Dothetwist - see, I read your posts!

Do enjoy it :) A cleaner is money very well spent, ime. Some do it more 'your way' than others, but no matter! Weekends are yours again!

Gladysandtheflathamsandwich · 06/11/2015 00:32

A lot of vitriol here.

It is difficult to get used to having someone have access to your home if you have never done it before, because allowing someone free access to your private space is taking a risk. However you dress it up, it is risky to give someone you dont know a key to your home. To not be worried about what might happen is weirder than being worried imo.

OK so the OPs idea of setting traps was not well thought out but that doesnt mean that her fears are ridiculous.

Redglitter · 06/11/2015 00:34

I'm on my 3rd cleaner. It'll become obvious very quickly if she's working or not. I'm on my 3rd because the 2 first ones weren't. I didn't need to lay traps it became obvious.

If I had so little trust in someone that I was considering laying traps I wouldn't be using them

I can't believe OP is considering laying reaps when the cleaner hasn't even started. I couldn't be arsed with dropping keys off every week either

Alexjoy · 06/11/2015 00:36

My dad inadvertently tested our new cleaner.

He'd dropped a twenty pound note down the side of the bed by accident.

When we got home at night it was on the kitchen table with a note.

She cleaned for us for years, really trusted her.

Not sure if you should set a trap on purpose mind!