Aibu to expect my clients to stay out of the way?

[Tootsey11]

I'm a cleaner, I have a number of clients who are WFH. All men. Their wives all assured me that 'they will keep out of the way' while I am cleaning. They don't. All the cleans are 2 hours so not a long time. But they all are up and down stairs, toilet breaks, coffee making, lunch making, just getting a drink, I'm meeting them on the stairs, I'm hoovering and turn round and they are there. Am I wrong to be fed up with it. Why can't anyone just set themselves up where they are working and stay there until I leave. These are all pre booked appointments so they know when I am due round.

If you wfh do you constantly get in the cleaners way.

Wow! Some of you cleaners and clients don't have a great working relationship, do you?! I wouldn't want to clean for a lot of people here or employ a lot of cleaners on this thread either! It's simply a case of mutual respect. If my client needs the loo and is at home they'll use a bathroom I'm not in and if I've already cleaned it will not leave it in a state, just as I sometimes need to use their loo and ensure it's as pristine as beforehand .
I also don't like the idea that some clients on here seem to look down on us - none of mine do, I feel a valued part of their lives - they always thank me, remind me how much easier I make their lives, some even pay holiday pay (although I don't expect it).
I'm wondering if a lot of mumsnetters are using agencies rather than Self- employed cleaners and that may be where the issues lie.

We have cleaners in once a month. There are three of us at home at the moment - dh and ds3 are working from home. They only do downstairs, and ds3 works upstairs, but he stays out of their way, and dh and I shut ourselves up - him in his office and me in mine (I don't WFH but I have a room with most of my books and my computer in it - so it's either my library or my office, and office sounded less Stately Home ).

We don't expect them to clean the rooms we are in - and we keep the dogs in there with us, so they aren't underfoot either. It is just common sense, as far as I'm concerned, so no YANBU, @Tootsey11.

@ImNotDancing

None of them are unreasonable things to be doing tbh. Surely working in someone else’s home means you work round them not the other way round

I agree with this tbh, I wouldn't expect to have to stay completely out of the way in my home.

I'm 50/50 on this. My cleaners have a fixed day, but not a fixed time, I'm ok with this on the basis they understand that if they rock up at 4.30 I've got to do the kids tea in the kitchen and no, I can't go sit in my office for 2 hours and then do it.

However, by agreement they don't clean our spare room or its ensuite because it's not been used much through Covid etc, so if I need the loo while they are here I use that one so I don't get in their way. I also generally try and keep myself out of the way.

Oh and I have a good relationship with my cleaners (non agency). I'm not clock watching her, I'm happy for her to clean as she sees fit, and she tells me if anything needs changing etc. I think a lot of people are VERY prescriptive with cleaners and it never ends well.

God this just appears to be just one more of the weird social rules people have that noone actually tells you about, even in the moment that its happening. They just seethe quietly and bitch about it later. People arent mindreaders. If you want the house to be empty when you work you should probably specify.
Im autistic and ive lost count of the amount of things ive done or do that apparently half of mumsnet would hate me for.
I have a cleaner that i pay for with DLA so that i dont metaphorically drown in housework. Shes always happy and chats to me here and there and i try and leave them to get on with it, but if im in then i will have to get past etc or use things. She doesnt give me a set time though. I hope she doesnt secretly hate me for it

It’s rude and so annoying. I stopped a clean for a client that was always there… during COVID (when we were out of lockdown but things were still pretty bad); literally couldn’t clean anything as they were always in the rooms .. sitting on sofa whilst I was trying to hoover or sitting round kitchen table with guests whilst I was trying to clean the kitchen. I just got so fed up with it i quit.

@RedToothBrush

Fucksake just get on with the job or dont.

Well she probably would get on with the job if the Man of the house didn't interrupt her cleaning one of the several toilets he has at his disposal to piss in the one she's cleaning.

That is literally the height of disrespect. I would have quit on the spot right there and then.

I don't have a home cleaner, but I know for a fact that if I went into the Work break room while our cleaner was cleaning, made a sandwich on her cleaned surfaces and fucked off without cleaning up after myself, she would go to management and someone senior would have a serious word with me. It would never happen because I'm not a cunt to people in service jobs, having been one of them for years.

It's funny, isn't it? You wouldn't interrupt your plumber fitting a new tap in your bathroom to take a piss when there's another loo you could use. You wouldn't go in to the room your painter is painting, run your fingers along the wet wall and fuck off expecting him to repaint it. You wouldn't walk in and stand and stare at them working, or pull the plug on the power tool they are currently using. You respect that they are there to fulfill a service you want them to do and you stay the fuck out of their way so they can do it professionally.

It's absolutely a deliberate marking of territory, marking of superiority and ego to do those things to your cleaner when you'd never do it to your plumber or electrician or painter.

You've even displayed that bias yourself @RedToothBrush - you'd offer tradesmen a cup of tea all nice and deferentail but you see nothing wrong with literally pissing on your cleaners task while she's in the middle of it.

Fortunately all my clients offer me several cups of tea/coffee during my visit and when invited to socialise of an evening a glass of wine/prosecco etc
Honestly folks find yourself friendlier cleaners/ clients!

If you can replace them easily I would have a firm conversation with the wives you are dealing with, explain the exact problem, and give them notice that if it doesn't change they will need to find a new cleaner.
When our cleaner is here we get out of the house or stay well out of the way and tiptoe past to avoid interrupting her, she's an absolute gem and I would hate to lose her.
I agree with PP this sounds like real male entitlement and you should not put up with it.

I just think this is seeming more of a non problem.

(& anything a householder does to make the cleaner uncomfortable in their working environment is beyond the pale )

My view one last time

1. Stay out of the way of your cleaner as much as you can because otherwise you are wasting your own money by making their job more difficult or they simply won't be able to do it.
2. If you can't & then you mess up something he / she has already cleaned - well the cleaner has done the job - so crumbs coffee mug stains footprints etc - up to you
3. Sometimes unreasonable for cleaners to ask for the house to be completely free as someone WFH could have been on back to back calls since 5am and they want a coffee or a sandwich in their own home which they failed to make at 4.30 am ( not often the case , but an example. ) Asking someone to vacate a bathroom when there is another loo I would count as making cleaner uncomfortable and would be with the cleaner definitely on that.

If the relationship between cleaner and householder is getting too difficult for either then both have the option to stop it ( assuming cleaner has autonomy. )

I rest my case