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?

My gardener used to throw cigarette butts in my garden. It really pissed me off.

My exDH used to throw cigarette butts in my garden when he came to visit. I picked them up and put them in the rubbish. It took seconds.

This

It takes seconds but the cleaner has come to clean not leave mess to the OP to tidy up.

This.

Just tell her to take her fag ends home with her. If she doesn't like it get another cleaner.

my gu glass pot is an immaculate touch

It is .

It's all a bit Hyacinth Bucket.

Do your own cleaning then you won’t have this problem.

I would have been worried that would damage the plant. I wouldn't want a heavy smoker cleaning my house. I bet it stinks of cigarettes afterwards.

One cigarette butt is not what I would call mess.

I hope the day never comes when I am too precious to pick up one cigarette butt.

How do you know it is only one? Maybe only one the OP has seen her throw so far. It suggests a casual attitude to littering.

My cleaner would never smoke on my property and I’ve never had to ask her not to. No way would I want her smoking on my premises anyway.

Some very low standards here from some posters. As for needing a break in only four hours 🤣 please, they don't know what hard work is if they think that ! She can carry a drink with her.

Maybe you should've said that - I was responding to what you wrote!
You should've said something the very first time you noticed - yet here we are 3 or 4 examples later over how many weeks?

Hi, OP -

Do you wish to continue employing this woman, or not?

I need a short coffee break during a four hr stint of hard work and inhale the stuff at my desk. Sounds like she is using a short cigarette break and water or tea in the same way. I hate smoking also but that much is reasonable.

Of course she shouldn’t litter on your property. You can solve that by giving her a cup or small plate to use as an ashtray. I wouldn’t offer bone china but anything normal will clean up fine and odour free in the dishwasher. This is what I do for smokers.

If you start putting biscuits on it you can even ask her nicely to bring her tea cup or water glass to the kitchen. Decent cleaners can pick their clients right now and I think you and all the PPs on high horses (not that you were) need to keep that in mind.

Really glad to hear about the annual bonus!

My exDH used to throw cigarette butts in my garden when he came to visit. I picked them up and put them in the rubbish. It took seconds.

Good for you. Mine is 80 odd metres back up a steep garden so I resent having to walk back up with them because my gardener can't be arsed to.

They take ages to decompose and it's disrespectful to throw litter in my garden when I'm paying him. It's not hard to leave them on a wall to cool and chuck them in the bin (which he parks next to) as he leaves.

I wouldn't be happy with my cleaner smoking on my property, but then I would have made it clear we have a non-smoking home at the time of employment. Just ask her politely not to smoke?

Get her an ashtray or a Gu pot, or ask her to smoke off the premises.

It's not like she's taken a shit on your patio before wiping it all over the conservatory window.

I'm so sorry - on re-reading OP's post I see it was two. Shocking!!!

She saw two so could assume there were more. In any case her house her rules.

👏 👏

I would get a new cleaner. I think her behaviour was very disrespectful and I don’t think complaining would help. I wouldn’t want someone smoking while working and then in my house after that.

Tell her no smoking on the premises. Also discarding cigarette butts in the garden could have potential for a fire risk, especially during hot weather.

Cleaners are there to make lives easier for their clients. They are not there to flick their fag ends into clients gardens and leave mess everywhere. They’re literally being paid to tidy up - not make a mess.

I’d get rid of her and I’d say why - her attitude and cleanliness are grim.