To sack cleaner for this?

[Katrinawaves]

My husband and I had a mix up today and both left cash out to pay the cleaner. She has taken both lots of cash so double her normal payment for the day. Would I be unreasonable to sack her for this? My husband is saying we should just not pay her next week but I am concerned now about her honesty. What would you do?

She Is A Liar - Davide

Just be honest. Because you can't text her next time she comes casually say : oh obviously I don't need to pay you this week, because last week I Paid you, not knowing that my husband had already left the money out for you.

This for goodness sake

I'd talk to her.

It sounds like she might have just forgotten she picked the first lot up. Unless she saw you put it down, she probably just saw £50 on the table and took it on her way out, thinking that she'd seen, but not picked up the money earlier.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor

Can't you do your own cleaning if you're at home?

Sometimes I leave double the money out for payment for the following week. Perhaps she thought you were doing the same? I think it is ridiculous and offensive that you are assuming she has been dishonest.

I’d simply send a quick SMS, mentioning thanks for the great job today. Just noting payment of £ * made to cover for this week and next week x

She didn't look at two piles of money, there was 1 £50 note on the side.

She picked it up, did the clean and when she came back to the side another £50 note had appeared, she picked it up and took it.

So yeah theres the potential she thought 'oh, thought I'd picked that up, clearly not' and pocketed it, and at the point of leaving the the property hadn't realised she'd actually taken it twice.

When doing routine stuff its pretty easy to go into auto pilot and not be sure if you're remembering doing that thing this week, this morning, last week etc.

Case in point, I need my OH to spot me taking my medication each day, because I do it every day, if he doesn't also see it, I can mix up remembering taking yesterdays pills... or I have twice now given myself my long acting insulin twice in one day because I thought I was remembering the previous days jab, not the one I did an hour earlier!

If the OP had left a different set of notes, or in a different place - then yes it would be much clearer!

So I guess its down to how the cleaner behaves now - if they get a text saying 'oops, seems you picked up two payments as I didn't realise husband had left the money out already, keep that for next weeks payment' and they react by denying it... you know!

You should have addressed it as soon as you realised
Now she can play dumb and pretend she doesnt remember
This would really piss me off

Sacking her is a bit extreme! Give her a call and explain that you have paid next week in advance inadvertently.

I could easily forget I'd picked up cash earlier - mind is useless at task-switching and wouldn't register rout

So it was a mix up but whoever left the second £50 could see there was money already in place?

You use an agency which has no issue with leaving cash for cleaners? Quite unusual where I am, perhaps it varies.

Either way, before you leap to sacking you might want to check the facts. If you are using a cash cleaner from her PoV if she doesn't take the money you could refuse to pay her next week because you left an advance this week or just accuse her of stealing it anyway. Get yourselves organised and pay properly.

Sorry - mind wouldn't register routine actions

@Katrinawaves so you've had 7/8 cleaners in the last 14 years, they come via an agency so you don't have direct contact details?

Really?

You pay the agency extra on the off chance they're sick or on holiday?

Why?

Similar happened to me a couple of years ago when I was working , client left what looked like a Christmas card for me out and separate pile of cash I picked up both

didn’t open the card until I had finished the rest of my clients much later in the day , upon opening the card there was large amount of cash far to much to be a Christmas bonus

i simply called and said maybe there’s been a error , turns out there was the wife had done the card with two weeks wages over the festive period + a bonus , and husband saw there was no cash left out and decided to leave it with a bonus 🙈

was easily resolved with communication

Exactly. She HAS been dishonest.

I would message the agency and say that two weeks of money were left
this week so she owes
You next week. After next weeks clean phone the agency and tell them
You would like a different cleaner. Dishonest. I wouldn't have someone like that in my
Home

A makeup artist did my make up for a wedding back in May and her make up palette and lipstick got mixed with my stuff. It was brand new but i tracked her on insta when I noticed the two items, notified her that I had the items. She was travelling a bit for her job and then was on holiday and last week I posted it back to her when she was finally back in her home address. The make up items cost something around £150. The problem in this instance there was no communication, there was no reconfirming despite op being at home. My husband sometimes leaves cash around and if my cleaner did this, she will break the trust and it would be dealbreaker. My cleaner knows how much she is paid and say if she picked the cash without counting, she could still contact you afterwards notifying plus this second stash of money could have be left for anything that day, perhaps a delivery and she took it!

Op is wfh. That’s doing a job just at home so no, I don’t imagine she can.

I also think she could have been on autopilot op. If she cleans well, I thunk seriously about what I was going to say.

I think sacking someone without first having a conversation with them to clarify what really has happened is unreasonable.

Did she absentmindedly pick it up forgetting she already had done so earlier?

Did she take it knowing that she had already been paid? This could be because she was stealing and hoping that you wouldn’t realise that dh had already paid her. Or she genuinely thought that you meant to pay her for whatever reason in advance.

Were you available for her to approach you and ask? Or were you busy with work or on a phone call etc. and she didn’t want to interrupt?

Be mature and ask her. Then make your decision based on how she responds.

I can see why you think her honesty is questionable and given the role cleaners have, with access to so much, honesty is an absolute requirement. But then, if you’ve got a cleaner who requires payment in cash you’ve a high likelihood (though not a certainty) of having someone who’s fiddling their taxes anyway, so it should probably have been on your radar.

Speaking to her is the right thing to do, though I think its unlikely she could say much that would do anything other than make matters worse.

The problem with this approach is - it’s easy to make up an excuse if asked for one after the fact. There will probably be no way for OP to verify if it’s true so OP is unlikely to trust her, whatever she says.

This is the way I think I’d take.

My culture is different than yours and tipping (and since COVID)generous tipping are very normal. I tip my cat sitter almost the same as the fee because I know the agency takes a bunch and I want her to really take the time to play and interact with my cat.

Still, I let her know where the fee is, and that the money next to it is her tip. Because I’ve had sitters not take the tip money even when I put a note on it. (I figured out they wouldn’t open the note and thought the money might be another night sitter or something… yes I am a weird cat lady)

I also feel somewhat … I dunno.., bashful about situations like this. Here this woman is thinking I’m generous and probably excited for the extra money and now I’ve got to tell her the money isn’t for her.

I don’t know why people rush to think theft, but I suspect it’s a cultural thing. It wouldn’t enter my mind because of course she thought it was a tip… that’s what we do here!

Still, I think texting as if your not sure where she places that other $50 allows you both to save face.

Just ring her and ask!
Good grief, what is wrong with people making all these holier than thou opinions? Tell you what drag her through the village, flog her and tie her to the stake…
You haven’t even discussed it but yep
your up for sacking her….your bloody stupid mistake do the decent thing and ring her. No one has time for this pathetic “woe is me, the servant stole from us”
ohh best check the silver she’s probably sold that as well.
Get a bloody grip, the woman has been working for you for years and you take to a forum over something like this? You either have a pathetically boring life or love drama. You need to get out more. Reality check there are real life dramas going on in peoples life’s and this is not one of them.

She might not have realised. I do a lot of things on auto pilot and the days merge into one. Talk to her.