To expect the cleaner to change the bin?

[josil]

Just that really - I honestly can't work out If IABU or not?!

I'm prepared to be told I am but I don't think I am?!

They used to change it but all of a sudden stopped - I find it odd and would expect it to be included by a cleaner.

Should I mention it or do I just let it slip?

Or AIBU?! First world problems I know but it's starting to irritate me.

Yes I expect mine to do this but every time have had to ask with new ones in recent years.

Depends if its full or not. No point emptying a half full bin and wasting a bag. I'd be annoyed if mine kept wasting bags emptying a half full bin.

Mine doesn’t but would if I asked her.

Yes mine takes out the rubbish and puts in new bin liners. Would have thought it would be one of the top priority things they'd do.
She also takes all the rubbish from various small bins throughout the house e.g bathroom.
Just ask your cleaner to do it. Seems a bit odd she stopped.

It's full, it gets full most days so usually when she comes it's full. I feel cheeky asking - I don't know why.

Hence why I thought I'd check here first to make sure I'm not being unreasonable!

If the bag is full, it’s not unreasonable.

Of course you ask if you’d like them to start doing it again. I don’t get this passiveness some people have when they observe something and instead of just saying a few words to address the situation, they mull over it for X amount of time and even consult strangers on the internet to help them decide. If you said something the first time you wouldn’t be irritated now. I assume they’re being paid so you can assign tasks as you wish.

Yes but in my experience they stop doing things.
For example mines hoovers until it’s full, then stops and leaves if full for me to deal with.

Your kitchen bin gets full most days? Is it tiny or are you throwing loads away? I know this isn't the point of the thread but ours is emptied every 5-6 days.

If it is full, just ask her.

I wouldn't expect this but then we only empty the bin twice a week. How do you fill a bin everyday ?

Just tell them...

On the other hand, I only put non recyclables in my kitchen bin and put any food waste in a small bin outside so my kitchen bin might not be full for weeks. I would be most annoyed if the cleaner emptied it every week but we have had this conversation and she knows what I want her to do when she is here.

Our cleaner has never emptied the bins, nor would I expect her to.

We change it every 3 to 4 days, and as the Simple Human bags are so fecking expensive I don't waste them.

Mine does all my bins, she is an angel sent from heaven tho

We don't have a cleaner any more, but my previous one never did. I asked her about it once and she said she'd once had a client who'd thrown something valuable in the bin by mistake, the cleaner emptied them all and so it was gone (I think it was a watch or jewellery or something, I can't recall now).

Ever since, she didn't empty any client's bins so it was not her fault if something got thrown out.

@Hercisback

Your kitchen bin gets full most days? Is it tiny or are you throwing loads away? I know this isn't the point of the thread but ours is emptied every 5-6 days.

If it is full, just ask her.

How do you manage to make a bin last 5-6 days!!? I'm well impressed. We've got 3 big bins for different recycling things and each are full pretty much daily.

We deliberately don't buy a lot of stuff. Recycling I fill a wheelie bin sized bin every 2 weeks. I can usually do 6 weeks without putting the actual waste bin out.

Look at what goes in your bin, do you need all of it?

Completely reasonable for them to empty bins. Had cleaners for years and years and not a single one has ever refused to change bins. If they had, I would have found a new cleaner.

In my experience though, if a cleaner is getting stroppy or isn’t doing as good a job, it’s worth having a chat, but most likely you will be looking for a new cleaner soon!

@Hercisback

We deliberately don't buy a lot of stuff. Recycling I fill a wheelie bin sized bin every 2 weeks. I can usually do 6 weeks without putting the actual waste bin out.

Look at what goes in your bin, do you need all of it?

How do you fill the recycling bin every two weeks if you’re not buying lots of stuff? Fortnightly collection here and my bins are never more than half full. I’d be happy with monthly collections

I'm a cleaner, I do empty bins and i carry my own liners to pop back in the bins (including small waste bins in bedrooms, bathrooms) but I do have one client who must empty their bin either the morning I arrive or the day before, so if this is the case and it's barely been used (just general waste not food waste) I'll leave it and just give the outside of the bin a wipe down rather then waste plastic for the sake of it. I often need to change their food bin liner though.

@Hercisback

Your kitchen bin gets full most days? Is it tiny or are you throwing loads away? I know this isn't the point of the thread but ours is emptied every 5-6 days.

If it is full, just ask her.

Every 5 or 6 days? Omg, ours needs emptying every day or it smells.

OP I'd expect bins to be done as priority.

We have separate food waste so no smells.

Recycling bin has a lot of cardboard which takes up space. Mostly from job related deliveries. Plus wine, milk and the stuff the kids bring home from school/nursery. We don't pack it well either, just throw stuff in so there's often space left.

Of course.

It’s part of their job.

A bag a day?! Is it a full size black bag? I'm not one of the crazy climate people by any stretch but that's really ridiculous.

I see your dilemma. Because they've done it in the past and then stopped you see it as something they should be doing and aren't even though you continue to pay them the same.
Thing is, I'd always see something like emptying a bin as something extra.. either as a previously requested task by yourself or a gesture from their perspective.. rather than something that SHOULD be done by cleaners.

Cleaners are not housekeepers. They primarily come to clean. You can ask for these jobs to be done when agreeing the scope of the job but shouldn't necessarily expect. See their previous attempts as a lucky coincidence rather than something they should have to do. A perk you got to enjoy for a while.

At the end of the day it's all about communication, OP. I don't think that they'd refuse a reasonable request that's put forth politely. But at the same time if they're otherwise good I'd let it go.

I don’t expect ours to do it. We change it when it’s full, plus we have a bin in all the bathrooms and waste paper baskets in other rooms so that’s a lot of bins and a lot of time to empty and re-line them all.

Maybe she used to but now forgets? Or runs out of time? Or had an incident where the bag split? Ask her.

I tell my cleaner specifically which jobs I want her to focus on in the time I’m paying for, it’s different each week. I write a list and she works through it. Eg if we’re having guests I’ll say focus on the guestroom first (dusting, floors, guest bathroom cleaned to high standard, bed made up, window wiped) and that might take her an hour to do well. Then it would be things like general dusting and vacuuming/mopping (omitting specific rooms if they’ve recently been done).

If the kitchen’s a mess I might ask her to focus on wiping down the cabinets and cleaning the floor.

Bins are fairly low on my priority list as it takes me seconds to empty the kitchen bin and put a new liner in. If I’m washing the bin (eg hose in the garden) I do that myself as it’s a wet, messy job.