Disclaimer: obviously a first world problem, I know I am very lucky and there are much more serious issues in life..
We have just moved house and the previous owners recommended their cleaner to us. They said her English was not great but it was OK as long as we kept discussion to straightforward cleaning instructions rather than trying to chat. She has lived in the UK for 20 years but in a very large community of people from Turkey.
So she came round and all was fine, we actually did have a little chat about family etc and she was more comfortable talking than we expected. I showed her that 3 rooms were totally empty and said no cleaning needed yet for them (we've just moved from a small flat).
On her first day I left a note saying basically "please only clean kitchen, bathroom and living room and do some ironing if you have time left over". (she was due to come for 3 hours).
About 4pm I get a text from her friend saying that she had not understood my note and had cleaned the whole house and had to do an extra hour to finish and by the way our cordless vacuum is no good for so much hoovering can we get a new one and make sure we give all instructions by phone in future? When I got home ironing wasn't touched.
AIBU to think this just can't work? Apart from anything else she had my number so, if she really can take instructions by phone why did she not call me as soon as she saw the note and could not read it? I won't be asking her to do the whole house every time so I will need to leave a note and I don'to really want to have to call her every single time to explain and wonder if she understands. Sometimes I won't decide till the morning what needs done. She's also asking £2 per hour more than the going rate.
She seemed a lovely woman but I think maybe she doesn't read in Turkish either and gets someone else to read all her texts. I feel bad but it's not U to want a cleaner who can read a note, is it?