Cleaner left 40 minutes early because I wasn't home

[Scarletthoo2]

Our cleaner only did 1 hour and 20 minutes when I pay her for 2 hours. She doesn't realise I have a ring doorbell and majority of the time I'm working from home so I know when she arrives and leaves. However, I'm away for work and she is aware of that. I caught her arriving at 11:33 and leaving at 12:53. I'm obviously really pissed off about it. Do I mention it to her and let her know I can see her or just send her half of the money? She left 40 minutes early.

Maybe mustgetoffmn is your cleaner. Or should I say, was your cleaner. Hence the chippy response.😂

mustgetoffmn · Today 09:27

Crikey I can’t believe your audacity to post this in such a self righteous way. Are you her parent/ school teacher? Were you brought up with servants? It sounds as though you’ve never cleaned yourself or you would know that some sessions take longer than others. That sometimes your previous time on a task took longer and therefore didn’t need so long next time. You say she’s a good cleaner so what’s your problem? Anyone might lie if put on the defensive and humiliatingly ticked off in the way you’ve engaged. Are you paying her over the odds? How much money “shortfall” is actually involved? She’s well shot of you I just hope you haven’t seriously impoverished her ( and family? ) by your actions. Oh and get your OCD problem checked by your doc.”

Don’t be soft, OP is paying for two hours.

Never had a cleaner so wouldn't know but if all the jobs they had to do were done to a high enough standard what would you have them do with the remainder of that time?

I still want to know was the house clean to the usual standard @Scarletthoo2

Would have known she missed 40m/left early

Or all looked ok

One of my customers was away for 2 weeks last summer. I spent the first weekly visit cleaning the house as usual, on the second visit I agreed to do the following:

Clean fish tank
Polish all the silver
Strip and make up beds
Ironing

I’ve always been accommodating if customers want extras on top of the usual clean. However, I wouldn’t take it upon myself to start cleaning out cupboards or re organising a sock drawer unless that’s been agreed. It feels like overstepping.

Its far easier all round if I stick to a set clean in the time agreed. Sometimes I might run over time- say I decide to scrub the grout in a shower room or the kitchen’s been left in a bit of a state. Usually I can keep within the time frame agreed.

I charge per hour, rounding up or down so for example 2 hours 20 mins would be charged at 2 hours,
2 hours 40 mins would be charged as 3 hours. That would arise if a customer had asked for something in addition to their set clean.

I never had a customer time me to the minute.

Fair enough, this cleaner was a bit cheeky, essentially giving herself a 40 minute paid holiday because the client was away.
She should have been given a warning.

”Sacked” and labelled a pisstaker over this one misdemeanour on an otherwise excellent track record? Feels like an over reaction in my view.

I go the extra mile for my customers because they treat me exceptionally well- I’ve been paid during lockdowns, given a bonus at Christmas, and one customer paid me when I was off work with a back issue. They always thank me for my efforts and show some interest in how I am, which goes a long way to feeling valued and motivated.

I generally love cleaning which is handy in my line of work 😂 but there are days when it feels like a hard slog and it takes enormous effort to motivate myself to get through the job.
Having a good relationship with my client helps enormously on “off” days because I want to show them the respect they give me.

Cleaning is a physical job, and although the hourly rate may seem good there is a lot of unpaid time in between that is unpaid. A good cleaner is a good cleaner and while they estimate how long it will take if they are regular the job will take them less time , I imagine she busted a gut the first few times to get it done and she can now go a bit slower and take just as long as when she started or if she is pushed for time can go up a gear and have it all done. You should absolutely pay her.

The job was agreed as an hourly rate not a price for the job.
It's not the same thing.
I used to have a gardener that charged for the job he used to come for about an hour give or take but it was for lawns, hedges and borders. The price was for the job.
Someone else came after he left. Quoted a similar price and I naively thought it was for the job. It wasn't it was for an hour. They didn't have as much machinery and got through nowhere near as much in an hour! I said no thank you to that one when I realised. My garden had never been so bad.
Always check what you're paying for

Yes basically my point

Crikey you’ve retyped my whole post which you don’t agree with just so I get to say it again. 😂. Yes I’m harsh towards this kind of post it’s so self righteous, petty and entitled (hate that overused word but it seems appropriate here) . Cleaning is a respectable job and OP s post is disrespectful in its indignation and mistrustful tone. They say their cleaner is good, can they also say they’ve never gone home or clocked off early from their own work? The tone is superior and downgrading towards a person working to clean their s…t. So how much money seriously are we talking about? It’s possible that the cleaner was feeling under the weather but is unable to say so given described behaviour by OP

Exactly this.

Yes it’s about being respectful of a persons skill. Not “catching them out” as though they are a small lying child

Oh so you’re even complaining about her not having enough audacity towards you? 😂

Oooh Didn't know this was a thing! I'll ask my employer if I can leave at 3 everyday next week....sure that will be fine if I explain I can do 7hrs work in 5 hrs.....

Surprised this thread is still going.

Is this poster the lazy, busted cleaner, or something?

You can be your own boss if you’re self employed. You should try it if you don’t want an Employer.

100%

If I’d told my boss I’d finished my work and asked to go home, he’d have told me I didn’t have enough to do, and found me more work to fill my time. Which is kind of the point isn’t it ?

It sounds like she was treated as a small lying child because she behaved like one. It’s not about respect for the person’s skill, it’s about breach of trust. The cleaner left early, which probably would have been fine if there was a reason, but she tried to lie her way out of it. The OP was happy to trust her timekeeping before this, now, not so much.

I’ve never had a cleaner either, but I’d have them do the jobs that need doing regularly but not every week. Like cleaning doors, skirting boards, kitchen cupboards, insides of windows, the fridge, dining chairs or kitchen stools, tops of cupboards etc. It’s a home, cleaning jobs are never ending and a good cleaner should be able to show a little initiative.

There is plenty that this CF cleaner could have done in the extra 40 minutes she still expected to be paid for.

Spot on.

If we’re going to force a comparison between a self employed cleaner and an office employee on a contract then I’ll attempt an analogy.

The misdemeanour of leaving early when a customer is on their annual holiday would be akin to your boss finding out you bluffed about why you were late in to work on a few occasions. Say you blamed “traffic” instead of admitting you couldn’t get out of bed, or claimed you were on time and hoped your boss wouldn’t notice.

Your boss then fired you on the spot, completely overlooking your past excellent track record, told you the trust was gone and inferred you couldn’t be trusted at work because you’re a LIAR- in fact you’d probably steal from handbags in the staff room.

This cleaner probably panicked and made up an excuse when confronted. It wasn’t great behaviour but I think it could have been handled better by the op.

I’ve let myself in and cleaned houses for customers on holiday. The job can often be done in less time because 1) no need for small talk with the clients
and 2) the house has had less use
3) I can go quickly making as much noise as I like in an empty house

Its a small once a year perk. I’ve never been grilled about time keeping by a customer or challenged in this way, my customers have always just thanked me for a great job.

Im providing a service to customers, they are not my employer. That has advantages but none of the perks of being employed on a contract (paid holiday/ sick leave/ pension, taxed at source etc).

Directly comparing it to employment with contractual obligations (on both sides) , fair treatment of employees and a disciplinary procedure to follow if there are issues, just demonstrates my point (that this is an over reaction) doesn’t it?

Im providing a service to customers, they are not my employer. That has advantages but none of the perks of being employed on a contract (paid holiday/ sick leave/ pension, taxed at source etc)

if they aren’t your employer then they have no obligation to keep you on then! I wouldn’t trust someone to be in my house alone if they lied about stuff so easily and when caught out they lied yet again rather than saying sorry I panicked. I’m not their employer so there is absolutely no obligation for me to implement procedural performance management. Yes you are right that is the downside of being self employed- your success relies upon customer satisfaction and if you cannot provide that then you WILL lose custom - that applies to all who are self employed and all businesses. If you don’t like it then go work for an employer!

It would be fine if I was your manager. But I’d be reviewing the standard of your work and considering making your post part time.

Yes you’re right @daisymoonlight I was pointing out that you can’t make a direct comparison to a Boss/employee set up and if you do (as a pp did above) then you’d apply the same contractual obligations of an employee/employer agreement. I was pointing out the flaws in comparing a job like this to a 9-5 office role.

I think anyone who has proven to be a reliable hard worker and good at their job deserves a second chance if they do something wrong. Clearly you have a more hard line stance.

I love my job by the way, have a waiting list of customers through word of mouth and like I’ve said I’ve been doing it too long to be micromanaged and timed per minute.

I regularly go over the estimated time, I would not expect a Gotcha moment on film if I finished early for once in a blue moon.

I’ve never encountered that in all my years as a sole trader.

You’d all be shocked if you knew how some other industries work with regards to times and jobs. They’ll quote you a price based on it taking x hours, but if they’re super efficient they’ll get it done quicker and bank a bonus. Ultimately, the job is still done. Maybe cleaners should price per job rather than straight hours.