Do cleaners ever pinch?

[Twooty]

Hi all
i have had a cleaner come monthly for approx 6months now. They make the house look lovely and it is a big treat to myself, as I am a full time working single mum.
However, my daughter has noticed a few of her expensive teddies vanish over the following few months. They are a specific brand and we have looked everywhere to find them.
I am now panicking as the cleaners have been, and I can’t find another one of the collection.
I don’t want to be dramatic or accusatory to the wrong people. But there is no one else who comes to our house. Does this happen or am I being hysterical?

Most people are honest, some are not. This goes for every occupation.

Of course it sometimes happens. Cleaners are humans.

Are you sure it's the cleaner and not one of dd friends who has taken a liking to the teddies?

Cleaners stealing does happen but like most people they are honest and it's not worth risking their job and reputation.

Easy solution put up cameras.

Of course they do. You would hope not but they are human too. A cleaner stole something from my terminally ill relative.

I would be very sure of my facts before accusing anyone.
My mil has had several light fingered cleaners - except in the last ten years every time she has thought something was missing it turned up somewhere else. Sadly her memories of feeling suspicious lasts longer than her memory of where she puts things.

It's not uncommon for cleaners to steal. Most of the time they're honest enough not to or clever enough to get away with it - stealing a string of teddy bears would be a pretty stupid thing to do as it's likely someone loves them and will notice them missing. Maybe one might get lost but not a whole bunch of them.

The best thing to do is to set up some covert cameras in the room with the bears that you switch on when the cleaner is alone. Get some evidence before you confront them or contact the police. Until you have evidence you shouldn't tackle them about it. It's fine to dismiss them of course.

Yes they do. Like anyone you have in your home there will be some dishonest ones.

I had cleaners from an agency and one of them took a few small skin care items from my room. I have a lot so I assumed she would think I wouldn’t notice. I did though.

More likely to steal cash lying around than a teddy bear! Why would anyone steal several teddy bears??

People are dishonest in all walks of life so unfortunately yep they could be but it could also be that things are 'put away' in places you may not consider or just misplaced so I would be really sure it's missing before I asked a cleaner about it. I would also frame it as 'you haven't seen .... have you? ' rather than an accusation unless I had evidence it was taken (cameras)
We did have an issue with stealing from some agency carers for my mum, who has dementia. It was awful to deal with especially as if we hadn't had hard evidence then we wouldn't have known for certain as mum was prone to losing stuff due to the dementia (they stole cash and jewellery)
It shook my faith in people for a bit even though from my experience people coming and going in our house (workmen, cleaners, etc) have been apart from this honest and trustworthy.

Yes. Our usual cleaner was on holiday so the agency provided a different cleaner to cover her visit. She stole my DS's pocket money. Maybe she thought it didn't matter as she'd never be seeing us again. I made the agency aware but without being caught in the act or video evidence they couldn't do anything further than ask her if she'd seen it to make her aware they knew and they put a note on her file

I would ask the cleaner if she's put the teddy away somewhere while she was cleaning. Just be nice " oh have you seen teddy while you have been cleaning we can't find him anywhere "