To be annoyed cleaner opens the window...

[ImStillMe]

....because of Covid. I ventilate when the office is busier later in the day but early morning it's just me in and it's cold.

But the cleaner walks in and opens the windows. I'm sure she wouldn't do that to the MD sitting in his office.

She popped back in one day and gave me a dirty look as I had shut them. I've already told her that I open them later.

I know I need to just tell her not to open them but I think she's going to answer back and it'll all be very awkward.

What to say?

I think you might be missing Dotjones' sarcasm, here.

But it hasn’t . Not at all. 🤔

I think she meant it would lead to confrontation
rather than how dare she

And on the same token I have a right not to be cold at my workplace.

I’m not wearing more layers than necessary because someone else’s paranoia has got the better of them.

If they don’t feel safe being out and about in public then they need to stay at home until they can control themselves without inflicting their madness on everyone else.

This anxiety shouldn’t be pandered to.

I used to be a cleaner and would never open a client's windows. It's their home and up to them whether they want their window open or not. The only time I ever opened windows was during the summer when the lady I cleaned for was staying with her daughter for a few weeks and I opened all the windows to get some air into the house while she was away and then closed them before I left.

I'd expunge the phrase "answers back" from your vocabulary to be honest. Awful phrase and does immediately shout I am better than you. Being kind, I think what you may be saying is what if she says no and I don't want that confrontation. You are in an open plan office so your assertion that she wouldn't do it to the MD is a bit of a moot point also as she probably wouldn't clean when he/she is in their office. Do you work in a very hierarchical organisation as your post screams that you do!

It’s common sense that the person who is sitting in the cold gets more of a say than the person who is moving around and cleaning the office.

Put a jumper on and get over it

It’s common sense that the person with either a permanent desk or, if hot desking, a locker – and thus access and ability to store jumpers, extra layers, carte blanche to go and make a hot drink – just lets the cleaner open the window for the short time they’re there.

It hasn't.

Covid hasn't finished.
It's never going to finish.
It's here to stay.

I think people mean restrictions are no longer in place eg lockdown and just don't think about the way they're putting it.

Op yabu. Opening a window is important to air out rooms. Put on a jumper, close the window after ten minutes.

When she says because of covid how do you know she doesn't mean that it is as a result of covid, now one of her job roles to open the windows every day ?

Answers back?
Is the cleaner 5?

This.

YABU and doubly so for "answer back". She isn't a child you can dictate to.

Thanks for your incorrect medical diagnosis.

How old is she? Maybe she's going through the menopause and feeling very hot 🔥

The fact that you have called it “answering back”, rather than considering it a conversation with coworkers & fellow human being, is very telling.

Plus that you consider yourself “alone in the office”, when you are not alone, she is there!

To use your own words - you wouldn’t say that if this was the “MD” and not the “Cleaner”.

It's her work environment too and she is mitigating her risk of illness and time off work in an effective way.

So you ventilate when there are other people in the office, partly due to covid, but when it’s just you, you don’t?
Is the cleaner not a person too? If she is opening the window then she is in the office, do you feel that she is below you in some way and doesn’t deserve to also have fresh air? You open the window when other people are in the room, but not the cleaner?

What you wrote in your OP about “she wouldn’t do that to the MD”… is quite unpleasant in what it reveals about your attitude to the cleaner.

1. it is the cleaner’s workspace too
2. you have no idea whether she is vulnerable herself or whether she has a vulnerable family member (there are 500K people with no response to the vax, waiting on a drug called Evusheld provided in every other G7 country but not in the U.K.);
3. ventilation / airing is an important part of cleaning; and
4. Just wear a cardi

Take a bloomin cardi in with you.

She's entitled to a comfortable working environment just as much as you are. She's probably hot from doing a physical job, you can put a jumper on if you're cold, she can't strip off if she's too hot!

I think the cleaner is right.

She is ventilating the place and Covid is still very much an issue...It might also be one of the job requirement that she has to open the windows.

The question should be why is the cleaner not being contracted to do her job outside working hours.

I have never had a cleaner come around when people are in the office working.

Places were cleaned in the evenings or early morning before staff arrived.

Are you working a different pattern from anyone else?

Yabu. She probably isn't paid if she gets ill. She can open as many windows as she likes. I still open some windows in work every so often. Not everyone likes being ill.

One of my dcs has it at the moment so I'm keeping the place ventilated. If I get ill no one gets looked after.

You think?

When I clean, I open the windows because it helps improve air quality. It’s also sensible during Covid times as you’re both in a small space and either of you could be infected. Yes it’s uncomfortable having cold air in an office but you can wear a jumper and then close the windows when she leaves the office.