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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think my cleaner should stay for two hours?

231 replies

Holeandthentwo · 20/12/2021 15:27

I pay for a cleaner to clean my house every other week. The minimum you can pay for is two hours, which is fine.

However, I’ve noticed over the months that she leaves early. At first it was only ten minutes or so and I didn’t care, but it’s built up and built up so that today she arrived at 2pm and left at 3pm. I always make myself scarce when she’s there so I’m not getting in her way, but I know the times because my Ring doorbell sends an alert as she arrives and leaves.

I’m torn about whether to say anything, because it’s now half the time I pay for, but she is a good cleaner, provides all the equipment, and is happy to let herself in with the key, and I feel trusting of her having a key.

Should I say anything? Or just accept that she can clean the house in half the time I pay for?

YABU - say nothing because the clean is still being done

YANBU - say something because it’s not what I’m paying for

OP posts:
Shadow1678 · 21/12/2021 19:21

I’m a cleaner, I always stay for the time the customer has paid for, there’s always something to fill the time , I’d never leave early you need to mention it to her she’s taking the p*

Shadow1678 · 21/12/2021 19:23

No the cleaner is taking advantage of the op’s trust. There’s always something to do to fill the time or she should only get paid for an hour if that’s all she needs to do the job.

Nanny0gg · 21/12/2021 19:24

@tangone

She may just be very fast and efficient. Add a few jobs if you are really peeved.

To a previous poster - why shouldn’t cleaners earn £14 an hour?

Then she finds more to do
impossible · 21/12/2021 19:27

If she's doing what you agreed and were happy to pay for then I wouldn't worry too much, though if the one hour clean becomes normal I'd give her a few more jobs.

Tumbleweed101 · 21/12/2021 19:34

If she is able to get basic jobs done but unsure what else you'd like done maybe add a list of the other things you'd be happy to have done to fill the time.

Witchinthedales · 21/12/2021 19:34

I'm a cleaner and I would never leave early and still expect to be paid in full. Usually if I get my jobs done quicker than usual I ask if there's anything else they'd like doing to fill the rest of my time. YANBU

Jewel52 · 21/12/2021 19:39

Cleaning is done primarily by women and in recent years, often by women who come to the uk with none of the advantages most middle class women born here enjoy. Yet, somehow, rather than having an appreciation that they’re relieving us of the repetitive mundane tasks we don’t want to carry out, we want to stand on their necks and tightly control their hourly rate and monitor their hours like they were in an industrialist’s factory. For shame

DogsandCatsB4u · 21/12/2021 19:40

So cleaners should be paid minimum wage to clean your pissy toilet, pubic hair, skin cells and empty your bins with your bloody tampons in it and dealing with breathing in chemicals all day yet you think someone deserves only £10ph for this?
Why don’t you clean your homes yourself.

Cleaning is hard work and sometimes disgusting I earn my £14ph and I will be charging more in the new year.

You want to pay a cleaner £10ph expect someone who doesn’t pay tax and you can be done for hiring someone who may not have legal status to stay here.

woodhill · 21/12/2021 19:44

it is a flexible job and you don't need to be qualified though and it does require a level of trust

Some other jobs such as admin, TAs or retail don't pay much better though there are advantages like sick pay holiday pensions etc

TractorAndHeadphones · 21/12/2021 19:49

@Jewel52

Cleaning is done primarily by women and in recent years, often by women who come to the uk with none of the advantages most middle class women born here enjoy. Yet, somehow, rather than having an appreciation that they’re relieving us of the repetitive mundane tasks we don’t want to carry out, we want to stand on their necks and tightly control their hourly rate and monitor their hours like they were in an industrialist’s factory. For shame
Who hired you to write the screenplay for Oliver Twist? Don't you understand the concept of being paid hourly, vs being paid a fixed/output based salary? Plenty of posters have said that cleaner leaving a few mins early etc is not an issue, but an entire hour is taking the piss.
CrankyFrankie · 21/12/2021 19:49

Definitely give them a special project each time.

CeibaTree · 21/12/2021 19:54

@Holeandthentwo

£14 an hour - in cash ? So, assuming not being declared to the Inland Revenue, the equivalent of £20 per hour for anyone who does pay tax/NI.

I haven’t said I pay £14 and I haven’t said I pay in cash.

For those who’ve asked - it isn’t a big house. Two bedroomed terraced house. I don’t have kids (or a DP) so it’s clean and tidy enough when she arrives.

That's tricky, it sounds like there isn't really two hours work to do. If you got her to deep clean the oven/fridge that would only be one week's solution. Do you pay her directly or the agency? If the agency she might only fill in her timesheet for one hour?
Bluebelle100 · 21/12/2021 20:00

Actions speak louder than words....pay her for the 1 hour.......

lboogy · 21/12/2021 20:27

Who hired you to write the screenplay for Oliver Twist? 🤣🤣🤣

lilly7221w · 21/12/2021 20:36

I'd just pay for one hour...explain that she only did one hour.

Tessabelle1 · 21/12/2021 20:47

I'm a cleaner and if you're paying me for 2 hours, I do 2 hours. Give her more work or at least point out you know what she's up to, she might think you don't know

roastedsaltedpeanut · 21/12/2021 21:01

It depends on what she did in that one hour.
If she is clever and fast working, ie using hacks and experience to clean as opposed to elbow grease and achieve the same result in an hour instead of two I would be delighted keep her. This must involve proper deep clean to reach a professional standard. The expertise alone is worth the “pay rise”.

If you have only given her very basic maintenance tasks (hoover, mop, dust etc) and she had been cutting corners then replace her. Cutting corners means usually indicate laziness or amateur/ wanna be cleaner. Find replacement asap.

TractorAndHeadphones · 21/12/2021 21:14

@roastedsaltedpeanut

It depends on what she did in that one hour. If she is clever and fast working, ie using hacks and experience to clean as opposed to elbow grease and achieve the same result in an hour instead of two I would be delighted keep her. This must involve proper deep clean to reach a professional standard. The expertise alone is worth the “pay rise”.

If you have only given her very basic maintenance tasks (hoover, mop, dust etc) and she had been cutting corners then replace her. Cutting corners means usually indicate laziness or amateur/ wanna be cleaner. Find replacement asap.

Out of interest are there actually people who can clean that fast? I appreciate that professional cleaners can do a lot more than me with experience and professional products but I doubt that they can be that efficient. Unless the house has a very minimalist design...
mummypie17 · 21/12/2021 21:24

I'm a private tutor and if I'm paid for 2 hours work, I ensure my students have the full two hour lesson (even if we've gone through the work quicker than planned).

When I used to take driving lessons and I had paid for a 2 hour lesson, I would get roughly the full time even if we'd gone through the main manoeuvres.

BoredZelda · 21/12/2021 21:49

So, assuming not being declared to the Inland Revenue, the equivalent of £20 per hour for anyone who does pay tax/NI.

Plenty of businesses deal in cash and declare the earnings.

pinkpantherpink · 21/12/2021 21:51

@Holeandthentwo

£14 an hour - in cash ? So, assuming not being declared to the Inland Revenue, the equivalent of £20 per hour for anyone who does pay tax/NI.

I haven’t said I pay £14 and I haven’t said I pay in cash.

For those who’ve asked - it isn’t a big house. Two bedroomed terraced house. I don’t have kids (or a DP) so it’s clean and tidy enough when she arrives.

I love the assumption about paying in cash. And especially the reference to the Inland Revenue which hasn't existed for nearly 20 years.

It's not right that dental nurses earn practically minimum wage.

I don't know any cleaners but guess they can't rely on a solid 40 hr week at £14ph. Plus the cleaner won't be getting that anyway. The owner will take her cut.

Funny how people can get outraged at such things.

OP, remember this is a service you are paying for. You need to give constructive feedback. This needs to work around you and not vice versa

BoredZelda · 21/12/2021 21:52

I'm a private tutor and if I'm paid for 2 hours work, I ensure my students have the full two hour lesson (even if we've gone through the work quicker than planned).

When I used to take driving lessons and I had paid for a 2 hour lesson, I would get roughly the full time even if we'd gone through the main manoeuvres.

Both of these are different scenarios. If the cleaner completes the clean in an hour, to the required standard, she’s doing what she was asked to do.

My cleaner charges for 2 hours. I couldn’t care less how long it takes her if she does the job she is paid for.

Harmonypuss · 21/12/2021 21:54

@tangone

why shouldn’t cleaners earn £14 an hour?

Until I was forced into retirement a few years ago I worked in the NHS and was controlling a £20million budget, running conferences, writing contracts etc and wasn't even earning £11/hr, so it amazes me that someone doing what most consider a 'menial job' with no responsibility attached should be earning more than minimum wage.

Usuallyunreasonable · 21/12/2021 22:01

Both of these are different scenarios. If the cleaner completes the clean in an hour, to the required standard, she’s doing what she was asked to do

No one is able to do a 2 hour clean in 1 hour. That’s impossible. Unless you’re The Flash. Is the cleaner The Flash? Also, cleaning, like tutoring etc is not a “finite end” type job. There is always additional stuff that can be done. I used to tutor; if we finished the assigned stuff, we moved onto something else. When I am cleaning my own home, if I have finished cleaning the surfaces I can always use wood polish or varnish etc. It’s so lazy and disingenuous to pretend after 1 hour she is finished and can’t find anything else to do, for a 2 hour job. It’s literally half the allotted time. It’s bullshit

ZaraBananaAnd · 21/12/2021 22:09

Sacked mine today. Had enough of being messed about. Like you I pay for 2 hours but she has been leaving earlier and earlier now it’s approx 20 mins each time then she came today and was in the kitchen for 30 mins and I was in my office (next to kitchen) anyway , heard her leave and when I walked through she hadn’t even cleaned the kitchen at all ???? I text her and she said she had . Literally nothing had moved. It wasn’t clean , nothing wiped