AIBU in thinking that cleaners who get any sort of Xmas gift from their clients are very fortunate?

[Rosa1211]

I'm a cleaner, have long-standing clients, some of whom I've visited for over ten years. I hope that I'm valued as a good worker ( I'm told so ), yet only a very small percentage of my folk give a little extra indicative of the coming season. I'm ok with this as for the most part I don't think it occurs to them! Also of course, it's their choice. Do any other cleaners have a different view to this?

How do you decide who is lowly and deserving enough of your kind charity and who gets enough in their usual pay packet to buy their own chocolates?

I used to buy my cleaner a present but now I give her an extra week’s money and so do the people I share her with. The three of us furloughed her and paid her 70% in lockdown. She said she didn’t know how she would have managed without our support. We also give a Xmas bonus to the gardeners and window cleaner which makes us sound very grand but we are not. These are jobs that have just got too big for us now.

God that's nuts - who is so tight they're not giving their cleaner a bonus/tip?!

I used to make £100 in tips just on my paper round when I was a teen and that was 20 years ago!

Usually people give their hairdressers a Christmas gift, so it seems a bit snooty not to give cleaners

Why would you receive anything extra? You get paid for your work, don’t you?

I have had the same cleaner for 5 years and give her an extra £50 plus a bottle of wine.
My friends do similar with their cleaners .
I thought that was the norm .

Gave her a luxury bath set and £50. Works her socks off every week for the last 5 years rarely let us down.

Don't have a cleaner but I'll be dropping gifts (chocolates or booze) into the people I value all year - my hairdresser, vet, garage and physio.

I wonder if it's a want versus need thing.

When we did have a cleaner I considered her a luxury - not a huge one as young DC and working 4 days per week - but I really valued not having to do it myself or argue with DH about who was going to do it, so it seemed only right to give extra at Christmas .

If however you were in the situation where you're no longer able to do the cleaning yourself and already somewhat begrudging of having to pay for it, then it might be a different scenario I suppose.

If I had a cleaner I would give him a tip. I tip the refuse collectors, my postman and give small gifts to the children’s teachers, TAs and school minibus driver.
I think it’s a nice thing to do. It’s good to thank people and let them know they are valued and you appreciate them.

We always gave our cleaner a Xmas bonus, chocs and card, and she always gave us (and all her clients I believe) a gift of some sort. She was lovely.

I don't buy my cleaner a present as I don't really know what she likes but she charges £40 per clean so I gave her £100 this time to ensure she knows how much we appreciate her. She's been cleaning for me for nearly 10 years now and she's fabulous.

I used to always give my cleaner a weeks wages at Christmas. I also paid her for her holidays.

She was ace though (and still cleans for one of my siblings). I moved and haven't tried anyone to replace her. After three attempts I've given up and now live in squalor.

I always thought a weeks wage bonus was normal for cleaners. Extra if you wanted to be generous but weeks wage was the min.

i live in SE but from north and assumed this was standard.

Me too! I give a couple of bottles to the postman, the bin cleaner, the window cleaners and the bin men.

Our cleaner gets a gift every year as does my sons speech therapist. I also get the speech therapists 2 boys a selection box.

I no longer have a cleaner, as I am not working. But I’ve never paid my cleaner extra for the holidays, it’s never occurred to me too 🫤 now I’m wondering if I’m super mean. She’s set a price, I’m happy with that price so I pay her what she’s asked 🤷🏽‍♀️. We are not wealthy, I guess just middle earners perhaps that has something to do with it.

I'm abroad and we have to buy and use Service Cheques to pay our cleaner. It's set up so all social security / insurance etc is paid and to discourage working in the black. I will put 50 euros in a card for her. She is absolutely fantastic.

We have a cleaner who comes once a fortnight. She is wonderful and we're very lucky but we do it out of absolute necessity, we both work very long hours, I'm also studying a degree full time and we have 2 small children. Our finances are tight atm and it's our one luxury to be able to spend time with our children rather than on the cleaning. It doesn't mean I'm tight or ungrateful, I just couldn't afford to pay double or a cash bonus. I did make Christmas gift bags for the cleaner, nursery staff, teaching staff etc with a small Christmas candle, Bath fizz Bombs and Lindt Chocolates in each though, nicely wrapped with a nice message in.

Same here.

We use an agency so I leave cards with vouchers for the team that come that day, usually £30 each. I also give a voucher to key worker at nursery and some tea/coffee for the staff room.

I give mine a Christmas present

I could begin to think I'm either hard done by or undervalued ; however, I have the nicest bunch of people I could wish for. I count my blessings. I know what it's like to dread the thought of visiting a certain client, but need their custom.

I get a Christmas bonus at work. I make sure to give something extra to our lovely cleaner. She deserves it and it feels immoral not to.

Why would you think you’re hard done by? 😕 you advertise a service, people buy/pay for that service. Do you think everyone else who works is hard done by? Most of us don’t get gifts and bonuses at Christmas. Our thanks and ‘value’ of our work is what we’re paid.

Are your clients wealthy?

I’m surprised your long standing clients don’t give you something. I’m gifting my lovely cleaner a variety- cash, bottle of bubbly, chocs, candle. I couldn’t cope without her and feel very lucky to have found her.