My cleaner chucked her cigarette butt into our hydrangea bush

[JuneM]

Our cleaner does four hours a week - a couple of weeks ago I noticed a cigarette butt in a small gu pot on our back porch.. very usual as we don’t smoke! I thought it might be the gardeners, my husband mentioned he thought it was the cleaner.

this week, our cleaner who charges £18 per hour went out for a cigarette break, we have cctv at the back, and I saw that she chucked her cigarette butt into our hydrangea bush. I’m not happy about this at all. I think it’s disrespectful and disgusting that I now have to clean up my cleaners dirty cigarette butt.

I also often make her a tea or glass of water, in the past it has irritated me that she doesn’t actually put the cup in the dishwasher and I have to clean it up once she’s gone.

I know we need to raise this with her but what would you do.

AIBU?

Well, it's now 50%, and it's probably because you have a cleaner AND a gardener. How dare you.

Fuck me the language used about this woman.

‘mucky cow’, ‘vile’ what is wrong with people.

If you can’t smell smoke on her or in your house after she’s been she’s managing her smoking very well.

I have a cleaner and a gardener and have never smoked in my life.

I still find the OP absolutely OTT and some
of the replies frankly disgusting.

I'd ask her not to smoke on your property. She can stand in the street if she can't wait until she finishes.

i wouldn’t use a cleaner that smoked in my property and needed a break to do so

It might be just because you have a cleaner . I’ve had that in the past where the cleaner leaves dirty cutlery after using things and then I’d end up having to clean after them. It’s not the fact that I offered a cup of tea, a drink, snack etc., it’s just leaving things in the sink. I make sure the sink is empty before she arrives and my family and I always clean up after ourselves once we are done. So for her to leave things in the sink would bother me. If a cleaner does it to me more than once and I’ve politely asked her not to, and she still does it, I’d just get another cleaner. I’ve had the same cleaner for years now and I deliberately asked for a non-smoker as we’re also a non-smoking household.

@MissTrip82 How is the OP OTT? I’m not sure if I missed something

It wasn’t an ashtray - she used my gu glass pot as an ashtray !

I'd get a new cleaner and check she didn't smoke before I employed het.

My partner smokes and he chucks his fag ends everywhere: on the floor, in the drains, grass etc. it annoys me to no end because I don't like littering! Believe me when I say that some people don't care or think about the environment.

This is why the thing about leaving her dirty mug irritates me because I go around the house before she arrives to tidy it ie I remove any dirty cups and put them in the dishwasher, I make sure the draining board is clear so she can properly clean it etc.

Just wow.

So you have to clean up after the cleaner has cleaned for 4 hours?

Must be so degrading.

It wasn’t an ashtray - she used my gu glass pot as an ashtray !

I can't understand anyone spending 4 hours cleaning and then leaving a dirty cup on a chest of drawers. I haven't got a cleaner although I did for a while when I was working and I've never had a gardener although my friend is a gardener who works for people that are not rich. I'd be the first to call out privilege but I don't see why the OP is getting such a hard time.

I think she is very rude to use something for an ashtray and to litter your garden with a fag butt.
She's not a great cleaner either.
Start looking around, she's gotten to comfortable if the loo rim isn't even done properly.

Any of you that seem to be ok with it:

Would you litter on your employer's or client's property?

The OP is under no obligation to provide an ashtray for a few hours a week, and the cleaner should absolutely not litter. In fact, the cleaner should have asked if 1) smoking would be ok on private property and, 2) bring her own ashtray if the answer to 1 was yes.

So why don’t you behave like a mature adult and ask her not to smoke on your property? It really isn’t that hard and not a reason to bitch about this lady on Mumsnet !

I’d be looking to get another cleaner. She doesn’t need a break if she is working 4 hours.

Stop smoking on the property, the smell comes in with you which we dislike.

Fag butts and dog shit, people who don't clean them up, just the same

Having read your further posts op, leaving her dirty cup/mug around the house for you to clear up isn't on.

Using your GU glass pot made me laugh though. You mean the ones that come with the puddings? If I build up more than 4, I put them in the recycling. They're great for draining a bit of fat into to harden before going into the organic bin!

A Gu pot is exactly the right receptacle for a dog end.

Combined, the dirty mug and leaving the Gu pot behind, are a bit mingy. My cleaner wouldn't leave them, but it's the leaving rather than the drinking and smoking that would bother me.

@JuneM your phraseology has given me a chuckle and it's been a bit more Hyacinth than Hydrangea but I get what you mean now and I agree with you.

I think that someone who chucks litter about is vile and mucky. I’m not sure why you think it’s ok.

I would not hire a cleaner who smoked and I wouldn't hire one who didn't clean up after herself.

You start a thread on here instead of actually speaking to your cleaner? And what does how much you pay her even matter? If you don't know how to speak to someone who regularly comes into your home, to provide a service which you either cannot or do not want to do,I suggest you learn how to because other issues are bound to come up at some point.

I would get a new cleaner.

Really disrespectful and it also careless as it could even have caused a fire.

As for people who are saying 'give her an ashtray': No! she is at work and should have enough professional ethic not to do that.

I hate the smell of tobacco and would not want someone in my house who would carry it inside.