AIBU - just saw my cleaner clean the loo with a cloth and then use it in another room on my bath!

[Janus]

Was talking to my cleaner as I usually change beds etc while she's here, went to talk in one bathroom and she was cleaning the loo with a bright orange cloth.
Went downstairs to make us tea, she's now in out ensuite and using the same cloth on our bath. I cannot be 100% sure as we have 2 of these cloths in the bag but I will look later to see if the other one has been used.
She comes from an agency so I can just ring the agency and cancel her.
I am a spineless twat and should probably just go up and ask her though shouldn't I? I have clearly told her to use one cloth in each bathroom as we have 4 kids and there's always some virus lurking but she thinking of it she can't do that because there's only ever 2 cloths out out to be washed.
I feel slightly ill.
Someone help me phrase it so I don't sound rude??

Talk to her.

The agency might send you another one, but she might be doing the same thing.

Get different colour cloths and tell her which ones she should be using.

I have incredibly low cleaning standards and even I would not use a cloth that had been used on the loo on anything else.

Meh,... Most people's kitchen sinks have more germs in than their Loo does.
If your cleaner was using cleaning products or bleach the cloth will be ok.

Get one of those blocks in the cistern that flush bleach out every time someone flushes. The toilet bowl should be germ free (ish) then.
Makes me smile when people get panicky about stuff like this and yet they use cash machines, phones at work and keyboards...that have millions more germs than toilets...probably.

Get her a blue and pink cloth and hand them to her saying 'blue for the loo, pink for the sink'....done.

Done it!! Moving to different coloured cloths! Eg orange for loos only, red for sinks and baths, etc!

It is cross contamination if you are going to clean a bathroom then it's sink,shower then toilet absolutely last and then chuck clothes in wash bag.

Just casually say to her that she should make sure and not use cloths she has used on toilets.

Unless you serve your dinner on the bath yabu.

When you say she was cleaning the loo with a cloth, which part of the loo?

I don't care about the bath my thinking was the cloth then goes on the taps and sink where I drink water from when brushing teeth etc.
Seriously I am quite a lazy cleaner but I wouldn't put a cloth down the inside of a toilet and then use that same cloth on taps and sinks, I am in no way having a dig truffle but would you do that? Maybe the amount of bleach does counteract any germs down there? Honestly not having a dig as just wondering.

That's grim. I have different cloths for toilets ( cheap j cloths, couple of uses then binned) I also have different gloves, they live behind the toilet. What's also worrying is if she thinks that's acceptable, what else is she doing that's filthy. I'm really shocked that people think that's ok, although mumsnet had opened my eyes to a lot of things people seem to take delight in boasting about being fine with.

So did you ask her?

Inside the loo, down the loo not the toilet seat (the seat was up) but she had probably already done that before I came in too?

I'm a cleaner and supervise other cleaners. I have to have this conversation with anyone I train to make sure they don't ever use a cloth on anything else once it's been used to clean a loo. You'd be surprised how many people it doesn't occur to.
Yanbu, that is rank.

Some rude replies in here

This is one of the basics of cleaning really. The loo should have its own cleaning cloth really. MN seems to sometimes be somewhat blaze about hygiene but toilets really are full of germs and should not be cross contaminated onto other surfaces. I would perhaps suggest to her next time that you will leave some clothes next to the loos (different colour) to be used for them only. No need to make a big deal out of it.

I tried having a separate (mauve) cloth for glass/mirrors/windows only, which was actually e-cloth and not requiring chemicals, but every dirty job possible it was used by cleaner, whatever I said and even when it actually lived in a bag marked "Ecloth - glass, mirrors only", so good luck with colour code.
I now try to remember to hand over bag of rags as disposables for dirty jobs, although present cleaner's still cleaning sink with dish-cloth.

I honestly can't believe how many people are not shocked.
OP, I wouldn't trust this cleaner with coded cleaning cloths. If you give her another chance, ask her to use disposable wipes for the bathrooms
and even then I would worry she was using the same wipe more than on one thing

YANBU. I agree with celeste83, this is one of the basics of cleaning.

Was coming on to say 'blue for the loo, pink for the sink' but someone has beat me to it!
I like the 'sink shower loo and in the wash' routine. Might adopt that.

Well done.

That's disgusting. What the hell else does she do? Clean the kitchen floor then wipe the sink out? I'd be onto the agency asking about what training their cleaners get & telling them it's not good enough. They should damn well know better than to use a cloth that's been used on the loo, on anything else.

I use 'all purpose cloths' the ones that aren't designed to last long. Dead cheap. They get used ONCE in the kitchen for whatever is needed, washed out, dried. Used for 'dirty jobs' floor, skirtings, mucky finger prints etc washed out & dried then when I need a cloth for the loo I use one of those & BIN IT. I don't want to be washing cloths used in the toilet with other cloths or clothes. Bleurgh.

Exactly, TheLastHeatwave.

I bet some of you on here don't even wash all your cleaning cloths and mop heads etc. separately from everything else.

Why is not caring about basic hygiene seen as something to be proud about on mumsnet?

I would be freaked out too OP, and I am not obsessive about hygiene, just sensible IMO. I personally do the same as Celeste, and clean in order and then wash everything. If I was paying a cleaner to clean I would expect the same to be honest.

Do people wash cloths in the washing machine? Surely it's just cheaper overall (both in terms of money and energy use) to use them e.g. in the kitchen for a period of time, then relegate to the bathroom for one go of the whole thing (toilet last) and throw them out?

I think you'd also have to do the hottest possible wash in the washing machine and it's not certain the machine even gets as hot as it says. Do people soak them in a bucket of bleach or something? Bleach isn't really a thing here.

As in she cleaned the outside or the inside using it too?

If the latter?

Ew.

Yuk, yuk, yuk. And I say that as a paid-up manky fucker. Better not to clean the sink and bath at all than to wipe toilety bits all over them.

We were once in our apartment on holiday when the cleaner came in. My OH was aghast when I pointed out that she only had one cloth with her, with which she cleaned the toilet, bath, sinks and kitchen surfaces (in that order). Since then, we've always done the cleaning ourselves - as soon as we arrive we give the place a good clean and then if we're somewhere where a cleaner comes in, we again clean it after them. This is exactly why we don't have a cleaner at home or our business office - far better to do it ourselves and know it's clean!

Why is not caring about basic hygiene seen as something to be proud about on mumsnet

I think most people care about 'basic' hygiene but some posters are really over the top about germs.
If we start hearing about people dropping in their hundreds due to having a bath in a bath that had a toilet cloth used to clean it then perhaps we would all then get as distraught.
There are probably a lot more contaminated places in your home than the toilet.