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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be pissed off and sack my cleaner

160 replies

Nightnight23 · 23/05/2019 20:55

Another cleaner related thread...

Background so as not to drip feed. Had this cleaner for a year, she is very reliable and competitively (but fairly) priced.
Had some issues as her cleaning is average to poor depending on whether I’m there or not. I try to be a good person to clean for - make regular cups of tea if I’m in, make sure everything is tidied away before etc so she only has to clean, during half terms I give her alterations etc to do from home of an evening as she has a young son and childcare is difficult in hols but that way she doesn’t lose out financially.

Issues are:
She brought her son without pre agreeing it with me, he then took a piece of tech with him, I hadn’t realised it had gone missing but she brought it round the next day laughing about it. I get that he’s a kid (10) but why should I have to worry about things being stolen when I’m employing a cleaner to make my life easier?

I pay her for 2 hours cleaning, I recently got a camera installed on the door. I don’t think she is aware but it’s not a secret as the unit is in the house and she would see it if she ever dusted the window sill (it’s mainly to track deliveries whilst I’m out but it notifies my phone when someone comes or goes as it points to the drive).

I have been out the past 3 weeks. The first week she did 1 hour 15 mins, I didn’t question it as I presumed it was a 1 off and she’d automatically make it up the following week.
The second week I was out she did 1 hour 5 mins, I questioned her and she said she did everything really quickly as she had another job to go on to but she’d make it up next time. Then last week she did an hour and five again. I messaged her at the weekend with a list of jobs to do if she finishes with half an hour or more to spare to make it up to the two hours. She replied that’s fine and she did two hours last week and would keep to two hours going forward. I know it’s a lie as the camera recorded her coming and going after just over an hour.

I genuinely wouldn’t mind if things were cleaned quickly and to a high standard but they’re not. So much basic stuff is missed.

Another issue (god this is so long sorry!) is I bulk buy large quantities of cleaning products as it’s cheaper to do so. I’ve found out she’s been refilling her bottles with my products each week. The price agreed is meant to include all her own cleaning materials. Not only is she using my products for my house (I could tolerate that) but it seems I’m also supplying her other clients cleaning products too as she refills a whole bottle each week.

Aibu to be pissed off with her? I feel she’s taking me for a total mug. We get on so nicely face to face but she clearly thinks I’m an idiot. We are not well off and I have a cleaner because I’m disabled so it is a massive luxury meant to make life easier. Hmm

OP posts:
Xmas2020 · 24/05/2019 10:54

@Skittlesss gaslight or fact? If you are recording someone without their knowledge or consent, and in this instant for the purpose of Entrapment, the OP who seems to have left, could find herself on very dodgy ground.

GreigLaidlawsbarofsoap · 24/05/2019 11:11

Oh come off it @Xmas2020 the OP has clearly said it's an outside camera just like many many people have on their own private property. It's not recording the cleaner, it's recording her door and driveway. You are talking utter rubbish.

NannyRed · 24/05/2019 11:15

Get rid.

Fair enough if she was doing a great job or leaving ten minutes early, but to be cutting her working hours by half, she is a CF.

PaulHollywoodsSexGut · 24/05/2019 11:20

It’s not against the law to have a Ring doorbell, @xmas2020

It’s not against the law to fire her on the grounds that she’s been rumbled via that medium either, if she doesn’t know what it does that’s not the OPs fault.

However she has also taken her kid along who’s lifted something from the OPs house AND she’s siphoning the OPs cleaning materials which is basically theft, making the doorbell surveillance point moot.

LagunaBubbles · 24/05/2019 11:27

Don't have her back to clean that's for sure.

GlitterNails · 24/05/2019 11:30

Argh I could have written this. I hate confrontation but messaged her asking her to do the full two hours as I caught her leaving "early" one too many times.

Another family member also bought it up face to face and the next week she sent the 'sorry I have to go early issues at school' nonsense text but then has done just over an hour each time since.

I need to get rid of her as to me it's theft - and similarly we agreed two hours and she would rotate tasks. She isn't even doing the basics properly as you said - if she was doing it really well in an hour I wouldn't complain, but she's doing half a job.

Like you I'm disabled and haven't had the energy to recruit someone else yet so I keep letting her get away with it but I must sort it out.

Skittlesss · 24/05/2019 11:39

@Skittlesss gaslight or fact? If you are recording someone without their knowledge or consent, and in this instant for the purpose of Entrapment, the OP who seems to have left, could find herself on very dodgy ground.

She’s not recording inside her house. She has a ring doorbell camera covering part of the exterior. She hasn’t got a nanny cam to entrap the cleaner.

I wonder how many cleaners are on this thread defending this thief!

RestingBitchFaced · 24/05/2019 11:39

Don't let her come again! Message her and tell her you don't need her any more

WeeDangerousSpike · 24/05/2019 11:41

@xmas2020

Entrapment isn't what you think it is.

Unless OP's a copper and is somehow secretly telling the cleaner to skive off and nick the cleaning supplies...

Poloshot · 24/05/2019 13:01

Get rid of her she's a thief

HasThisSoddingNameGoneToo · 24/05/2019 13:06

She's a liar and a thief, and her son is going the same way.

daisypond · 24/05/2019 13:21

asking for her money within minutes of finishing. She had every right to be paid straight away. why? Depends on the contract. I’m paid a month in arrears.

Skittlesss · 24/05/2019 13:21

@weedangerousspike

Maybe she is a rookie cop who has set up her own op to catch cleaners nicking bleach and leaving early. Op Clean Sweep

VanGoghsDog · 24/05/2019 13:37

@VanGoghsDog she sounds shit, except for your last point about asking for her money within minutes of finishing. She had every right to be paid straight away.

Well, of course - except she insisted it was Paypal and, you know, I have to work, which is how I earn money to pay her and all that, and sometimes I'm in a meeting/driving/whatever and can't do it immediately, and I'd get out of a meeting, maybe after an hour and have four or five texts asking when I was going to pay her.

But she didn't want me to leave her cash.

Because she was unreliable I didn't feel like paying her in advance or on a set day either - had she been good I'd have done that happily.

My new one invoices on a Sunday and I pay then or Monday.

Oncewasblueandyellowtwo · 24/05/2019 14:30

GlitterNails Shock
I've worked as a cleaner and have had cleaners, I'm shocked at these CFs.I'd never have even thought to leave a job early.
After about 3 weeks you become more efficient and faster because you have your routine and know the place by then. At that stage I'd find other things that need doing. Would even pick weeds in the garden or brush steps if I really couldn't find anything else to do!
Glitter is there any one else that could look for a new cleaner for you? Or reccomend someone.

BasilFaulty · 24/05/2019 14:40

'Entrapment' 😂😂😂

Crunchymum · 24/05/2019 14:44

I employed a cleaner last year when I was diagnosed with arthritis and couldn't walk.

Similar story, except I was actually in the house when she would leave early (usually by 15 minutes or so). I mentioned it a few times and reduced from a 3h to 2.5h clean but she would still finish early, 10 minutes or so, every week but would bat off my suggestions of going down to a 2h clean.

Things began to go missing but they were quite innocuous? A few new baby items, tags still on, some unopened toiletries. Things I could have misplaced / opened and began to use.

I provided the cleaning products but began to suspect she was taking extra (I would find a bottle in the recycling and think "I only opened that recently") but again I swallowed it. She was actually a fab cleaner.

Then it was money. £20 from my purse (unattended in a room she was cleaning. I tried to always stay out of her way) and then £100 out of envelope. DP is self employed and I hadn't banked it. It was hidden but not massively so.

At this point all trust was gone.

I could explain away all the things individually.... even the £100 (client has dropped money to me as opposed to my DP and I didn't count it so the client could have underpaid)

But together these "little things" were too much.

I had no proof but I did let the agency know, in case it was happening / had happened to any of her other customers.

I am still saddened by it now. She used to come and coo over my disabled/ tube fed newborn, knew I was incapacitated, and still took things from my home.

Original poster
Nightnight23 · 24/05/2019 14:51

I’ve messaged the cleaner and told her not to come again. She’s yet to reply.
I just find it disheartening that people behave like this. Like I said, I always tidied up well beforehand and we don’t have loads of clutter etc, made drinks and offered biscuits etc, I tipped at xmas and gave a present for her and her son, tried to make it easy in the half term hols or if we went away and didn’t need a clean by giving her work she could do at home around her son so she wouldn’t have childcare problems. Total mug. Anyway, you live and learn.
New lady is coming round next week for a chat so I’m hoping it will go well.
I wish that I was in a position to not have a cleaner and do it myself as I find the whole situation stressful, but I am just physically not able to do a lot of it.

OP posts:
Original poster
Nightnight23 · 24/05/2019 14:53

@crunchymum that’s just awful Sad

OP posts:
janetforpresident · 24/05/2019 15:25

You must be a struggling mum as well @Nightnight23 to have hired her to clean
There's no logic to that at all!

She lied to the OP and claimed she did 2 hours when she only did just over 1. This happened at least three times. That's grounds to sack her there. The others things may be harder to prove (although I doubt it will come to that)

You don't have to warn people that you have a security camera on your front door.

PaulHollywoodsSexGut · 24/05/2019 15:55

I always tidied up well beforehand and we don’t have loads of clutter etc, made drinks and offered biscuits etc, I tipped at xmas and gave a present for her and her son, tried to make it easy in the half term hols or if we went away and didn’t need a clean by giving her work she could do at home around her son so she wouldn’t have childcare problems

Don’t do this again. Stick to plan A, it’s a business arrangement not a charity.

And that’s not me poking you but just stay consistent.

Oly4 · 24/05/2019 16:04

I have had many cleaners, my latest one is brilliant! Yours does a rubbish job and steals from you. And leaves early. You absolutely must get rid of her

ANewDawn10 · 24/05/2019 16:16

Yanbu. I also made the mistake previously of being too nice and friendly with my cleaner. I often gave her stuff as well because I knew she was struggling. She had a DS just 2 months younger than mine and I gave her so many toys and clothes. Then she started taking advantage.
When I let her go, she had the cheek to tell me nobody forced me to give her anything.
Now I'm just strictly about business.

Loreleigh · 25/05/2019 17:14

I'm with those who say sack the cheeky mare - lazy thief with no respect and even brings her thieving brat along. She skimps on time, is a shoddy worker and instead of making life easier is causing you stress, worry and money - get rid pronto. Good luck if you try and get a better cleaner who actually does the work and works the hours they are being paid for Flowers

Honeyroar · 25/05/2019 17:24

I think you did the right thing telling her not to come back. If she complains that you've not given her notice you could point out that she didn't give you notice that she wasn't going to do her allotted hours for the past few weeks, see what she replies to that! Here's hoping that the next cleaner is better.