Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
MusicalMouse · 14/12/2018 20:17

Ditch the igloo! Look for another client whose home is better for you.

Gwenhwyfar · 14/12/2018 20:18

"Wow. The Upstairs, Downstairs attitude is alive and well on MN.

"Just work harder". Really? And you'd accept that from your own employer would you? hmm

Its basic common sense and courtesy to think about whoever will be in your home at any given time. A person who doesnt feel the cold so much will surely have cottoned on to the fact that other people may feel it more and need the heating on."

I'm completely disgusted at the lack of humanity on this thread.

a1poshpaws · 14/12/2018 20:18

I think a lot of people are very harsh - just because the OP feels the cold acutely doesn't mean she isn't a good cleaner!

Livedandlearned2 · 14/12/2018 20:26

In some houses I get really hot when cleaning, and in others I don't even want to take my coat off as it's so cold.

All on the same day.

That's about as simple as it gets

user838383 · 14/12/2018 20:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FloralTeacup · 14/12/2018 20:39

I’m just shocked that some people don’t have their heating on at all right now... god there’s nothing I can’t stand more than a cold house!

Had the heating set on timer throughout the day since October. I am quick to get cold though.

Teacher22 · 14/12/2018 20:40

I am a cold mortal with Reynauld’s syndrome but am early retired on an actuarially reduced pension and a have a husband made redundant. We cannot afford heating in the day and use extra clothes and, in my case, a hot water bottle to keep warm.

When we were working we spent every penny on a nice house and ostensibly look well off.

Appearances don’t always tell the whole story.

VladmirsPoutine · 14/12/2018 20:41

Good thing for all the 'heating is for the weak and the profligate' that we're leaving the EU. If a couple of Nurofens and a tin of baked beans doesn't suffice then frankly you probably deserve to die.

HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend · 14/12/2018 20:43

YABU, heating is for the household not just one person there for X hours a week, you cant expect people to add to their expenditure just because your there doing a job.

HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend · 14/12/2018 20:44

*their

Aridane · 14/12/2018 20:54

Thermal layers shouldn’t restrict your movement - they’re thin and light, it’s not like pillows no on chunky knit fishermen sweaters

Aridane · 14/12/2018 20:58

If it were me at the start of winter i would send a generic email/leave a printed note into each house saying I suffer with very cold hands and feet it can impair my ability to clean I do require the heating in where at all possible whilst I work or I may have to rearrange to a warmer day.

I find that message a bit cringey. I guess if all the thermals in all the world cannot warm the OP, no harm her just asking the chief cold house owners if they mind if she puts the heating on while she’s there during the colder spells

boydoggies · 14/12/2018 21:01

OP, you'd never want to clean my house. 15c in the daytime. Cannot justify heating whole house just for me! Goes up to 16.5 to 17 in the evening when children are home. However, they will often just be in short sleeves and do not like the heat. Presently in a hotel. Have turned the heating down!! Also, at work I wear a thermal vest under my clothes as it can get a little chilly. Depends what temp you're used to

Jezzifishie · 14/12/2018 21:03

I don't understand how people can't accept that everyone has different tolerances for cold. I am always cold, as is my husband. It's just the way we are! We have friends who have it as a point of pride (not finances) to never put their heating on. I think it's rude and inconsiderate to have a cold house when your guests are wearing coats indoors and are obviously uncomfortable. Would it really be the end of the world to switch it on for a bit?

Gwenhwyfar · 14/12/2018 21:03

"Cannot justify heating whole house just for me! "

It wouldn't just be for you FFS!

I wear thermals, but still need heating. I can't stand the cruel bastards on this thread.

cheval · 14/12/2018 21:11

Try working in the likes of Canary Wharf. Even in heat of summer, office was freezing, courtesy of air conditioning. When I’m cleaning in my also cold home, I get warm cos using lots of energy. Sitting for hours at a computer, I’m soooo cold.

boydoggies · 14/12/2018 21:16

Gwen, my first sentence was that the OP would not want to work for me . Also, when the family are home my heating is only at 16.5 to 17 max. I acknowledge that this is far too cold for many people. However, there are still plenty of people around who do like a nice warm house. That's their choice, don't you think?

Ariela · 14/12/2018 21:18

We put the heating on today - thermostat set at 15-17. I always end up down to 1 layer when cleaning, you need to be more active and do it quicker.

Bluntness100 · 14/12/2018 21:22

Everyone is different, the pp was posting she heats her house to 16.5/17. Where as my hall downstairs can drop to this (old listed building) and I think it's friggen Baltic. I really would hate the whole house to be like this, yet for the pp, that's hers warmed up.

HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend · 14/12/2018 21:27

Gwenhwyfar

Ah hun tell me about it, my sister in law just called to say she'd been stuck outside for over 2 hours holding a patients hand while the fire crew and police handled the situation and trying to do her job at the same time in keeping the patient warm/conscious

Shes frozen to her core in you know -1 temps! but no break for her, shes heading to another category 1 call, while checking in on her child... perspective and all that...

Gas is expensive, it costs to heat homes, people cannot afford to heat THEIR homes while not present/just for them.

WilburforceRaven · 14/12/2018 21:33

Yes, so cruel, refusing to try to solve the problem oneself by investing in specialist thermals or moving on from the the client but instead starting a thread bitching about them on a huge internet forum tabloids regularly poach for material.

Livedandlearned2 · 14/12/2018 21:33

Ariela how quickly can you clean a house for 5 hours for?

Gwenhwyfar · 14/12/2018 21:40

"Gas is expensive, it costs to heat homes, people cannot afford to heat THEIR homes while not present/just for them."

Get into your thick head that these are people who EMPLOY A CLEANER! They have more than enough money to have the heating on for a couple of hours!!!

Gwenhwyfar · 14/12/2018 21:41

"so cruel, refusing to try to solve the problem oneself by investing in specialist thermals "

You think cleaners earn enough to buy specialist thermals, whatever they are?
I wear thermals but still need heating and insist on it!

"instead starting a thread bitching about them on a huge internet forum tabloids regularly poach for material."

They haven't been named. She's not bitching about them, but complaining about them.

C8H10N4O2 · 14/12/2018 21:41

perspective and all that...

The perspective is that if you have a job which requires you to work outdoors regularly you would expect to have the appropriate clothing/layers (and be able to offset them against costs if they are not provided).

An indoor job which, despite the claims of some PPs is not an aerobics class, should not require thermals, a wooly hat and a coat just to avoid freezing.

All these PPs who think its just fine to expect a cleaner to work in very cold indoor conditions - presumably you all will be quite happy if employers decide they "can't afford" to heat your working environment and you will have to fork out on layers of merino wool? And if you have arthritis or any other condition susceptible to cold its tough shit?

Its just basic human decency to treat other people like people and not nobodies.