My cleaner came today and didn't touch the kitchen

[citygal1986]

AIBU to finish her?

She was meant to be here for 4 hours. She charges £15 ph. Last week I paid her for most of this week (assuming she'd do 4hrs as usual) but I was a tenner short. So I left the £10 out for today.

She arrived and said shall I just do 3 hours and then we're square? I thought to myself, I'd actually paid you £5 too much then but let it go.

She turned up about 11:40. After faffing around talking to me and my kids, going through her diary with me for the next few weeks, she started at 12. She text me (I'd left by this point) at 2:10pm to say she was nearly finished and had done everywhere but would blitz the kitchen for me next week as that's the only room not done.

I have 3 children under 5. They'd all just had lunch. Kitchen was fine but I hadn't hoovered up the crumbs off the floor and hadn't wiped over all the surfaces like I'd usually do because I knew she'd be cleaning it. To say I was raging was an understatement.

I got home and when she says she hadn't got to the kitchen, she really means she hadn't done a thing in it.

I went to see my en-suite and dressing room. Mu dressing room tops definitely hadn't been wiped and my en-suite floor, shower and bath hadn't been touched.

I messaged her back to say sorry perhaps I should have said (?!) but the kitchen is a priority over anywhere else. I asked if she had time to do my bathroom and dressing room to see what she said. She replied with a yes done everywhere else just not your kitchen and I'll do that next week.

A few hours later she text to say maybe I should stay for my usual 4 and not 3 because clearly 3 isn't enough.

Wtf! Firstly three was definitely enough. Secondly which cleaner leaves the kitchen of all places

How would you respond and WWYD?!

I would give her another chance AND look for a replacement.

next week lay out the precise amount and a list of rooms you want cleaning. Ask her to complete the list in order. Be reasonable about what you’re asking for.

At the same time ask around for a recommendation for a replacement. Try them out. If they’re better than current cleaner say her services are no longer required.

job done.

From the misunderstandings on this thread I think this may be true.

I would find a new cleaner. My house has 5 bedrooms, 2 ensuites. Our cleaner only had three hours available, but she achieves an amazing amount in that time. The kitchen and bathrooms are prioritised, along with mopping the stone floors. The whole house is not all done 100%, she doesn't have time. We are happy to have to dust a bedroom or whatever and appreciate everything she does do.

Every cleaner I ever had ended up taking the piss, all except one. I have rheumatoid arthritis and prefer now to do it myself and cope with the pain.

dad had a cleaner like that.chat drink.oh she had finished,check upstairs not done,then oh she was ill did her best did less every time,got her feet unfer the table,i got rid of her,heard from other neighbours who had same cleaner she was lazy did little, so was right to get rid of her

My cleaner does my four bed, two bath in 2.5 hours. It's not a deep clean, but he gets round it all.

We have two for two hours, so four total, to do a five bed three storey three bathroom house. I have HIGH standards ad they do an excellent job including bed changes and washing the bedding (on rotation)

I could probably drop an hour but would rather they stayed and carried on doing everything well! we pay £60 / week

Agree. I think she thought that you were only going to pay her for 3 hours this week, and was understandably pissed off, so she has done a crap job.

Also £10 is very low. Pay peanuts….

This is why I hate cleaning being described as an unskilled task. There is a huge difference between different cleaners.

I think you have to get rid of her now. Leaving the kitchen is just ridiculous. And all that chatting and faffing would annoy me too. It is like she is not taking the job seriously.

I would give one more chance, however make it very clear what you want.

my cleaner didn’t do some basic washing up in the sink - chopping boards - is this normal for cleaners just to leave dirty washing up in the sink?

@Bigpinktrain will DM you!!

Yanbu

YANBU. I'd tell her to not come back and find a new cleaner.

Also £10 is very low. Pay peanuts….

£10 very low for what? She's paid £15 per hour and the £10 was to complete the payment for this week. She'd been paid most of it a week in advance.

OP's mistake was not correcting the cleaner when she miscalculated her payment, and complicating things by paying most but not all the payment a week in advance.

Goodness knows what the cleaner thought the £10 was for when she arrived.

“I don’t think this is a good fit; thanks for your work so far but we won’t be requiring your services further.”

Surely a phone call rather than a text would help clarify things? Why does no one talk any more?

Not sure that talking is going to help. It's pretty obvious that if you pay for 3 hrs of cleaning you would want the kitchen and bathroom to be cleaned to a minimum standard. A cleaner should automatically get that, rather than cosy performance improvement chats. Also cleaner meant to save time and reduce stress, not cause it.

She prepaid, not underpaid.

You’ve misunderstood.m the OP.