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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be annoyed at cleaner leaving early

53 replies

spacenation · 02/02/2023 09:23

So firstly I realise that having a cleaner is a luxury!
Anyway..our cleaner comes once every 2 weeks for 3 hours. She was recommended by a colleague and is very nice. It's cash in hand and price is reasonable and looking in to it is a bit less than getting someone from a company.
I'm on mat leave at the moment and our cleaner comes while we are in the house as my husband in particular would rather we were in.
The issue is she always leaves before doing the full time. So usually she will do 2 hrs 40 minutes ish. But the last twice she has arrived half an hour late and we've had to leave so she has locked up and on those occasions she did less than 2.5 hours.
I wouldn't mind if everything was done but the standard isn't great and also I always pay her a bit extra so it's a round amount.
Last time I kind of mentioned it a bit asking if she just wanted to do 2 hours as she was running late but she kind of acted like she didn't understand (English isn't her first language) so I left it.
AIBU for being annoyed at her always leaving early when she is paid for 3 hours?

OP posts:
Thisbastardcomputer · 27/06/2023 06:43

Flyingdodo · 03/02/2023 03:27

Op you shouldn’t hire a cleaner.
ive been in cleaning business for 15 years and I can tell you that you will have never ending trouble finding a cleaner if you think like this.
you know why cleaners always leave early?
because out of every two clients, one will not care at all and happy to pay more for her time as a courtesy. It’s called respect for workers and it’s reason why some people get to keep the same cleaner for 10+ years whilst others need to find a cleaner every year. You need to be generous to cleaners because It’s really hard work with little recognition.
right now, all my clients don’t care at all when I come and leave. I ditched all the clients that cared. I make way more than my hourly rate, my clients are very happy with their clean house and I’m happy to clean for another 10 years for them.

Rubbish! You aren't doing what you're paid to do, you on the other hand have no respect for your customers.

born2runaway · 27/06/2023 06:49

Firstly, you need to get out of the house. Unless it's a mansion? How can she clean around you and baby?

Secondly, it depends what you're paying her

My cleaner has been with me 4 years and the arrangement is 2 hours but she often does 1.5

I trust her. If something extra needs doing, I write her a note/ if I don't need her one week, i tell her and she's totally fine and i don't pay her

Give and take

JustbemoreMargo · 27/06/2023 08:39

As we didn't know anyone who could recommend a local cleaner, we went through an agency. The first 2 cleaners booked didn't turn up at all, so the third we employed for far longer than we should have, as we thought it would be hard to find someone else. We had the same issues as many pp above - arriving late, leaving early (30 mins early, from a weekly 2 hr clean!), but progressively doing less. I tried to gently remind her re: extra jobs if spare time (eg dusting) but no initiative to do this, she would just say 'right I'm off' and be gone earlier each time, with the basic cleaning missed or done rather sloppily. She even asked to be paid above what the agency recommended ('due to CoL') which we agreed to be kind. We were aware cleaning was just part time for her, and was not her main job, but it became apparent she was likely trying to squeeze in the cleaning job with us when she may have been supposed to be elsewhere. She started repeatedly cancelling at the last minute, or wanting to change the time or day. Very annoying as we would arrange our day to fit in with her cleaning time. I raised that if the job wasn't suiting her we could cancel, but she said she wanted to keep coming, so we gave the benefit of the doubt and kept paying. After she failed to turn up for about 6 weeks straight with a variety of on the day excuses, we absolutely had to let her go. Frustratingly we were still paying the agency fees each week even when she didn't turn up.

Lesson learnt.
Trying to be kind and flexible means some people will take advantage.
We bought a robot vacuum and mop instead for a fraction of the cost, and none of the drama!

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