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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

in not paying cleaner due to snow

212 replies

dietingagainandagain · 05/03/2018 12:34

Not long had a cleaner so not sure what the done thing is. Also we are not loaded and this is definitely a luxury.

Anyway due to the snow the lady wasn't able to come out last week.
Should we pay anyway for the missed week?

I go through a company and pay them a proportion by bank transfer but leave most of the payment in cash for the actual lady who comes. There isn't any contract as such.

I think paying is the right thing to do but DH thinks we shouldn't. Who is right?

OP posts:
Darkbendis · 05/03/2018 13:27

However, the relationship you have with your cleaner is more "personal" than the relationship I have with my clients so I would probably try to compensate for the missing days, maybe pay her and ask her to do some extra work next time. A good cleaner is too important to lose, and you don't want to upset the relationship you have with her, if it's good.

MissDuke · 05/03/2018 13:28

Why don't you just speak to the cleaner, see what her expectations are? Perhaps you could pay her in full but maybe she could do a little extra this week as a compromise?

I think I would pay her if it were me, but on the other hand I don't think to pay the window cleaners or the guy who cleans our wheelie bin etc if they missed a clean, but maybe that is different, I don't know Hmm We also didn't pay our childminder on days that she didn't provide her service, as per her contract. Tricky!

m0therofdragons · 05/03/2018 13:30

Lots of people I know had to take snow days as unpaid leave or annual leave unless they could work from home. I'm not self employed anymore but when I was I only got paid for work done so I find it bizarre that a cleaner who didn't clean would expect payment Confused
Having said that, if she's good then it might be worth it just to keep her. It would be nice to do but not expected imo.

Looby4 · 05/03/2018 13:31

My cleaner has volunteered to make up the hours this week. But I paid her in full anyway. Like other posters have said, it's a give and take relationship and they need the cash more than I do.

TITANIUMPINS · 05/03/2018 13:32

If all her clients dont pay her then she might have no money at all for the week. Regardless it would be a nice gesture and in the long term she will be appreciative of what you did and reflect that in her work.

ArcheryAnnie · 05/03/2018 13:33

Do you want to be a good employer? Do you want your cleaner to stay? Then pay her.

bigknickersbigknockers · 05/03/2018 13:33

I'm a cleaner and I had to miss 2 days last week due to weather conditions. There is no charge as it is unavoidable!! I cant think why you would need to pay.

AnneLovesGilbert · 05/03/2018 13:40

The comparison with a window cleaner is fair, and we pay ours in cash which he comes to collect the evening after he's done the work and left a card through the door.

I've never had a house cleaner so don't know how it compares cost wise but who's to say he gets paid less and is more reliant on the work than I am on my own job, which some posters are saying about cleaners? He would never put a card through the door saying we owed him for work he hadn't done. I'm not sure why inside cleaning is different.

Vitalogy · 05/03/2018 13:40

Worth it for the goodwill.

katronfon · 05/03/2018 13:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Vitalogy · 05/03/2018 13:43

I cant think why you would need to pay. Because some people are relying on every penny.

SilverySurfer · 05/03/2018 13:45

I would be completely lost without my cleaner - of course I will pay her - not to do so is stingy and mean IMO.

Vitalogy · 05/03/2018 13:45

My cleaner has volunteered to make up the hours this week That's also a good idea if doable.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 05/03/2018 13:47

You use a 3rd party to hire her so presumably you have a contract... read it! What does it say about cancelled jobs? Go with that!

I am self employed and don't get paid if work is not done - regardless of who flinches first, well, in that weather at least! I wouldn't have gone out even if asked!

I have no idea why you want to pay for work not done! Is there any circumstance under which you NOT pay her?

You may need to consider that a while!

Lordofmyflies · 05/03/2018 13:48

I'm self-employed. Last week I only earned half of my usual weekly income due to clients cancelling or being unable to attend their appointment. Thats life. Its one of the effects of being self employed.
I wouldn't pay her if she didn't work.

QuizzlyBear · 05/03/2018 13:50

My cleaner cancels every other week for a wide variety of reasons - if I paid her when she didn't show up I doubt I'd ever see her again!

loveyouradvice · 05/03/2018 13:51

I am one of the pay her half.... and hopefully she'll do a bit extra when she does come too....

creaturefeatures · 05/03/2018 13:52

No.

I'm self-employed. If I can't work for whatever reason (in my control or not) I don't get paid. That's self-employment.

I haven't paid my cleaner. She isn't hard up BTW...she's a SAHP who does two cleans a week for a bit of extra cash. It's a big assumption that all cleaners are on the bread line.

IfYouDontImagineNothingHappens · 05/03/2018 13:53

Mines hasn't had a holiday in forever, she might choose to make it up this week but I'll be paying her. We were snowed in anyway so me & DH just got on with it.

tictoc76 · 05/03/2018 13:55

I would pay. Not her fault

Myheartbelongsto · 05/03/2018 13:56

I would pay her.

chocolateworshipper · 05/03/2018 13:56

Could you ask whether she wants to do extra hours this week so that she still gets the same money, but you're not paying her for no work?

Beamur · 05/03/2018 13:58

I don't have a cleaner at the moment, but I probably would have only paid mine if she had actually cleaned. She used to cancel a lot, so I would only pay for the weeks she turned up.

BoamFananas · 05/03/2018 13:58

I wouldn't, most places said use holiday or go unpaid. If you don't have a contract then I wouldn't pay her what u don't have to.

Seems unfair her getting paid when everyone else is short.

Ubercornsdiscoball · 05/03/2018 14:02

Nope I wouldn’t. She didn’t do the job!