To get rid of my cleaner

[Lotty456]

I’ve had a self employed cleaner (same person) for about a year now & I’m generally happy with his work but last visit he was on his phone for about half hour. I asked whether calls could be made outside work hours & his response was that sometimes calls are unavoidable as it’s lockdown & childcare is an issue so he needs to take calls, he also said that as he is self employed he may needs to take calls from other potential clients although he will be quick. I don’t know whether I’m over reacting but I feel that he shouldn’t be on his phone when he is supposed to be working (although he doesn’t stop working he just carries on one handed)

@UhtredRagnarson

Maybe a proper conversation with him might help, explain how you worry it might affect the standards

Before you do that, it might be an idea to actually check the standard of service! By you know, looking. Takes a bit of effort on your part mind.

Oh yeah definitely do that! Didn't realise it hadn't been checked . It does seem OP is happy with the work though and I think the air pods idea is unrealistic given how expensive they are.

I understand that having a cleaner is a trigger for some but it’s my choice & my money so I’m totally unapologetic. Nail was hit on the head in an earlier comment that the trust has gone. He is due tomorrow so I will definitely have a quick conversation with him about it. I’m not happy about it & he’s in my home so hopefully he will understand my motive for lack of trust

Get a fucking grip

We have a cleaner come for 2 hours every week, infact she is here now, she can clean how ever the fuck she wants, she could be doing hand stands and cleaning with her feet, I really couldnt give a fuck as long as its clean and to her normal standard!

She is currently up stairs cleaning, she is also using MY Alexa to listen to music while she cleans, do I care? Do I fuck!

😂

Bookriddle
Classy

It’s similar to when tradespeople come to do a job then spend a lot of time on the phone or trotting over to neighbours houses to do quotes. It’s bloody rude and also unprofessional.

@Lotty456

I understand that having a cleaner is a trigger for some but it’s my choice & my money so I’m totally unapologetic. Nail was hit on the head in an earlier comment that the trust has gone. He is due tomorrow so I will definitely have a quick conversation with him about it. I’m not happy about it & he’s in my home so hopefully he will understand my motive for lack of trust

Can I ask what you mean about trust? It sounds like he has been openly using his phone and been honest when asked so unless I've missed something, I can't see how any trust has been broken? You can have an issue with this but I don't think you're problem is trust.

Trust is just the latest excuse OP has latched onto for it not being ok. Originally she said it was unprofessional, but his work standard hadn’t dropped. Then she decided the work standard has probably dropped, now she’s decided it’s a trust issue and he’s sitting around drinking coffee when she isn’t there.

How's he broken your trust?!

Yeah you knock the help down a few pegs OP. With a bit of luck he'll bin your house off and spread the word on what kind of client you are to work for.

I really don't think you're being unreasonable. Doing your cleaning one handed is definitely going to reduce his effectiveness. 20 or 30 mins is a significant amount of time.

If he was on headphones taking brief phone calls, that's fine. I take brief phone calls at work, I'm sure most people do.

Cleaner here, I wouldn't dream of being on the phone for that length of time whilst working. It's very unprofessional, he should be concentrating on the job. An occasional call is one thing but 30 mins for one call- no way.

Gosh you seem a bit superior and hard work. My cleaner takes calls, I couldn’t give a shit, she’s a grown up, she does her job well and that’s all there is to it, I can’t imagine declaring the trust is broken and telling her not to.

Honestly I think it’s best you both terminate this working relationship.

@FluffyHippo
As I said in previous post, I'm a cleaner and I like to think I have a high standard of work done in a professional manner. If it wasn't I wouldn't be as successful as I am and turning work away.

A one off, forgivable. Every time, not.

OP, I’m sorry you haven’t time-travelled and are in fact the mistress of Downton Abbey. Sadly you’re still here in 2021, where the ‘respect’ you are ‘owed’ by someone whose services you pay for is that those services are done well, efficiently, and within the contracted time for which you are buying those services. And that’s all. You think his being on the phone is unprofessional, even though his cleaning work is satisfactory. What next? You will be saying his haircut is scruffy or that he should really wear a uniform, or perhaps just a nice little tug of his forelock when you enter the room?

LBR, he simply isn’t being obsequious enough to you, to prove how grateful he is supposed to be that you deigned to hire him, so you’re right, you should get rid of him. Good efficient cleaners are bloody hard to find - someone else will snap him up, and you can hire a nice servile new cleaner who never uses their phone, never gets affronted with your rules - and does a shit cleaning job, with any luck.

I clean in a company. I can tell you now if I took long personal phone calls during my working hours I’d be reprimanded. I also spent twenty years being self employed. I understand the comes with more flexibility but equally if I had been seen to take the piss then I would have been phased out, so I made sure that my conduct was professional and any phone calls were kept short and succinct.

You’re surely paying for both his hands, not one.

I'd get rid of him only because I don't see how you can do a good enough job if you are only using one hands and the amount of time spent (20 and 30 mins) on the phone is a long time to me. If it were a brief 5 minutes occasionally then that would be ok but even then it adds up.

Yes, he's self-employed, so can pick and choose work etc but you're employing him to do your cleaning for you so he is in effect your employee as he wouldn't have work otherwise.

I think you not being there when he cleans is interesting because he could be leaving early and you wouldn't know, it's a question of trust for me.

@MMAMPWGHAP

You’re surely paying for both his hands, not one.

No shes paying for her house to be cleaned. Which it is.

I wouldn't pay for someone to be on their phone! I might as well pay my kids for being on Minecraft.

If my kids were cleaning my toilet while being on Minecraft, I might pay them. This is a ridiculous comment.

OP, sack him if you want, why are you asking for confirmation that it is ok? If you don't like it, then do what you want. I personally think it is a silly reason to sack an otherwise good cleaner though.

My cleaner is on her phone sometimes and it does stop her working. She stands with the mop in one hand, phone in the other pushing the mop to and fro over the same spot.

I asked whether calls could be made outside work hours & his response was that sometimes calls are unavoidable as it’s lockdown & childcare is an issue so he needs to take calls

Well, lockdown and all of the restrictions have thrown up a huge load of issues and complications for everybody else, so unless he's the one person that they haven't affected, I don't think that sounds problematic at all.

Loads of people have been working from home and had the sounds/sight of children and pets in the background when they've been on the phone or Zoom calls - most people seem to accept and understand this during a pandemic - but maybe they're able to be trusted, because they're not menial workers....

I've found in the past that, when managers/clients insist on what they perceive to be 'professional' practices - even if meaningless, not bothering anybody else and having no impact on your work whatsoever, people will tend to work to rule, be less productive overall and, in some instances, start to look elsewhere for employment/work as a direct result.

We were told that we weren't allowed to go on the internet any more during our lunch breaks, as our higher up 'betters' and the very few visitors we had might not realise it was our lunch break and think we were slacking when we should be working, as well as flagrantly eating sandwiches from a tub at the same time.

One of the top managers spent the entire day loudly doing all of her life admin and constantly phoning her fiance to nag him like he was a small child. We were all genuinely and visibly shocked on the very odd occasion when we heard her make a call and it was actually clearly work-related. Even one of the other managers commented, when told that she was 'working from home today' (this was many years before COVID) that it might be nice if she could sometimes 'work from work' occasionally.

But no, she would obviously be offended and feel threatened in her position as our superior if any of us could be seen eating and surfing news websites for half an hour when clearly on our lunch breaks....

@justanotherneighinparadise

I clean in a company. I can tell you now if I took long personal phone calls during my working hours I’d be reprimanded. I also spent twenty years being self employed. I understand the comes with more flexibility but equally if I had been seen to take the piss then I would have been phased out, so I made sure that my conduct was professional and any phone calls were kept short and succinct.

Exactly!

There was one occasion where I was office manager for a small company which needed a spotless clean of the reception area - I didn't notice for ages that the cleaners were letting dust build up on the glass shelf on the reception desk and also not cleaning properly in the toilet (it was actually filthy and someone else who knew about cleaning drew it to my attention). In fact, one day, I realised I'd left my phone at the office so rushed back (had been shopping nearby after work) and found the cleaners there - only it wasn't the usual female cleaner but a man I didn't know and he was sitting at one of the desks having a cigarette and scrolling through his phone! As it was through a cleaning company I said I didn't want them back and also reiterated I wanted better standards (which they did for a while but then I had to check again) etc. They weren't cheap either.

I'm not saying cleaners should tug a forelock etc but if I had a plumber etc in my house and he was spending a lot of time making calls and not doing my work and charging me for that then damned right I'd have a word with them! That's why a lot of tradesmen etc (friend of mine, aunt etc use their wives or do it themselves e.g. contact with clients etc).

What a horrible attitude you have OP.

I wouldn't care as long as my house was still being cleaned to usual standard.

Making yourself sound like a petty princess here.