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?

Yes, of course I'd stop wearing it if they disliked it that much, it's no big deal so why wouldn't you? In reality though I hate perfume so never wear it in the first place. I'd certainly think a person who refused to stop wearing it was an arse.

Perfumes can make me feel really sick but some that I don't notice so much also cause me to loose my voice. This used to be a great problem when I ran a grocery shop. I have had to leave theatres because I've felt so sick. I would be requesting that the cleaner not wear perfumes and body sprays. During covid restrictions when I was attending the GP nurse twice a week I had to bring in unscented gel as the one they had made me nauseous and I could smell it as soon as I entered the building. I hate it when I need to use laundry disinfectant as I can still smell it a couple of days later.

DC had a babysitter who wore such strong perfume, I could still smell it on the baby when he woke up in the morning. I wouldn't have said anything to her about it. Cleaning is a bit different, though. I think I'd probably make up an allergy/sensitivity if it was bothering me that much.

It would make me wheeze and i would end up having a asthma attack. Ask the company to send someone else, after all it is your home.

I think it’s reasonable. I have a highly sensitive sense of smell and can honestly feel sick or get headaches from reactions to certain perfume. You’re paying for a service run your own home and it should make life easier not harder. Ask her to not wear it, or change cleaner.

I worked with a women who wore the most horrible strong perfume made me feel sick
it was called poison
no way would I have that smell in my house.
id rather smell cat shit

Perfume is horrible stuff. It stinks and gives me migraine. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask someone working for you in your home to not bring it in. And there's a special place in hell reserved for people who spray the stuff in enclosed public places where you can't escape.

This is the scent equivalent of someone wearing muddy boots into your house. I would just tell her, if she doesn't stop wearing her perfume then ask for a new cleaner. I get migraines so I wouldn't have any qualms about telling them that their perfume was an issue for me, in my own home.

Sympathies that stuff is revolting. I worked with someone who wore Estée Lauder Beautiful which was also pretty disgusting especially as she resprayed herself every time she got nose blind.

And it’s not just actual perfume these days - laundry detergents and fabric softeners stink to high heaven and you can get stuff that makes them smell even stronger.

Does she have to hold her breath the whole time she cleans too?

Clean your own house.

BTW I can’t stand perfume either but I live in a world with other people.

Don't be absurd! Why should the OP 'clean her own house'?

You can ask, that’s not unreasonable. she can refuse which is also not unreasonable. You can request a different cleaner, which is also not unreasonable.

Only on MN would somebody be called absurd for suggesting that OP cleans her own house 🤣

I love the smell of horses. I owned 4 at one point. The smell takes me right back. As for bums? Not sure what that's meant to smell like! Sorry I digress.

I was once asked back in the late 80s not to wear my perfume of choice in our small office as it gave my colleague a headache. To be fair it was Poison and I did spray it liberally as I couldn't smell it myself 😬

Ha ha I've just read more of the thread and someone's already mentioned Poison 😬😂

Oh, God, I remember the craze for Poison, it seemed like everyone was wearing it! My mother bought a bottle herself and gave up on it when my Dad refused to near her! The smell of that stuff makes me heave, I don't know any other perfume I have had such a reaction to.

In this context, though, it is absurd. The OP can either ask the cleaner not to wear the perfume, ask the company to send another cleaner, or look for a new cleaner/company herself. She obviously needs a cleaner, so it is silly to suggest that her options are either to suck it up or to do her own cleaning.

I have five ponies and also must smell of them all the time. I really think I should make an effort to smell better, everyone seems to have body spray at least. wanders off muttering, missing the entire point of the thread

@krustykittens I think I'm nose blind as still can't smell perfumes on me and I buy loads hoping. But I did stop wearing Poison and felt really bad I had made her poorly. I need to go and have a sniff of that now as haven't smelled if for over 30years!

Shopping at Tescos after mucking out was fun. I don't have horses now but my friend does and I love a long sniff of her mane 😂 (the horse not the friend)

Is it you????

What next?

Yes OP. You would BU. Just deal with it.

What do you mean 'what next'? And why should the OP deal with it? It is a simple enough request, and really not as unreasonable as people are making out.

Easier solution is to get a new cleaner

And if the house doesn't smell like bum? Such a weird comment.