Would you expect a cleaner too...

[pinkunicorns54]

Move things on the kitchen tops to clean under them?
I'm thinking like kettle, mug tree, toaster etc?

I don't know how to enable voting on the app... but...

YABU - no, the surface should be completely clear or the cleaner cleans the empty space

YANBU - they should move things to clean.

Context - fortnightly 2hr clean small 2 bed 1 bath property.

I'm not sure whether I am being unreasonable, so hoping to get some perspective

Yes, they should move things in all rooms to clean under/behind.

Yes. I am a domestic cleaner, and I’d never leave someone’s kitchen without cleaning under/behind everything on countertops, unless instructed otherwise by the client.

I would expect things like kettle should be moved, if there was a bigger thing like a microwave maybe move it every 4 or 6 weeks?

A 2 hour clean once pre fortnight isn't a huge amount though so I'd talk priorities through as there are certainly tradeoffs to be made.

Yes! Absolutely! I give my surfaces a quick wipe down daily but when my cleaner comes once a week she moves the toaster/kettle/breadbin and cleans under/behind them! She also lifts the knicknacks I have on my mantle etc to dust. I do make an effort to have the house tidy for her coming so that she has a relatively clear run at it though

Yes, but they never do. You need to ask and show, I’ve found.

What are all the tasks you expect your cleaner to do in those two hours? Could you do all those tasks in two hours? Does she have time to do that or is she in a rush so has to cut corners?

Just asking because it used to take me half a day to clean my one bedroom flat...

I’d expect cleaner to move eg toaster or kettle. I wouldn’t expect them to move piles of personal possessions and mess or to tidy up clutter.

I'm a cleaner in a surgery, so not quite the same. I have 2 kitchens to clean ( offices), and I always clear the counter tops before cleaning them. It doesn't take me long. Fortunately, I love cleaning kitchens.

Yes for a proper clean. But 2 hrs once a fortnight is not enough for a proper clean IMO so something has to give.

It depends what else they're expected to do in 2 hours.

When they started I specified focus on the kitchen and bathroom as those were the rooms we struggled with the most - the rest we would be able to manage easier.

I guess I wasn't specific about actually moving things. Although they do it in the bathroom 🤷🏼‍♀️ just not the kitchen!

Yes. In fact a workman said he watched (he was doing work just outside the kitchen) the cleaning woman remove all my crap off the island, clean it, and replace all my crap back on it (I usually try and make sure there's not much crap at all).
Two hours in a small flat isn't going to go far if only every two weeks. But be specific about what you want done if it's not being done the way you want it.

And if she broke something she moved you would be asking her to pay for it.
move your own stuff some of you are so entitled

It’s hardly entitled to expect someone you are paying to do a proper job. I’ve had a few cleaners over the years and even the worse moved the toaster and kettle to clean behind it.

*worst

Of course they should!

Cleaning around stuff is the lazy behaviour I’d expect from young teenagers who have been asked to help clean, not someone who is supposed to be a professional who’s getting paid.

2 hours should be plenty to clean a small flat with one bathroom. When I lived in a similar flat I could have had it all gleaming in that time.

We have a two bedroomed flat. Two cleaners come once a month and spend about two hours cleaning. They move everything in the kitchen and clean under them, the same in the other rooms, stuff is moved and cleaned and put back roughly where it was.

Yes I would expect them to be moved. Anything up to that which needs a two person lift for safety. So kettles, bottles, bins, microwave, dining chairs/stools/footstools etc should be moved. Larger furniture such as chest of drawers/huge sofas/wardrobes - no.

yanbu.

Yes and no. My cleaner's spec is not to clean the kitchen because it is wiped down every day for basic hygiene reasons and needs at all times to be immaculate not once a fortnight.

Whilst wiping down the worktops, cooker top, sink, etc, it takes nano seconds to give handles a wipe clean and the doors occasionally.