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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Cleaner ate our snacks

247 replies

FrazzledRockRed · 08/08/2018 06:26

I’ve always said to our cleaner ‘help yourself to tea and biscuits’. I’m not the teabag and biscuit counting type so I don’t know if she did. She comes with her young dc Hmm.

Yesterday we came home to a brand new pack of 4 breakfast bars down to only one. It could only be the cleaner and dc.

There’s a difference between opening something with a countable number and having a biccie or 2.

Aibu to think this is taking the piss?

OP posts:
Billben · 08/08/2018 08:02

I’m with you OP. I wouldn’t like this much either. And all those nasty comments about OP being able to afford a cleaner. So what? Do you want her to apologise for it? If you can’t afford a cleaner, that’s your own issue. She should be grateful you let her bring her child to work with her. Not many employers would.

zippey · 08/08/2018 08:03

If you can afford a cleaner you can afford some biscuits.

riiiiight · 08/08/2018 08:04

They cost like a pound. It's basically a biscuit. The kid was probably doing the "BUT I'M HUNGRY" thing. Think of it as a tip.

FurryDice · 08/08/2018 08:04

. And all those nasty comments about OP being able to afford a cleaner. So what? Do you want her to apologise for it?

No! And how is that even remotely nasty? It’s about context! She’s not exactly counting beans is she? So why be so tight about a few fucking cereal bars?

diddl · 08/08/2018 08:05

"The OP can afford a cleaner, people."

So?

I'm with you, OP.

I guess it's the final straw?

CaMePlaitPas · 08/08/2018 08:06

"she does a shit job"
Your attitude OP...
If you're unhappy with her service then get rid.

FurryDice · 08/08/2018 08:07

This thread has blown my mind. I can’t believe how many people begrudge a few breakfast bars.

I’m out!

SadieHH · 08/08/2018 08:08

I wouldn't exactly care about the breakfast bars but I would think it was pushing the notion of tea and biscuits a bit far. However, I can't see the point of paying a crap cleaner no matter how stressed you are. Better to have no cleaner and save the money till you can sort someone else surely?

gamerwidow · 08/08/2018 08:09

Yanbu help yourself to tea and biscuits is not the same as please help yourself to all my food.

gamerwidow · 08/08/2018 08:11

Being able to have cleaner doesn’t always mean you have endless money. When I had a cleaner I had to scrimp and save on other things to afford her.

Nofunkingworriesmate · 08/08/2018 08:11

No one brings their child cleaning for fun
No one eats 3 bars to annoy you
Would you really be ok with her making a sandwich or boiling pasta??
If the eating of the bars really bothers you leave a tray out and be clear they can help themselves to "anything on the tray"
Communicate clearly the standard of cleaning and where and what needs doing. Give her a chance to get it right before sacking her.

Mrsmadevans · 08/08/2018 08:12
Hmm
AjasLipstick · 08/08/2018 08:15

Help yourself to biscuits.

She did!

OP YABU!

AjasLipstick · 08/08/2018 08:17

WTF is a "breakfast bar" anyway?

A look at Tesco tells me they're cereal bars. Which are akin to biscuits. You should have indicated a biscuit tin and said "This tin is up for grabs...I need the other stuff for lunches etc"

MarklesMerkin · 08/08/2018 08:19

Why are people saying that breakfast bars are like biscuits? They're fuck all like a biscuit Confused Also it doesn't matter if the OP can afford it or not, it doesn't make it any less of a pisstake. OP YANBU.

HollyGibney · 08/08/2018 08:19

You're bitching about three biscuits in individual wrappers but you'd be ok with her boiling up some pasta? Presumably they'd use or make a sauce to go with that or were you just thinking plates of plain pasta all round (yum!)? So you'd be fine with them cooking up a storm but not just grabbing three biscuits?

GreatDuckCookery6211 · 08/08/2018 08:22

If the children were starving they could have had bread or even pasta. Much more filling.

Your bread and pasta?

Pengggwn · 08/08/2018 08:23

A look at Tesco tells me they're cereal bars. Which are akin to biscuits. You should have indicated a biscuit tin and said "This tin is up for grabs...I need the other stuff for lunches etc"

Akin? What the heck is "akin to biscuits"? Cereal bars aren't biscuits. Cake isn't biscuits. Bread isn't biscuits. Biscuits are biscuits (unless it is a Jaffa cake).

The cleaner will have known full well what is meant by "tea and biscuits" - it does not mean open anything left lying around because you forgot to bring a snack for your kids.

MrsMint · 08/08/2018 08:23

As others have said, I'd just leave out a plate with biscuits etc next to the teabags and simply say "I've left you some biscuits on that plate."

You must have a big house that takes hours to clean if she needs a break!! From experience most cleaners would want to get in, do the work and get out as quickly as possible...

Mummyoflittledragon · 08/08/2018 08:23

Shoxfordian
Ok I will bear that in mind, thanks. Dh doesn’t have a job atm and said to me they’re doing such a rubbish job he’d rather do it and save £150 a month so that’s what’s happening with a bit of help from me (I’m disabled). I didn’t sack the company.

Excited0803 · 08/08/2018 08:23

I wouldn't like having a cleaner that does a shit job. We all adore our cleaner, she can eat whichever breakfast bars or biscuits she likes if she's hungry. She wouldn't though, she hardly ever even adds a cordial to her water and only once accepted a piece of cake. She did use the last ice cubes one day, but it's so ridiculously hot and she filled all the ice trays up so that was a fair exchange. Breakfast bars have a long shelf life, just keep a few packets in the cupboard so you need not stress if somebody eats some.

If you can afford a cleaner then you can afford some extra food. Breakfast bars cost £1.50-£3 for a box of 4, she's not downing bottles of champagne so YABVU. Get your priorities straight; make sure you're paying for your house to be actually clean and don't be petty about food.

Beamur · 08/08/2018 08:24

Breakfast bars are biscuits to me, but I think opening a new pack when there are opened biscuits that clearly are the ones on offer is cheeky.
Bringing your kids without asking first is cheeky too. I had a cleaner a while ago who started doing this, but the kid was obviously bored, kept distracting her Mum from work, helped herself to stuff and went into rooms I'd asked her to stay out of. We parted company.

LlamaPyjamas · 08/08/2018 08:31

There’s a difference between opening something with a countable number and having a biccie or 2.
Um, no there isn’t. A biscuit is a biscuit, whether it’s a packet of Rich Tea or a packet of six KitKats. I’d also class a breakfast bar as a biscuit, at least close enough that I’d eat one if I was told to help myself and they were on the same shelf.

Perhaps my perception is coloured by what I’d offer to a tradesman in my own home? I’d think nothing of offering a packet of four nice individually wrapped biscuits. In fact I’ve been known to buy a pack of four muffins etc specifically for the tradesman. So I suppose I’d think it was fine to eat a similarly nice biscuit in someone else’s home. If you don’t want certain things eaten, don’t tell people to help themselves!

LittleMe03 · 08/08/2018 08:37

You dont half like a bit of drama

Hmm was thinking the same.

BlueEyedPersephone · 08/08/2018 08:40

I have an 8yr old and if I say he can have a biscuit, he will assume that means a biscuit ( hob nob), cereal bar ( go ahead) flapjack ( cake bar) or treat bar (club etc). They are all stored in same place and 3 our of four are wrapped so opening a new box is not really relevant. It sounds like a misunderstanding of assumption and not one to blame squarely on the cleaner.
If she should not bring her children or is doing a shit job then that is a separate issue.