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.

Lots of us haven’t. Some jobs are the type where there is always some work to be done regardless of whether the boss is there or not.

Even amongst the people that do leave early on occasion, there’s a big difference between leaving 10/20 minutes early after you’ve done a full working day and leaving 40 minutes early when you’ve only been working for and hour and a half.

And still expect to be paid for it?

Erm, no. I haven't.

She’s not paying her based on how competent she is compared to someone else. OP has been given the hourly rate of pay for cleaner… cleaner does 1 hr and 20 mins of work. She therefore gets paid for her 1hr 20mins of work, not how much work she did compared to how much someone else would achieve in the same time frame.

I've told her politely that if she has been honest first time around, I would've let it go but as she hasn't been honest (as I have clear evidence) I think it's best she doesn't return

That doesnt really make any sense...
OP saw arrival time and departure time. Why would one be in one time zone and the other in a different one. OP was the one looking at it. It was the same time both times, because OP would have had to change some actual settings for it to not be!!!!

Then it would show her arriving early too

But now you possibly have a disgruntled ex employee with the keys to your home. How are you going to deal with that from abroad?

Agree with pp, ‘see you’ve left early, hope all is ok and there wasn’t an emergency. Waited to hear from you. You left 40 minutes early. Have adjusted your pay accordingly.’ Something like that, after you’ve waited a bit to hear from her first.

The trust is kind of gone now. A person’s character is what they do when they think nobody’s watching. It looks like she took advantage of the fact that you’re not home and abroad.

Hi Al. Yes I said I've been notified she left 40 minutes early. She has said she didn't, she left a 1:30. My partner who is in the uk has also confirmed that the time isn't an issue. She has indeed finished 40 minutes early. Can't quite believe it, I offer her coffee, let her rest for 5 mins when she arrives (she cycles miles to get to mine) and then she does this as soon as I'm away.

Ah just saw update, have her drop keys with a trusted person asap. And get confirmation from that person. Don’t let her hold onto your house keys. This is one reason I’d not want anyone having a set of my keys.

@ASGIRC we have a key safe, we can change the lock code.

Definately.
But I’d go one step further and change the locks.
My MIL had her old cleaner and cleaners husband turn up at 2am one morning and let themselves in. Clearly to take stuff.MIL on Zimmer frame with weak bladder and on the way to the toilet caught them.
Luckily they ran off and didn’t hurt her.
Change the locks.

Oops just saw the key safe comment.
Thats a good idea OP

Thanks for the advice all. I've sent her a message to say I don't appreciate being lied too and will no longer be needing her services. Now time to look for a new cleaner!!!

As @Teeheehee1579 says - if she had finished her usual clean (and if so you must be very neat or have a very small property), there's always more to do, certainly enough to do two hours clean.

She said she got her times mixed up and is very apologetic. Bullshit.

I think I would message her along the lines of "Hi Mary, I saw that you left early this week so hope everything is ok. Will you be returning to do the remaining 40 minutes or would you prefer me to pay you for the 1hr 20 mins you did?"
Then the balls in her court and if anything is wrong she'll no doubt tell you.

I think you’ve nipped it in the bud quickly. I’ve had some experience of this and it really pissed me off. I used an agency for a year where I had 3 difference cleaners, all paid for 3 hours. The first one did a really through job, always stayed for 3 hours on the dot but probably slowed down a bit to fill the time. The second one was brilliant and ripped through the house like a tornado. She’d often leave after 2h30 but I didn’t mind as she did so much in the time. The third one was shit and often left after 1h30. I terminated the agreement with the agency after 2 weeks.

Oh cross post!😁

"I see you left early today. Hope everything is OK? Would you like to make up the extra time next week, or shall I just pay you for the time you did today?"

Right decision I think.

Scary! So hard to trust anyone!

Can’t get cleaners for love nor money round here. Clearly you’ve never had a lazy day OP.
Hope you get another more willing participant.

It has happened twice to me. One cleaner used to dash round so fast that things got broken, also chairs, tables and sofa were not moved for the carpet to be vacuumed. People could say job done but to what level.
Another cleaner left early and wasn’t there to let my 8 year old in, who had been dropped off by a neighbour.

This happened to me once and when I questioned it she said "oh I was super quick to get it done for you".

I suggested that perhaps she should have filled her time doing things she doesn't normally have time to do. She didn't agree so I paid her for the time actually spent and didn't have her back.