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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To expect them to put the heating on for me?

275 replies

Loobyloo16 · 13/12/2018 08:04

I'm a self employed cleaner. Now its coming colder a few of my clients still don't put their heating on. One works from home but just sits in a room with the fire on, another says she doesn't feel the cold. I went to a client yesterday and it was freezing, my toes were going numb, I did tell her but she still didn't put it on.
Another has told me to put it on myself if I'm cold, which I do.

I know it's no big deal in the grand scheme of things but I hate been cold and it's miserable cleaning with numb toes. People always say 'i thought you'd get warm with cleaning" I do but not that warm!

OP posts:
Original poster
Loobyloo16 · 13/12/2018 17:23

Actually this is the only house I've been in In 8 yrs of cleaning that is freezing, one other is quite cold but bareable but this one!
I'll take a thermometer next time as someone suggested.

OP posts:
John4703 · 13/12/2018 17:29

Thanks OP you have made me think to write a wee note to our cleaners telling them how to put the heating on. I usually have it on for them but instructions would help if I forget. They often come when we are out.

Flowerpot2005 · 13/12/2018 17:31

Personally I think YABU.

Have you tried Marino wool socks /fingerless gloves to help?

DaedricLordSlayer · 13/12/2018 17:56

Flowerpot2005 OP has just said

I dont think i should have to wear them
she just wants to be a martya

AlexaAmbidextra · 13/12/2018 17:57

I don’t think OP is being at all unreasonable. Why should she have to dress like Scott of the Antarctic to do her job? And a gold medal for all those posters who still don’t have their heating on and wearing their bikinis around the house because ‘it isn’t cold’.

Original poster
Loobyloo16 · 13/12/2018 18:00

So I've got to wear fingerless gloves, Marino wool socks, layer upon layer of thermals, a wooly hat Grin I'll be cleaning said frozen house just to pay to keep warm in said frozen house, but I guess it would all be tax deductible!

OP posts:
DaedricLordSlayer · 13/12/2018 18:06

if you need all that on, you need to see a doctor.

ILoveAllRainbows · 13/12/2018 18:06

If they never ever put the heating on then I would stop cleaning for them if you can afford to as that is bad for your health.

UtterlyDesperate · 13/12/2018 18:14

When I was a cleaner, I hated the winter - sweating buckets in over-heated houses! If you are sitting down doing the silver, admittedly it can get a bit chilly after half an hour - but a bit of hoovering or bed-changing sorts that out quickly enough.

OP - if you are cold, ask for the heating to be on or for a little heater. But don't be surprised it hasn't occurred to your employers, as for most people, moving about keeps them warm and sitting about the opposite...

blackteasplease · 13/12/2018 18:16

Do they maybe have eczema / dermatitis? Heating can set mine off.

DaedricLordSlayer · 13/12/2018 18:18

what bad for your health? Rainbows

DaedricLordSlayer · 13/12/2018 18:23

FWIW OP YBU to expect them to put the heating on for you. as pp have said it may not have occurred to them.

So just ask them, if thet don't then don't clean for them if you don't like it. You are self employed so can decide for yourself what you find acceptable.

greendale17 · 13/12/2018 18:24

Heating is (unfortunately) a luxury.

^If you can afford a cleaner you can afford to put the heating on.

NC4AntiOuting · 13/12/2018 18:25

It’s likely that the OP is self-employed but the actual regulations for a workplace are:-

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 says that your employer must maintain a reasonable temperature where you work, but it does not specify a maximum temperature. There is a minimum temperature of 16°C, or 13°C if your work involves considerable physical activity.”

Doyouavocado · 13/12/2018 18:32

I don’t understand the people who are not agreeing with the OP. You are lying if you are saying you would not be pissed off if you had to sit in your office/shop wherever and it was freezing like it is at the minute!
Would you expect you child to sit in school with the heating off? Would you just tell them to put thermals on? ... no obviously not.

DaedricLordSlayer · 13/12/2018 18:43

Doyouavocado RTFT

I work in sometimes freezing conditions. Also she isn't sitting in an office or school she's doing a physical job.

all I suggested was thin efficient thermals, so not bulkly or restrictive. Some toe warmers (which if she does have bad circulation she'll benefit from where ever she is).

But she doesn't think she should have too

Don't work there then.

DaedricLordSlayer · 13/12/2018 18:48

NC4AntiOuting
"The Approved Code of Practice suggests the minimum temperature in a workplace should normally be at least 16 degrees Celsius. If the work involves rigorous physical effort, the temperature should be at least 13 degrees Celsius. These temperatures are not absolute legal requirements; the employer has a duty to determine what reasonable comfort will be in the particular circumstances."

How many jobs do you think would never be done if everyone had to work at those minimum temperatures? or are you only applying it to cosy office jobs?

79andnotout · 13/12/2018 18:49

When I visit my dads house I'm always freezing. They never put the heating on 'because it's not cold'. Not true, just my dad and his wife are really fat and are nice and cosy in their layers of insulation. Not everyone feels the same temperature in a house.

AndhowcouldIeverrefuse · 13/12/2018 18:50

Heating is (unfortunately) a luxury.

What a lot of bollocks. Having a cleaner is a luxury.

I hate the competitive Yorkshiremen
martyrdom "I don't feel the cold", "I never put the heating on", "I am clearly morally superior to you moaners". Imposing your choices on others is rude. This coming from someone who is permanently hot.

EleanorShellstropper · 13/12/2018 18:52

I have a cleaner. She's a luxury, and I absolutely adore her.

I also have never thought to put the heating on for her. Last week we were chatting as she was cleaning the kitchen (yes, she's a massive luxury as I'm usually there whilst she cleans) and we remarked how fecking freezing it was.

Yes, my house is cold....I can't justify to heat it during the day, as I save that for the kids when they're at home, and even then am frugal when they insist on just wearing pants and socks. I work from home, sitting at the computer, so wear a pair of wooly socks and sometimes put a dressing gown over my jumper. She's never complained and when in the kitchen opens the double doors and leaves them open whilst she's cleaning, so I'd be seething if I had to put the heating on for her with that scenario.

I have a Gallelio thermometer and with heating I don't go above 18 degrees and feel really comfortable with that heat.

When I go to my parents it's absolutely sweltering (they keep it at 20+). They turn it off in the room I'm staying in.

In my opinion the only room that should always be warm in winter is the bathroom (and my towel rail doesn't work Grin )

EleanorShellstropper · 13/12/2018 18:54

Also, when I clean (generally for the cleaner), in this weather, it takes a little while to get going, but once I do I don't feel the cold.

DaedricLordSlayer · 13/12/2018 18:54

Imposing your choices on others is rude

Yes I agree

Bestseller · 13/12/2018 18:55

Blimey, how cold does it have to be before you feel cold cleaning?

madmum5811 · 13/12/2018 18:59

My feet are cold. I wear a pair of slipper socks then ugg looking slippers boots over them. Perhaps you could change into those when you get to cold houses. As for hands there is nothing I can think of.

Sitranced · 13/12/2018 19:06

^If you can afford a cleaner you can afford to put the heating on.

House owner could have disabilities which needs a cleaner but not able to afford heating.

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