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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I didn’t like this - would you have felt the same?

134 replies

SharpeSam · 03/11/2021 22:17

I had a cleaner start today - never had one before so was very excited!

I’d planned to be out of her way when she was here, but as it happened I got home about 30 mins early to see she was cleaning barefoot.

I felt really odd about this. Would anyone else have felt the same?

OP posts:
Redhound · 04/11/2021 01:41

I am actually a bit shocked by this thread. I clean for an elderly lady (not for a job as such, just to help out) and automatically take my shoes off atthe door and clean barefoot. It has never crossed my mind to do otherwise or that anyone could be offended. My feet are non-sweaty and non-diseased and the lady I clean for has an immaculate house anyway. Shoes seem far dirtier. I am really taken aback that it is considered impolite by anyone but then I am always barefoot so it seems normal to me.

prawntoastie · 04/11/2021 01:42

She’s a £10 a hour cleaner isn’t she?

prawntoastie · 04/11/2021 01:43

If you aren’t paying above £14 for a cleaner expect to have a bare foot stranger who steals your spare change

avamiah · 04/11/2021 01:45

@SharpeSam

I had a cleaner start today - never had one before so was very excited!

I’d planned to be out of her way when she was here, but as it happened I got home about 30 mins early to see she was cleaning barefoot.

I felt really odd about this. Would anyone else have felt the same?

You sound ridiculous and a bit weird if I’m being honest and I’m always Very Honest.

If getting a cleaner makes you feel “excited” then her bare feet are the least of your worries “SharpeSam”.

ReggaetonLente · 04/11/2021 01:50

I really wouldn't care BUT back when we had a cleaner her socks got wet doing the bathroom and I said it was fine for her to just clean barefoot, she was horrified and instead said she had to go home... So I guess it works both ways Confused

She was a lovely woman though and brought slippers from that day on!

Snoopsnoggysnog · 04/11/2021 01:55

Good thing you doing have my cleaner OP… I got home one day to find her wearing MY slippers Shock I did ask her not to and bought her her own pair.

avamiah · 04/11/2021 01:59

@Snoopsnoggysnog,

Lol 🤭

AnyFucker · 04/11/2021 02:29

The staff??

< whoooosh > Smile

TasteTheMeatNotTheHeat · 04/11/2021 02:52

Is this some weird British thing that's a mystery to outsiders? Feet are gross and unhygienic? Fungal infections? What are you people doing with your feet?

Yes, I used to live there and people are definitely weird about feet. A lot of people leave their shoes on when they walk inside someone's house.

I would expect a cleaner to remove their shoes before coming into my home, unless they were doing a particularly dirty job and planned to take them off for the final floor clean.

ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba · 04/11/2021 03:02

if you thinking cleaning while barefooted is bad the brace yourself: my cook touches all the food with his bare hands and the pool boy is always bare-chested.
I mean he tries to put a shirt on but I demand he takes it off, slowly...

Userguaranteed · 04/11/2021 06:39

@JanetFromAccounts

Is this some weird British thing that's a mystery to outsiders? Feet are gross and unhygienic? Fungal infections? What are you people doing with your feet?
Not surprising when some people happily say they don't wash from the waist down.

I'd be grossed out to have anyone's feet touching my gold floors too.

SweetMaryHell · 04/11/2021 06:48

£14 an hour? Christ I’m in the wrong job

HelloDulling · 04/11/2021 06:54

I don’t think there is anything gross about it, so no, it wouldn’t bother me.

Do you actually never go barefoot in a hotel room or at the side of a pool?

Redsquirrel5 · 04/11/2021 06:55

So just ask her to wear shoes.

Snoopsnoggysnog · 04/11/2021 07:45

@HelloDulling

I don’t think there is anything gross about it, so no, it wouldn’t bother me.

Do you actually never go barefoot in a hotel room or at the side of a pool?

No. I wear slippers in hotel rooms and flip flops at a pool side.
Newmumatlast · 04/11/2021 07:49

@SharpeSam

She didn’t have socks or shoes on.
To be honest I'd expect no shoes but I have a thing about feet - makes me get the ick- so I'd provide slippers for her comfort in the hope that she would then not go barefoot ha!
Newmumatlast · 04/11/2021 07:51

@HelloDulling

I don’t think there is anything gross about it, so no, it wouldn’t bother me.

Do you actually never go barefoot in a hotel room or at the side of a pool?

Side of a pool in a leisure centre yes but gives me the ick as doesn't feel clean. On holiday no I'd wear flip flops. Hotel rooms I'd pretty much never (can't be sure havent once or twice) go barefoot as again I would get the ick. I'm a bit odd though!
Platax · 04/11/2021 08:06

We're always barefoot around the house, I can't see the problem.

Derbee · 04/11/2021 08:30

I wouldn’t like it either. Socks yes, bare feet no. Yuck. Don’t know if I’d say anything though

Original poster
SharpeSam · 04/11/2021 08:46

Thanks for further opinions.

I don’t know why people have to be snide. I never said anything at all about the “staff” not being up to it etc, I simply was canvassing opinions. I’m not going to buy/suggest slippers because if she wants to clean barefoot that’s up to her, I just wondered if I was alone in not liking it. All the butter/valet stuff - I really don’t understand where that’s come from.

She’s not a £10/hour cleaner (whatever that means), I don’t know why my frontline comment (true but somehow inappropriate to state?) made someone laugh, and if some people find me ridiculous, well I’m too old to change now!

Off to watch Friends, which I’ve never seen, to learn about bras and tress and jeans and the like!

And I’m grateful for the ones I got

OP posts:
Original poster
SharpeSam · 04/11/2021 08:47

Grateful for the opinions that is!

OP posts:
dworky · 04/11/2021 09:00

Why, her feet must be cleaner than her shoes.

loveliesbleeding1 · 04/11/2021 09:18

Does she have to get inside a shower cubicle? Maybe her socks got wet when she rinsed it out. I always clean my shower barefoot because of this.

TheYearOfSmallThings · 04/11/2021 09:38

Is this some weird British thing that's a mystery to outsiders? Feet are gross and unhygienic? Fungal infections? What are you people doing with your feet?

Are you thinking veruccas and athlete's foot don't exist in other countries? I encourage you to speak to a podiatrist or pedicurist in the country you live in. People may have more things to worry about, but these things are certainly present there.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 04/11/2021 09:49

Probably better than wearing outdoor shoes, but she wouldn’t want to be on wet floors in socks.

Our cleaners wear those plastic overshoes you get at swimming pools.

Would those be an option, or slippers for her?

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