To tell my cleaner to stop wearing perfume?

[LeMoax]

We have a cleaner that comes once a week for four hours. We’ve used the same cleaning company for a while but recently they’ve chopped and changed the staff, so after a period of different people each week it seems we’ve now settled on someone regularly.
She cleans okay but wears really strong perfume. So strong that after she goes I need to leave all the windows in the house open for a good hour or so to get rid of her smell.

AIBU to ask her or her boss to ask her to stop wearing the perfume before coming to our house?

Just ask for another cleaner from the company. Do you need a reason? You’re paying them not the other way around.

I don't think yabu. If anyone comes in our house wearing strong perfume my dh and ds spend ages sneezing and sometimes it can bring on headaches.
I have to be careful not to use perfumed detergents and conditioners.
Luckily I'm not a fan of perfume. Maybe use allergies as a reason to ask her not to wear it.

What a ridiculous post! What on earth is 'snobbish' about the OP's post?!

YANBU
It’s your house and if her perfume is offensive then yes I’d 100% ask her not to wear any! Or ask for a different cleaner altogether if her cleaning is only ‘ok’.

@Champers66 what is snobbish about wanting clean and non chemical air in your own house?

YANBU, I can't stand it as it affects my sinuses. Blame it on allergies if you want to keep her, if asking for different cleaner then no need to mention the perfume as you'll have someone else anyway.

She may be masking her body odour if she's doing many jobs in a day and has no time to freshen uo between jobs.

She may thin she has body odour when she doesn't.

She could be nose blind to how much she puts on.

But it's your house and you should be comfortable in it.
She's providing a service and being paid for it, not like she's doing it or free.

Maybe she sprays Flash behind her ears 🤣

It’s not unreasonable, I have allergic asthma and perfume sets it off so supply my own cleaning products and ask no perfumes to be put on before coming round.

I've had two cleaners over the years with a similar issue, with one it was garlic and the other was a smoker. I just said it wasn't working out and found someone else.

Just ask her not to wear perfume as it sets your asthma off.

If her cleaning is shite, ask for a different member of staff on those grounds and don’t mention perfume. Job done

If you like her and want to keep her, be polite and say you are struggling with migraines and would she mind very much avoid bringing strong smells in to the house.

It doesn’t have to be FFS Frieda, stop stinking up my house with your rancid perfume 🙄. A little diplomacy goes a long way.

If she wears Angel or Youth Dew I sympathise. These perfumes give me a headache.

Right - so do you go to work wearing deodorant and perfume? Because isn’t that a normal thing daily to do wear deodorant and perfume? Also if you shower daily and use deodorant you definitely shouldn’t be smelling of BO even regardless of what job you do!

Right - so do you go to work wearing deodorant and perfume? Because isn’t that a normal thing daily to do wear deodorant and perfume? Also if you shower daily and use deodorant you definitely shouldn’t be smelling of BO even regardless of what job you do!

I only wear unscented deodorant.

As for perfume, of course I wear perfume. But not too much and I'm. particularly careful when I know I will be in a closed space and proximity with others for hours.

I don't work in people's homes though, only in public spaces. That's a big difference.

I don't think there is anything wrong in asking politely for either another cleaner or for her to stop wearing perfume. I get really ill - headaches/sore nose/vomit with strong perfume. My nose still isn't right after a perfume related incident in July!! Its awful and so many people wear very strong perfumes without thinking about people they are in close proximity with - I know when I was younger I wore Poison and Dune without a care for anyone else. If you don't have reactions to strong odours, you won't get it. I've had to leave events, get out of car journeys, drive with windows wide open because of it.

Bit of an exaggeration there I suspect!

I can't handle really strong perfume on others, it can give me bad headache or make me feel nauseous. We're all different! It's her home and she has a right to say what goes on in it.

What makes you think that?

I frequently move seats on the tube if someone stinking of Boots’ finest offer themselves decides to take the seat next to mine.

MaloneMeadow Absolutely no exaggeration. You kind of prove my point that if you don't have allergies/intolerances - you simply don't get it.

Maybe the reason for perfume is she may be having difficulty with really bad smelling periods or menopausal smells or some other natural thing she's having trouble in controlling, or maybe she just doesn't realize how powerful her perfume is.

I'm menopausal and sometimes the smell is absolutely awful, I'm really embarrassed to be out in public with it so I spray myself silly with strong smelling perfumes, body sprays and even men's aftershave.

I wouldn't tell her, you might embarrass and upset her. Just keep the windows open when possible.

The poster you are responding to is very very touchy about people not liking strong perfume, and is very fast to brand them as snobs. I think you are right, it's a case of a hit dog yelping.

@BrandNewBicep I too am very sensitive to smells - certain perfumes and scents, even sweat have the ability to give me a migraine for days. There is no way though that a perfume that you smelt almost 6 months ago is still having an effect on you.

@LovelyTheresa I’m not the one telling people that their noses aren’t cultured enough to appreciate certain perfumes🤣 The only snob here is you. Jog on!