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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask them to use the other stairs?

189 replies

ThrowAwayQP · 07/06/2019 05:52

I’m going to be honest, I didn’t think I was bu; but I’m willing to be told if that’s the case.

So I’ve recently started a part time job cleaning for a bit of extra income. It’s in a large corporate environment. The building is quite large with only two stair cases; one at either end; but to be honest I think walking between them would only take five minutes at most.

The other day I was mopping one of the stair cases and two of the department managers came walking down it. They were both looking at a laptop and deep in conversation, so I assumed they just hadn’t seen the wet floor sign. I asked them if in future they could use the other stairs this one was being cleaned and they both mumbled a “sorry” before carrying on.

The next morning one of the senior team pulled me aside and told me he was “sure experienced staff could decide if they wanted to take the risk of walking down wet stairs.”

I was quite shocked at being ‘put in my place’ so to speak? Was I actually being unreasonable? All I asked was them not to walk where I was currently mopping!

OP posts:
OKBobble · 07/06/2019 06:43

So senior level executives are basically being told by a cleaner how they should conduct their working day? You saying that it was after it was closed to clients would also suggest that they are already working into the evening. Presumably they were going to meet a colleague but should factor in an extra 10 minutes to suit you rather than get to their meeting on time. If they are fee-earning members of the firm then they are generating the profit which allows the company to run and pay the cleaning firm.

I believe everyone should be treated with dignity and respect and if you had said they had turned round and told you to do one and you were only a cleaner etc I would agree that would not be on. It is not however on for you to tell their staff when and where they should be during their working day. You say they have no direct line over you despite being senior, the same applies. You have no direct line over them and neither does the person you report to I suspect.

OKBobble · 07/06/2019 06:44

As for telling on you they probably sat a board meeting and laughed at the brass neck of a cleaning telling the FD to go on a 10 minute detour to his internal meeting!

NewPapaGuinea · 07/06/2019 06:45

It’s not “telling tales”, it’s so they can continue to use any staircase they want without having continuous confrontation. If they didn’t say anything and did it again you’d be even more pissed off with them disregarding your previous request.

You’re BU

caughtinanet · 07/06/2019 06:45

It must be a huge office if the other stairs are 5 minutes walk away, that's 1/4 of a mile at a not very fast pace, of course it's unreasonable to expect anyone to do a detour of that length.

Belenus · 07/06/2019 06:49

I honestly wouldn’t consider my time so important that an extra ten minutes so precious. Especially seeing as they seemed to be “walking and talking” as it were...

Walking and talking means they're busy. 10 minutes can be the difference between catching one train and waiting an hour for the next one when you leave. Unfortunately it's the annoying thing about cleaning, as soon as it's done someone messes it up. I can be in the middle of sweeping a yard and some dozy pillock will traipse hay all over it, oblivious to me.

Reporting on you was a bit much but as PP have pointed out it's possible they asked for clarity or they were overheard talking about it afterwards.

IAmAlwaysLikeThis · 07/06/2019 06:53

"senior level executives are basically being told by a cleaner"

God this just says it all doesn't it.

How dare a lowly cleaner say anything to executives?

What an attitude.

TinselTimes · 07/06/2019 06:55

I think you might need to remember that you are there to make their life easier, not the other way around.

You clean the building so they have a pleasant, sanitary environment to work in.

But what they do is actually the work of the company - they’re the ones that make the money that ultimately pays your salary.

So (as long as they’re polite about it) they could legitimately tell you that you’ll need to do a meeting room later, because they’re using it. You can’t tell them to get out of a meeting room so you can clean it. Because ultimately their work is the more important work and they need to be able to do it.

And depending on the corporate environment ten minutes to detour to the other stairs could be a very long time, I used to be so busy dealing with urgent client demands that I wouldn’t eat/drink all day, stayed in the office till 2am etc - these people may be working flat out.

KatherineJaneway · 07/06/2019 06:55

YABU. A quick word 'please be careful, the stairs are wet' and that's all you should have done. I would not be pleased at being asked to take a 5 minute detour when I am busy.

Mummyoflittledragon · 07/06/2019 06:58

Ywbu
They may have been discussing it saying you’re up yourself or genuinely concerned about company policy / insurance. Idk. But you can’t tell people not to walk on wet stairs, only emphasise they’re wet.... unless you’ve been instructed otherwise. Which you haven’t.

icelollycraving · 07/06/2019 06:59

Yabu.
A simple ‘mind your step’ and slip trip sign is enough.
I do think an extra 5 mins for them was too much. You have no idea of their schedule.
They told your manager, as the client, you can’t dictate where they walk in their business!

ASauvignonADay · 07/06/2019 07:00

At our work they actually use barriers to block off the stairs to stop you using them whilst they're being cleaned, so you have no choice but to use ones further away. so actually it doesn't seem totally unreasonable. If I'd just cleaned by kitchen or bathroom floor I wouldn't walk on it with outdoor shoes until it was dry

Namechangeishard · 07/06/2019 07:01

YWBU. It would be okay to say “careful you don’t slip” but you really can’t be telling management to take a different route because you are cleaning.

OKBobble · 07/06/2019 07:01

IAMAlwaysLikeTHis : You are missing my point re senior executives are being told by a cleaner!

I am not saying she shouldn't talk to them not that they should not treat her respectfully I am however saying that senior executives should not be being told by a cleaner how to their jobs! Entirely different.

I am very much a treat everyone the same whatever rank they hold. As they say you never know who you meet on your way and one day when you are possibly going down again you will pass someone on their way up.

myself2020 · 07/06/2019 07:01

It really depends how you said it. a politely worded warning (careful, steps are wet), fine.
Everything else, not so much. i would have had a word with your supervisor for anything like „i‘m cleaning, take the other stairs!“. Rudeness is not allowed anywhere, and you never know if there are still clients around.
Same as i could politely ask you to switch your cleaning plan around to accomodate a meeting, but „i‘m working, clean somewhere else“ is not on.

AnyOldPrion · 07/06/2019 07:02

I wouldn’t walk an extra ten minutes at the end of a working day to avoid going where cleaning is going on. If I knew cleaning always occurred at that time on those stairs and it was equally easy to use either, then I’d use the non wet stairs. But that is quite a detour, especially if you’re right at the top of those stairs when you realise.

But from personal experience, people are going to be assholes and walk over your wet floor making muddy footprints and they probably will not notice, or even give it a second thought. Times when I’ve been cleaning and it’s happened, I either wipe over the floor again, or ignore it and work on as it’s just something that happens, whether it ought to or not.

I always talk to cleaners if possible. Pisses me off that people seem to be unable to even see the cleaner exists.

MrsElizabethShelby · 07/06/2019 07:02

OP YANBU

At my workplace we do exactly this. The cleaners need to be able to work uninterrupted so they do a thorough job more efficiently and it's a safety hazard to walk down wet stairs.

They also close off sets of toilets one by one for cleaning and we use another set so as not to interupt (there is a set of both men's and women's toilets on each side of the building, on each floor)

I can't believe the attitudes on this thread. It very much shows how a lot of people look down on those who do more menial jobs for a living.

44HuntJas · 07/06/2019 07:05

YANBU. It's so rude of them to walk on the stairs when you are cleaning. Not that most people will see it that way, you being a lowly cleaner Vs the important business people. Hmm "sure senior staff can decide for themselves..." Smacks of "I'm better than you"

44HuntJas · 07/06/2019 07:07

God forbid they walk a little extra to make a cleaners life easier! The horror!

ScreamScreamIceCream · 07/06/2019 07:08

YABU - if you cannot block anyone's access completely to where you are cleaning then it is expected they are able to use that area while you are cleaning it, so you have to work around them.

In the case of stairways you need to put your signs up and verbally remind them that the stairs are wet. If they then fall flat on their faces you are legally protected from blame.

FineWordsForAPorcupine · 07/06/2019 07:08

I think that YABU but I don't think that that's why they "reported" you - presumably these two guys wanted to check if it really was the rule that the stairs were out of bounds while they were being cleaned. You told them that they should not be using it, so they basically had the choice to

A) take you at your word and never use the stairs again while you were cleaning them (presumably at slight personal inconvenience)

B) Just decide to ignore you and risk breaking a rule/being a dick

C) check whether they really weren't permitted to use the stairs while you were there, or if that was just your preference.

Turns out, the answer was C. Sadly there was no way to find that out without "reporting" you in the process.

(Of course, we don't know what they said - they could have gone to the facilities manager / your boss snorting with indignation and saying how dare a cleaner tell them what to do, etc. In which case, the WAY they went about it was U.)

I can see why you're annoyed OP, but I don't think this thread is about who has the authority - you made up a work place rule and they challenged it. Although I can see this thread devoling into posturing about "cleaners don't make the company money, therefore they have to accept their place in the hiarachy" vs "cleaners are just as important as anyone else and these guys were snobs" etc.

Giraffeinabox · 07/06/2019 07:10

An extra 5 mins each way? Time is money im affraid, yabu

44HuntJas · 07/06/2019 07:10

So senior level executives are basically being told by a cleaner how they should conduct their working day?

The attitude! Can you believe a cleaner had the nerve Angry

malmi · 07/06/2019 07:10

If you want the stairs closed for cleaning then request permission to properly close them and get proper signage etc. Nobody gets to just unilaterally decide that a particular staircase is now out of bounds.

44HuntJas · 07/06/2019 07:10

In the case of stairways you need to put your signs up and verbally remind them that the stairs are wet. If they then fall flat on their faces you are legally protected from blame.

I'd be hoping they did tbh

OpportunityKnocks · 07/06/2019 07:11

Yabu
Is it normal to close the stairs whilst cleaning them?

I suspect they were taken aback and enquired as to whether stairs will be closed when cleaned from now on rather than 'telling on you'. I've never seen stairs closed because they are being mopped and think that it would be ridiculous to do so.

A 5 minute detour is actually quite a lot when you are busy and when unexpected. People are busy, especially department heads.