New cleaner doesn’t seem to be cleaning

[crumble82]

More of a WWYD really. I’ve just hired a new cleaner, she started this week and in the time she was here she dusted 2 and a half tables (she didn’t bother moving anything on the third one and only did the very front of it), cleaned 3 sinks, wiped down the kitchen surfaces and hoovered the hallway upstairs. She managed to drop toast crumbs on the kitchen floor which she left and yesterday I found she had put a couple of pieces of rubbish that was on a sink in the medicine cabinet rather than the bin. It was an old clothes label and a used cotton pad!

I hired her so I didn’t have to spend the one day off I have in the week cleaning when I could spend it with my DC. She’s slow and really bad at her job but I know she really needs the money. I won’t see her next week, I want to give her a chance to do a better job but what do I write in the note to make it clear I won’t keep her on if she doesn’t actually clean?!

If she has already ignored a list, you are wasting your time, trying to get her to improve. Even if she gets better for a week or so, she'll lapse back and, the longer it goes on, the more awkward it will be to fire her.

Stop feeling guilty. I've done cleaning jobs. Agencies can be shit, but working for yourself as a cleaner is a lot better than other low pay jobs - factories, care assistant etc. As a cleaner, I never had to spend Saturday mornings scraping poo samples into a big container, as I did in my care assistant job . Women are made to feel guilty for having cleaners because we're not supposed to out-source any of our domestic responsibilities (whereas it is of course fine for men not to do traditional manly jobs, like fixing a car). It's guilt that's holding you back from telling her she's fired. Stop feeling guilty for the fact that she has chosen to do a crap job.

I’d get her to leave. I’d feign not needing one or another excuse, but get rid.

This shouldn't be difficult!

If you do decide to try her again because you genuinely want that, just message and say 'when you come I expect you to do this, this and this. This wasn't done last time. If we book another session will you be able to complete the work?'

But if you actually don't and it's just awkwardness just text her asap and say 'I no longer require your service' or be honest and say 'it wasn't done to the standard I hoped for so I'm going to end our arrangement here'.

Don't bloody spend your hard earned money paying someone for a substandard service. I guarantee she's had bookings come to an end frequently in her working life for many reasons. It's no big deal. And you certainly don't have to sack her on the day of her recent clean or not at all for the rest of that week!

Thanks for your advice everyone, I wish I’d posted for advice the day she came but I just ranted at DH instead! I’m pretty sure things won’t improve to the standard I want them and I’ve had a cleaner before so I know I’m not asking for too much to be done.

There were a few (very minor) distractions last week and I think she’s the type to go all slanderous on fb suggesting unfair dismissal. It wouldn’t be and fortunately I have photos but I think for my peace of mind I’ll have to give her another shot and probably let her go the same day.

Now off to see if my big girl pants fit

@thecatsthecats (sorry OP didn’t mean to hijack but watching replies to you with interest) I asked for recommendations online, cleaner got in touch directly and asked my requirements and said she’d booked me in for a deep clean and the cost - all sounded great but on the day she messaged to say it was all done and had been two hours max

It’s possible someone had joined her and some stuff had been done but it definitely wasn’t deep!

Put it down to experience and bought myself a steam cleaner and some extra products and now doing myself. It wasn’t horrendous in the first place but slightly neglected due to renovations elsewhere in house!

I used to be a cleaner to pay for my DDs home tuition. I used to have to hoover, dust, change beds, do washing and ironing, clean inside windows, clean kitchen and 3 bathrooms in 3 hours. It was an elderly gentleman's country home, with 4 beds and it was massive. And full of bloody ornaments. I used to come home and have a bath, I was so sweaty and tired!! Now that was cleaning. Yours is taking the proverbial and you need to put a stop to it. You may as well burn the money in the sink otherwise.

I don't have a cleaner anymore. Just too many issues. One of them decided to bring her friend into help knowing I wouldn't be around. I was and found she and her friend had brought their 3 children who were sprawled out on the sofahaving helped themselves to biscuits!

The next one just wouldn't turn up. When she did she did a good job and brought her Mum to do the ironing who was great. With no notice I then came home to an undone house. She didn't seem that arsed and of course I didn't pay and I realised I might as well do myself. I work from home more regularly now so easier to do

@crumble82 hard as it is I think it’s best for her to understand she’s done a poor job - you’d really hope she can see that for herself but it is astonishing how people can seemingly be genuinely unaware (in all industries - not just cleaning) of reasonable standards and if nobody tells her she’ll carry on!

It certainly doesn’t constitute unfair dismissal though whatever you decide and it is your hard earned money which could be going to a wonderful cleaner who deserves it (or no doubt there’s lots of other things you could use it for!)

If it was me I'd tell her not to come back but if you aren't comfortable being so blunt then I would go against the grain and give her a second chance but be clear about your expectations.

If she lives up to them then great, if not then you have a perfect platform to say "I gave you a chance and it didn't work out so dont come back"

If you do give her a second chance I would be very clear this is make or break - ideally face to face but would work as a text too.

Dear NonCleaner, I was disappointed with your work last time as nothing/very little on my list was completed and what was done was not a priority. This week I have left a list, please stick to it as they are the tasks I need completing. I really want this arrangement to be successful but if you can't do these essential tasks then I will have to find somebody who can do them for me."

Then if she doesn't do well you can follow up with "Dear NonCleaner, as I said before you came this week I needed the tasks on the list to be done. Yet again you have ignored the list/not done XYZ/not done it to a professional standard etc. Because of this, I will no longer require your services."

Don’t do it.

Just send her a text saying ‘Due to unforeseen circumstances we won’t be needing your services again’.

You’ll regret giving her another chance to shaft you.

It’s normal for a cleaner to not get everything done the first couple of visits, it is NOT normal or acceptable to put a couple of bits of rubbish in a bathroom cabinet or to leave toast crumbs on the floor.

This is why have my cleaner through an agency. It is so difficult tackling performance issues in person. Although I pay a little more per hour I'm guaranteed someone every week and I reckon that they get through in 3 hours what I would previously have arranged 4 hours for.

good luck. i get that you need to be absolutely certain and give her one last chance. in reality, i doubt anything will change, but you've got a plan of action now.

i wouldn't say 'this is your last chance'. i think that's pretty clear.

Don’t put up with shit!

Just nip it in the bud and tell her “thank you but you’ve had an unforeseen circumstance and won’t need her again”

The thing is that cleaners susally start very enthusiastically and get worse over time, this one’s already started badly, so it can only get worse.

Don’t waste time, hire someone else.

If you are worried about her bad mouthing you or causing trouble, then how about saying something like 'unfortunately our financial situation has changed, so we are unable employing you to clean for us', or words to that effect?

Chocolate - how annoying! I saw services advertised as from £120 for a full day of cleaning.

Our landlord has tried to deduct £110 for a flat that was near-perfectly clean . The inspection report listed a hair in the bathroom (not present on our exit photos), a tiny amount of vaccuuming (literally just a few crumbs of dust in the last removal), and a small amount of smeariness because my good surface cleaner ran out because I used so damn much of it.

Sorry, back to OP. I think giving her another shot at it is a decent thing to do, but be explicit about your expectations, then it will be easier to chuck her later.

Surely if it's her first day in a job she needs she'd be out to impress?
I think you'd be daft to give her another go tbh.

If she isn't doing a good job, I don't think it's worth keeping her on. I've hired a couple of cleaners in my time (mostly for end of tenancy cleans and for when my baby was tiny) and i would never use them again if I could have done a better job myself. It's not worth your hard earned money.

Depends though.. if it's good enough, maybe you could make do? Or you can have a word and tell her how you want things done. Or you give her the old heave-ho with a week's notice or something if money is especially tight for her.

Unfair dismissal! If she said that on FB you could destroy her business - if she's such an idiot she'd do that, just let her have it, photos and all.

If she's the type to post things on FB I don't really think that's very professional at all. She sounds hopeless. I'd just say you don't really need a cleaner and make up an excuse. Unfair dismissal would be rubbish anyway as she's not worked for you for two years and doesn't do enough hours. It's grim she made such a poor job on her first session. Fair enough give her another chance if you want to but don't have her for a few months and then fire her. That would be more unfair IMHO.

I'm a cleaner. I don't need a list, obviously some people want slightly different things doing but a clean is a clean. I'd give her one more chance then if she's still rubbish come up with some excuse like you've decided to do it yourself, I've had people say that to me 😮 I'm busy though so none taken.
My friend covered for me once when I was poorly, unfortunately she can't clean but as my clients told me 'she's a lovely girl' so they didn't want to sack her. Be nice when you get rid as some people just can't clean! But think they can.

I agree Vivienne, I’m going to give her one chance and if she’s not up to a completely professional standard next week then she’s gone. I don’t have enough money to throw it away!

You know what you want to do - get rid if her - do just do it, OP. Don't tie yourself in knots, overthinking it. You've used this cleaner exactly once and she's been unsatisfactory. She has no claims whatsoever for "unfair dismissal" . This is a ludicrous idea so dismiss it from mind!

The problem you're wrestling (unnecessarily) with is middle-class guilt (because you can afford a cleaner) which is prompting you reluctantly to consider giving her a second chance. Don't do it! Quite simply, she is not providing the service she offered and you are paying for. Her personal circumstances are not your concern. It is one thing to take personal circumstances into consideration with a trusty cleaner you've had for years and with whom you've built up a personal relationship but you have no obligation to someone you don't know, who's been once and done a bad job. You also have no responsibility whatsoever to point out her faults so she can learn for the future. If she's as bad as she sounds, she's in the wrong job.

Your only task is the wording of your message to her - keep it as brief and impersonal as possible. "Sorry, but due to unforeseen circumstances, we have decided not to continue having a cleaner at the moment." should cover it. There is nothing there that she - or any mutual acquaintances - can make anything of.

How long did you have her for, OP? If it was three hours, that was shoddy work. If it was twenty minutes, I'm impressed!

I once booked a cleaner for a one off job (a pre Christmas clean) when I'd had a windfall, as a birthday present to myself. Told the company I wanted four hours, was quite happy with two cleaners doing two hours each, in that way one could do upstairs whilst the other did down(ramshackle four bedroomed ancient house full of dust and pets). One girl turned up, was lovely, but broke my hoover (and didn't admit to it), used the second hoover but only did downstairs. Cleaned the kitchen (but only wiping surfaces and cleaning floor) and dusted. That was it in four hours. After she'd gone I did the other jobs myself and they only took me a couple of hours.

I was most cross about the fact that she didn't even move the furniture to hoover! Never again! Ahem. Sorry about the rant, but I could ill afford that money and had looked forward to a sparkly house for Christmas!

Zaphod I had her booked for 2 hours. The following day, when I was doing the cleaning she should have done it took me 40 min to do the first 2 tasks on my list! I’d love to know what she did with her time . Next week should be interesting.