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AIBU?

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Original poster

AIBU to think the cleaner stole from us?

81 replies

YakkityYakYakYak · 22/12/2020 22:46

Have had the same cleaner for around a year, she owns the business and comes once a fortnight with another woman. Get on well with them and they do a great job.

They are both taking a break over Christmas so sent two of her team to clean our house on Monday instead. Have never met these two before, I was working in the spare room so just left them to it.

Monday night when I got into bed I plugged in my phone in to charge and saw that it was just a cable with the plug part of the charger missing (Apple charger). I’ve not moved it, it’s been plugged in by the bed for years, and DH swears he hasn’t touched it either.

DH thinks the cleaner must have taken it. Why would someone take half a charger though Confused

It’s only worth about £20 so not sure if it’s even worth raising it. I don’t even care about the charger, I just hate the thought that someone would come into my home and take something. I’d also left all of the Christmas presents out downstairs under the tree and worried that something else might have disappeared.

WWYD? Raise it so the business owner is aware, or just forget about it as you can’t really be certain?

OP posts:
CheetasOnFajitas · 23/12/2020 00:10

@maddening

My cleaner puts things she needs to hold or move in the pocket of her tabard, it would be easy to pop it in there eg when needing to plug in a hoover thinking to keep it safe and plug back in and then forget, it is more likely to be an oversight or mistake Imo.
My cleaner did this once with my son’s favourite dummy. We hunted high and low for it for a week and by the time she returned the following week he had been weaned off the dummy- result!
Shopaholic100 · 23/12/2020 00:27

Maybe she vacuumed up the cable and was too embarrassed to admit it, I usually accidentally do this 🙈.

Shopaholic100 · 23/12/2020 00:29

iPhone cables and vacuumed are not a good combination I’ve ruined quite a lot.

Notimeforaname · 23/12/2020 00:37

I worked with the children of a family who had a cleaner.. wifes rings had gone missing and she was livid.
I was called and told they suspected the cleaner but the police would need to speak to me too. Months later nothing more had been said and police never contacted me so I asked the husband about it.
He looked very embarrassed and said his wife had found the rings ,she had put them in a drawer herself.
I asked when they had found them, he told me it had been quite some time ago..his wife was too embarrassed and preferred to say nothing and let it 'blow over 'Confused I spent nights absolutely shitting myself thinking they thought it was me and the cleaner thing was just a line...I was paranoid for months thinking cameras were watching me. Just ask the cleaner out straight.

Irisheyesrsmiling · 23/12/2020 01:20

I would not react too quickly. I'd not mention anything and have the regular ones around. I they were going to be away again then I'd give it one more chance. Too risky someone could lose their job when they are innocent, especially right now.

Felifox · 23/12/2020 01:34

I'd phone and ask if they'd moved it when cleaning as it seems to have been mislaid. I have a couple of spares but my Samsung plug is a fast charger so it would be inconvenient if I lost it

Thehollyandtheirony · 23/12/2020 02:02

If someone was going to steal half an Apple charger, they would steal the fecking cable half which breaks every 6 months.
They probably just moved it.

melj1213 · 23/12/2020 02:27

Yabu to immediately assume theft rather than it being misplaced or tidied away somewhere accidentally.

I would just call the owner and ask her to ask the cleaners if they removed the plug to use the socket for a hoover etc and if so do they remember where they put the plug as you cant find it now.

In summer holidays at university I used to work as a cleaner and I would often put things in my apron pocket if I needed to move it to do my job so that I knew where it was and didn't misplace it. On very rare occasions I would forget to put the item back and would find it in my pocket at the end of my shift when I was putting my apron away and would have to try and remember where it came from. I was always apologetic when returning an item, but if I found out that someone had called my boss accusing me of theft I would not want to work in their flat ever again.

tootesuite · 23/12/2020 04:25

If you're sure no one else could have moved it, I would ask cleaners if they moved the charger to plug in a vacuum cleaner, as pp said.

It's probably not been stolen.

I will say though people at my office do seem to think other people's chargers are fair game, especially as the genuine Apple lightning cables. They either borrow them and son't give them back or steal them from your desk.

But it's a very random thing to take from someone's home, it will easily be missed as you use it every day.

yearinyearout · 23/12/2020 04:51

I'd message saying "my charger was plugged in next to the bed, I never unplug it and the plug is no longer there. Assume they moved it to plug vacuum in, can you ask where they put it? Thanks"

Mally2020 · 23/12/2020 05:11

Agree above check to make sure it hasn't been moved to a drawer etc, also maybe check presents on Christmas day etc, if things are still missing ask the owner if she could ask the staff where they were moved to as they are missing if they can't respond then possibly assume theft. It can happen to anyone and as horrible as it sounds its why I'd have a nanny or pet cam in the area I'd have the cleaners in, our grandmother is very old and had the same cleaner for years, thought she could trust her etc but it turned out she had been stealing ornaments, money and crystal wear for ages

Bluntness100 · 23/12/2020 05:15

Christ you can buy these for a fiver on Amazon, no one is going to be able to tell it was apple brqnded v a cheaper make.

No one stole it, why do folks always jump to thr worst conclusions, someone’s moved it snd forgot, worst case say did someone move the charger, I can’t find it.

Buy yourself another from Amazon and don’t be so dramatic.

wildraisins · 23/12/2020 05:33

Seems unlikely that they would take something like that, so just ask if they moved it. Unless it's turned up already.

It's a big leap to go from that to worrying about your Christmas presents. That doesn't seem very rational. Are you feeling a bit uneasy with people coming into your home? It sounds like you may be feeling a bit uncomfortable with the new cleaners who aren't your usual ones.

Girlzroolz · 23/12/2020 05:40

I love the suggestion that the cleaner must have unplugged it to wipe it.

Any cleaner who is that particular as to wipe your charger plugs, isn’t likely to forget to put it back in, are they? Actually, if anyone has ever had a cleaner that particular, can they please send them my way? I’ll forgive them the odd charger theft for sure!! Grin

daisychain01 · 23/12/2020 05:42

They are both taking a break over Christmas so sent two of her team to clean our house on Monday instead. Have never met these two before, I was working in the spare room so just left them to it.

I know it's easy to say in hindsight, @YakkityYakYakYak but it sounds like a very casual and uncontrolled arrangement for your regular cleaner to have substituted themselves for 2 complete strangers that you didn't even spend time engaging with, you just "let them get on with it".

This isn't about suspecting every cleaner of being a thief, not at all, it's about knowing who is inside your home and taking an interest in at least an initial intro. I can't imagine being so casual as to just let strangers I've never met be able to work unsupervised in my home when I've hardly said a hello to them. It happened to me once (and only once!) I ended up with 3 people doing the cleaning (3 hours total, 1 hour each) they were in and out within an hour, and it was a poor job, they had no loyalty, it was job and done. Never again!

You need to make a specific arrangement with your regular cleaner that whenever they are going to be away, that you need to have met the substitute cleaners in advance and take more of an interest.

Mummyoflittledragon · 23/12/2020 05:43

What a dramatic headline. Have some bloody sympathy for the cleaner. They are a human being and make mistakes. Just send a text and ask if they remember moving it somewhere as it’s not plugged in the normal place. It’s a charger. We have an excess of the bloody things. Cables break unlike the plug in adaptor.

StopSquirtingBleachOnCaneToads · 23/12/2020 05:44

Yeah, I really can't see anyone nicking half a phone charger. They've almost certainly moved it to plug in the Hoover and then forgotten about it or put it down somewhere else.

If you desperately need it then I would may be mention it, but just in a casual.way as if you know it was accident, but otherwise I would just forget about it.

Schehezarade · 23/12/2020 05:48

If you were going to nick something you would take something that is not used often, if at all and is worth nicking ie worth a few hundreds minimum.
I would guess it got tangled round the hoover cord/ one plugged in their phone to charge and just took the lot without thinking/ one plugged in their phone to charge and the other took the cord too thinking it was the other's.
Text them but if they have a boot filled with cleaning stuff it could be anywhere by now if it got mixed up with stuff.

Belledan1 · 23/12/2020 05:49

I worked at an office where the cleaners came in at night. People's food and fruit kept going missing. The poor cleaners kept getting the blame and one even left as was upset. One night we had a leaving do for quite a senior person. He got very drunk and confessed to someone it was him when worked late and got the munchies. Go in the fridges and round desks.

HikeForward · 23/12/2020 05:58

Perhaps she accidentally sucked it up with the hoover? I’ve done that to a couple of apple cables. It shreds them before you can stop it. She might have binned it and either forgotten about it or was afraid to tell you.

Raindancer411 · 23/12/2020 05:59

@HikeForward It's the plug, not the cable. That was there I think.

LunaLula83 · 23/12/2020 06:13

Cleaners don't steal - its too obvious. Your annoyed because she didn't come herself and you are looking for faults.

VettiyaIruken · 23/12/2020 06:17

Nobody's going to steal half a charger. Your husband is being very silly.

Suzi888 · 23/12/2020 06:18

Ask them.

lyinginthegutterstaringatstars · 23/12/2020 06:33

You can't accuse the cleaner of stealing without any evidence. Also who steals half of a phone charger? Xmas Hmm

You'll get the poor woman sacked for no reason. You and hubby are being completely unreasonable ( maybe ask the dc if they took it)
Poor woman.