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?

OP, I would mention both issues.

I had to ask a colleague to stop wearing perfumes. She was a young girl and wore Britney Spears, Beyonce perfumes. They were so strong and overpowering that it would make me nauseous and would give me a headache. I was also pregnant at the time. I actually developed a nasal polyp because of the perfumes and had surgery to remove it after I gave birth.

I also asked my BIL if he could not wear a certain aftershave as again it was too much. I dont see why I should have to suffer over somebody's choice of perfume and aftershave. I actually do think I'm allergic to most scents.

Some typically rude responses on this thread OP.

I get it though. One of my DDs has a habit of going overboard when spraying her perfume and it reeks. It's ok if you like the particular scent but some of them I dislike. They don't linger for hours, but there can be a noticeable aroma when she's passed through a room, which I'd prefer not to have. I don't think you'd be unreasonable to politely request that a cleaner doesn't wear a strong scent when in your house.

Well I don’t think it’s unreasonable. I have had to get rid of cleaners who were heavy smokers because the smell lingered on everything. I wouldn’t like a very strong perfume smell in my house either.

And mediocre cleaning is the sort of cleaning I do unless I take a very long time - which is why I have a cleaner! If someone is going to not lift the toaster, miss bits of hoovering, leave smears in the sinks then I’d rather not employ them because that’s my slovenly standard (I hate cleaning with a passion).

I once had a friend who wore such strong perfume that it made me gag. Actually, it wasn’t that it was super strong, I just really hated it and it made me feel sick. We weren’t close enough for me to tell her and she wore it often enough that all her clothes had a whiff of it (especially her coat!!). I tried to only see her outside 🫣

Why?

I think lots of people will have read your title and thought you were unreasonable as you used the word “tell”. Of course you would be unreasonable to tell her to stop wearing perfume.

You would, however, not be unreasonable to explain the problem to the company and ask for them if they can find a solution.

I’d just get another cleaner.

People get weirdly offended that not everyone likes their perfume, but when they go to buy perfume they must sample some that they don’t like, yet it never seems to occur to them that other people may not like the scent they’ve chosen.

I think it’s rude and selfish to wear so much perfume that people more than arms length from you can smell it or it lingers in a room. It always gives me the impression the person hasn’t showered and they’re trying to mask their BO.

MN definitely is a whole other world when people like you misread what the OP has put.

Firstly, OP has never suggested that she would be dictating to anyone what they should do. Secondly, she has the right to allow whoever she wants into her home and if the cleaner is asked politely if she would not wear her perfume and she doesn’t want to (which is her choice of course), then OP has the option of using a different person’s services.

Thirdly, count yourself lucky if you’re not affected by smells and things. Some people genuinely are and it’s not pleasant.

Who remembers the days of Poison?🤣

YABU

Is the cleaner a dog owner and transgender too then we would have the full Mumsnet bingo

I agree with people who are commenting on the many Mumsnetters who have such strong physical reactions to everyday things. They are always gagging and retching and vomiting and feeling faint and nearly passing out and bursting into tears and even, on occasion, screaming....I do wonder how they get through life.

This is the maddest post I have read all week. 🏆

I wear strong perfume...if work colleague was struggling with potency oc id change it to one not so potent, at work at least. No different to someone saying you smell of b.o ... either can be offensive to the nose for some

Obviously you’ve been slated because there’s definitely something uncomfortable about asking someone who cleans your home to change her perfume habits. That being said, I hate strong smells and this would bother me. If her cleaning isn’t great either I’d ask for an alternative tbh. You could tell them why do the request doesn’t reflect badly on her.

I'd love to know what perfumes these cleaners are wearing that take HOURS to dissipate with WIDE OPEN windows.

Oh gross! My friend wore it. Vile stuff 😂

It was a thing of beauty.

The problem was that it was easy to overapply. Used sparingly though it was beautiful.

A strong perfume that you really don’t like can really linger and get stuck in your nose. Personally I wouldn’t feel I could say anything but I totally understand how you feel, I get migraines and one of the triggers is strong perfumes. I always have to avoid people trying to spray me at perfume counters after ending up with migraines in the past if they’ve got me with one that turns out to be awful.

I also think that the more you dislike a perfume, the more you can smell it and the longer it lingers.

Horses smell lovely! I'd be thrilled if my house smelled of horses.

She can ask and that is a fact, You know the answer may be after that but the bottom line, OP can ask.

This whole thing made me laugh far more than is normal for an adult to laugh at! 😂

YANBU. Some of these responses are absurd! Why should the OP 'do her own cleaning'? She can afford a cleaner, so she wants a cleaner! I think it is ok to either request a different cleaner or ask the company to ask the cleaner to tone down the perfume. It is an ask, not a demand. If they then refuse, you can find another company. Ignore people who think that having a cleaner is the height of decadent luxury.

I cannot stand the smell of my cleaner's perfume. It's really strong and I just don't like the smell. But never in a million years would I ask her not to wear it. She's my cleaner, not my slave. I can't believe that you're considering this.