The cleaner takes my products....

[abeeabeeisafterme]

This is for my mum and grandmother. They share a lovely cleaner, who they really like and is friendly and reliable. Except she takes some of mums best cleaning products. The best cloths, the best supermarket bags (to carry products) and granny's Cif. Now, of course they can afford to replace these things, but it's the principle that after her weekly 3 hr visit, something might go missing. Expensive stuff and jewellery is untouched, so no concerns there, it's just the annoyance of having to regularly replace things. What would you do? Assertive approach or clumsy, "I keep losing my cloths, any idea?" They want to keep her on, and she works for friends of theirs too.
Thanks.

Just ask her what's going on. There were products missing after each visit, where have they gone, is there a problem?

How about 'Please don't take my cloths and Cif away with you'?

It's stealing. No matter what the value of the items.

Hide full bottles and leave only ones 1/4 full, Then she hasnt got much to filch has she,

She's untrustworthy, I wouldn't keep her on. It isn't far fetched to say someone who regularly steals items from you wouldn't think twice about stealing more valuable things in the future, especially as seeing she has got away with it so far. I couldn't continue to employ a thief who takes advantage of your mother and grandmother.

I wouldn’t be replacing them, if cleaner asks where is the CIF, they should say well there was a full bottle last week and see what cleaner says.

@abeeabeeisafterme this is one of the reasons why I dont have a cleaner!!! I would have to go round each and every room and collect all jewellery, cash and valuables and lock them away!! my hubby has valuable things like binoculars which tell you how far things are. night vision items. all those things that I have no room to hide away!! you need to get rid of her sorry!! a tealeaf is a tealeaf!!

So to correct the thread title "the cleaner is a thief"

Could she be heavy handed with the cleaning chemicals and tossing out the cloths she's used?

she is stealing. I'd let her go.

Sack her.

She might be cunning, or she might just see it as a 'perk of the job'; but she obviously has deniability on her side here.

Were she to take expensive jewellery away with her, that's obviously a clear case of theft; but if she regularly goes home with the kinds of items that she would reasonably access as part of her job, it blurs things very well - even though she could be deliberately stealing a couple of quid here, a couple of quid there, from every one of her clients.

Cleaners need to be completely trustworthy OP. Once the trust has gone, it's gone. Sorry man.

Either speak to her face to face or leave her a message asking her to put the products back in a certain place as things are being mislaid. I wouldn't be overly bothered about the bags (obviously she wouldn't need them though if she wasn't taking the products!). Just be blunt and to the point -please could you put the Cif back in so and so cupboard before you leave as I've noticed it's not there when I go to use it.

She might be using a lot os staff whilst cleaning. And careless with supermarket bags. I wouldn't bother if she's otherwise an excellent cleaner

I would send a message saying she's so tidy you can never find the products when she's gone, please can she make sure they're in their normal place.
If she carries on, sack her.

The value is irrelevant. She’s a thief.

Just don’t replace them (visibly) and then when she asks where the cleaning supplies are say ‘oh there was loads of cif left). My cleaner uses one of my nice store bags (a sweaty Betty one) to keep all the cleaning products in and I don’t begrudge her that so I wouldn’t stress about a supermarket bag.

She’s probably just being a bit disorganised and thoughtless rather than stealing.!

Hide the good products. Leave her a bag with others in and if they disappear quickly it’s on her to replace.

I wonder if her next home on her rota doesn’t have cleaning products. I agree with @Greenpolkadot just leave quarter full bottles out. This is what I did when a relative’s toiletries kept going missing in her nursing home. The staff were taking them for other residents who didn’t have any.

Why is she just stealing stuff on every visit? This is not someone they can keep on

I wonder if her next home on her rota doesn’t have cleaning products.

If so, I also wonder if she charges them extra for supplying them - as though she was paying out for them herself?!

I have had various cleaners for over thirty years. I have never had anything go missing.

They simply need to tell her to stop doing it

“I couldn’t find my cif after your last visit and I remember I’d not long replaced it. Can you remember where you put it as it’s not where I’d normally keep my products”. It’s not a direct accusation but it lets her know you’ve noticed.

She is pushing the envelope to see how far she can go. I would be wary of keeping her.