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?

@YellowTreeHouse yes, but it's also a v trusted position to be in someone's house - often alone - and you hear so many horror stories of cleaners taking the mick. My SIL works for a lot of elderly clients and they value her for her company, not just the cleaning.
I'm shocked at people putting up
cameras!

Cleaner, window cleaner, bin men, evri driver (every day come rain or shine) all get a gift, we would be lost without their hard work.

Just to add, it’s much more personal than most jobs, being in clients’ homes in this way. I don’t get a bonus at work, but feel my cleaner is a trusted closely connected person who keeps our home up and running, so it feels nothing like my workplace. So I feel I want to give her a bonus.

I give mine a weeks extra pay and a card and a bottle. She gives me a card and a chocolate thing.

I thought that something - even if not a week’s pay - is normal.

We really value our lovely cleaner.

This year she got a card, a weeks paid holiday and a box of chocolates. And a big smiling Thankyou.

She works hard, and unlike me in my job, doesn't get holiday pay as standard and doesn't get a Christmas party either. So this is our way of marking the occasion.

I thought it was standard to tip at Christmas ?

This. Don’t be greedy.

I'm finding all this 'Ooh she's a treasure; we'd be lost without her!' talk a wee bit nauseating, tbh.

We've used the same company for about 15 years. They do a good, professional job and charge a reasonable rate. I don't get a Christmas bonus at work; nor do they. I don't feel this makes me 'tight', nor does it mean I don't 'really value' them.

I also thought it was standard, DH never had a cleaner before we got one but his mum was a cleaner and he always gets ours an M&S voucher.

It's nothing to do with being greedy.

Is it greedy to expect someone just to wish you a Merry Christmas in a card or a quick text? Is that too much for some people, in my case, one twat of a client who cannot even acknowledge my existence when I go past her.

It's just being decent. That costs nothing.

Don’t have a cleaner now but I used to give her an extra week’s money. Money so she could spend it on what she likes. I gave my hairdresser & the dogs’ groomer a big tip last time I saw them. They can put the money towards what they like that way.

I don't have a cleaner but i am self employed but never ever expect anything...tbh DD doing well this year with lot of patients vvvv kindly giving me a gift for her...all very tiny things pencils, bubbles, colouring books but all extras no expected but great as she have to write a thank you letter now so great letter practice. In own life I normally leave larger for postman and thanking of not as he not around this December due to strikes and seeing how badly the strikes effecting my patients is heart breaking... please mn send cards to friends and family... deliver if necessary...cards mean alot

We give our client a food gift (wine/chocs) worth about £25/30, plus two weeks pay as a bonus. She is a gem.

Oh gosh, I got my cleaner - who has been with us less than a year - a lovely present (or I hope it was, as budget meant I couldn't go too over the top). A gift bag bursting with treats: Yankee candle, posh chocolate biscuits, a Body Shop shower gel/body lotion set, cosy socks, mulled wine.
It genuinely wouldn't occur to me not to get her anything. I'm not that mean.

Mine has helped out with last minute babysitting, looks after our animals when we go away (obviously we pay for all this, but she’s super flexible) and is incredible at her job.

Sorry cleaner not client. I’m the client!

Well, I do feel it's a tad harsh to be told not to be greedy. Although I'm sure I've had worse adjectives thrown my way .

Ignore the miseries. It's perfectly natural to feel put out at not being acknowledged at Christmas.

I think it's a bit bonkers, some of you are giving your cleaners more than I would spend on extended family or my god child! I give my cleaners a token present, but I expect them to charge enough to pay themselves holiday and sick pay (which they do) - they have their own small business. It all sounds a bit lady of the manor to me.

Working in a pharmacy we get a lot of chocolates and biscuits given to us which are very much appreciated! However it is the older generation who do this so sadly I think it will die out eventually. It's a shame as it means a lot (and they all get better service as a result! 😄)

I don’t have a cleaner but I would give them a bonus if I did.
I leave a carton of lager out for the bin men at Christmas, I tip the Ringtons Tea man and my hairdresser.
When I was a child my mum saved up through year to tip the milkman, the coal man, the insurance man, the tea man and the lady who delivered our groceries every week. She took it the bank to be changed into notes, each one got £1.00. I’m going back to 1960’s so a decent amount back then. She didn’t call them tips, they were Christmas boxes…only it was an envelope with a £1.00 note in.
On New Years Eve the insurance man always went home pissed if his collection day fell on that day, each house he went to he was given a slice of Xmas cake and a tot of whiskey. I think our house was towards the end of his round as he was staggering a bit by then. He had one of those wallets that did some kind of trickery with elastic, he’d let me put mums money in it then laugh when it disappeared before my eyes.

that one pound in 1960s would be worth about £20 today.

Mine gets a week's pay and a bottle of wine. I also give a gift to my daughter's private tutor, and a small gift to everyone in my team at work.

My cleaner has worked for me for a decade now, and having a reliable and trustworthy cleaner has kept me just about hanging on as I juggle a busy job, 4 children and a disability.

Similarly my daughter's tutor started (online)during the pandemic and was a big part of how I coped managing to juggle 'homeschooling" with a job that was even busier than normal. And she's kept my daughter loving learning throughout all the change and turbulence.

I wouldn't necessarily tip a cleaner or a tutor, but it feels important to me to treat them well.

A good and reliable cleaner is like a good and reliable handyman - with their weight in gold. I'm lucky in that my cleaner from Age UK (who comes in for an hour a week) is an absolute treasure. I don't normally tip as a matter of principle, but I think it perfectly reasonable to buy my cleaner a small gift at Christmas to show my appreciation for her service - nothing extravagant, just a small box of chocolates.
That sort of gift is perfectly reasonable, IMHO.

How lovely you are! When I cleaned an office, I was included when the office staff were given a bottle of wine by the business owners. When they sold the business the new owners didn't include me at all. I felt invisible.

Really! No wonder the bin men doffed their caps at mum.