AIBU to be scared cleaning for male clients?

[Cleaninglady202]

I’ve just put an ad up on gumtree, and so far I got a few male clients wanting me to clean their houses. AIBU to be a bit scared? As soon as the door is shut its game on, they could overpower me, attack me or keep me hostage and nobody would know( I know I know..) but still, how do you protect yourself? What steps do you take? Would love to hear from other cleaners.

YANBU.

I'm not a cleaner and I have no advice, but I completely understand why you'd feel scared in that situation

I'm a cleaner and I've cleaned for males and always felt safe, but I work with an agency. Could you do that instead?

Just clean for women then.

YANBU

but it's very dangerous to feel safe just because a complete stranger is (or pretends to be) female.

You should use the same steps for ALL clients, male or female!

Do you have a local Facebook group, ideally a mums group? Best place to get clients, and a little bit safer.
Always make sure someone knows where you are, and is waiting for you to contact them to confirm you are safe.

I'd go and visit them and get a feel of how they are. Chances are they probably won't be in anyway.

I have one Male client and he's lovely, always gives me a weeks wage at Christmas and is nothing but respectful. Then again he's rarely in but when he is it's not a problem.

Ffs

I’m not a cleaner and I am also male. I don’t think YABU at all. I did think that from the title though this was going to be a situation where you were contracted and told you had to clean men’s houses as part of your job. If it’s a Gumtree ad that you posted then can’t you just turn down anyone that makes you feel uncomfortable or just not reply to them?

Just to add, if I was visiting for the first time I would definitely take someone with me to wait In the car.

I would only do it if it was agency. Definitely not from responses by strangers to a Gumtree ad. At least an agency has a contract with them. It's not a guarantee of being safe, but there's a bit extra in there.

If men contact you tell them you're sorry, you're already fully booked.

My relative runs a cleaning business. Carry a personal alarm, they're less than a fiver on Amazon & incredibly loud. Don't accept a drink of anything, it's easy to tamper with drinks. (I did accept drinks off elderly female clients as they wanted a chat as I went along, which I liked ) . Text someone when you arrive with expected finish time then text again when you leave. If you're in the same room don't turn you're back on them, if you're in an empty room clean so you can see the door if at all possible, so there is never the advantage of surprise.

Tell someone where you are going, and when you'll be back. Set up a system where you log in and out of people's houses.

There are a lot of lone working jobs where they follow protocols to protect themselves.

My mum always cleaned in a pair , I'd reccomend cleaning with a freind? Either that or pepper spray?

Yabu it's not just men that can be like that !! Whenever you go to someone else's house for 1st time make sure you take a family member or friend to wait for you or at least tell them where u are.

There's a great app I use when lone working, HollieGuard. You set the time you expect to be in a specific location and if you don't check out of the meeting it alerts someone of your choice. If something were to happen, you shake your phone and it records sound. hollieguard.com/register/