Caught Cleaner clipping her Nails in our Bathroom..

[Naliny]

…with my nail clipper.

AIBU to fire her over this?

(Also - have never done an AIBU before and can’t figure out how to do the poll).

I and plenty of my colleagues take breaks on paid time to reapply makeup, go buy takeaway coffee or snacks, and make phone calls. I assume my cleaner takes breaks during her paid time here and there to do the same, and don’t begrudge it.

@ButterCrackers sorry to disappoint you but I've got to the ripe old age of never having a cleaner or gardener. But when I've got a tradesman who I'm paying by the day or hour, I really don't begrudge them a little break, and certainly wouldn't be bothered by anyone using my nail clippers! The only time I've ever had an issue with anyone in my house was about 25 years ago when one of the builders replacing our drains came in to use our toilet. He was in there for 30 minutes, and stank out the entire house with an eye wateringly pungent dump. But it was the stench rather than the length of time he was in there that bothered me. 😆😆😆

Oops that should have been I've got to the ripe old age of 66.

I pay for the job with legal break times. I had a cleaner who sat down for a can of pop and then a cigarette. Her job was for three hours. I don’t have a cleaner now. It’s about respect and not being a cf.

OP,
You are entitled to do what you feel is right for you.

However my question would be, how difficult would it be if she left?

Are there any other ladies who are lovely like her who will babysit in an emergency? How easy it to find a cleaner? etc

@ButterCrackers I really don't see how a couple of minutes clipping your nails constitutes being a CF. 😆😆

How is that anything to do with my comment which was about the OP? Hope you sorted it out and presumably let them go?

When I’m spending hard earned cash on cleaning then I expect to pay for cleaning not for time cutting nails (unless one has been broken from cleaning and needs a quick sort out). They can clip their nails with my scissors once they have worked their hours.

😂😂😂
Exactly my thoughts!

Generous of you. My mother went 'charring' when I was a child - sometimes I went with her and her employers did not mind if I sat reading a book in their sitting room. My mother's work paid for me and my two brothers to stay on at school and for two of us to go to university (possibly the first in our family to do so). I'm glad she did not work for someone like you.

I wouldn't like someone using a nail clipper or tweezers without asking. Don't @ me, I know it's not very likely but there's a chance of infection including fungal or bloodborne. It's not like using tissues, the toilet or drinking glasses

It's just a question of getting a bit comfortable and not respecting normal boundaries.

Added to being a poor cleaner id probably let her go however it depends how much you need the emergency childcare. Weigh it against that. If you have no other support and this comes up often this may be the deciding factor.

I don’t get the context of your nasty comment? Were you doing the cleaning? I would never have my cleaners kids doing the work! That’s illegal. What work were you made to do?
If she had worked for me she would have got respect and good pay for cleaning not for clipping her nails

I think you should read what I said before you jump on my comment. I did not say I helped my mother, I said her employers were okay with me being in their lounge (they were out) reading, i.e. just being there (usually because had day off school for some reason). Elevenses were left out. I think my mum probably gave me one of the biscuits that were for her.

My point was that you are mean-spirited in your comment. You will only pay for the work your cleaner (my mum) does, so, by implication, if she needs a pee etc that comes out of her wages. Hence 'generous of you'. Sarcasm obv wasted.

I pay for the work done - obviously a cleaner can use the loo, get a glass of water, change clothes and shoes, wash their hands. Just like a nurse changes before work for example. I would sack a cleaner for cutting their nails on paid time. Perhaps have read through yourself.
I still don’t get why you comment about you being made to sit through your mums cleaning? How is that compared to someone cutting their nails on paid time? I see that you didn’t have to clean. Did your mum expect her employer to look after you then? What’s the connection? It’s lucky that she could take you to her work because many jobs aren’t child friendly such as hospitals, supermarkets etc. If you mean that I’m so mean spirited that I wouldn’t have a cleaner bring his/her kids you are wrong. They couldn’t have brought their kids to my place because I’m a responsible dog owner. I would never have forgiven myself if there had been an injury to a child. The best safety measures aren’t enough with unsupervised kids who could perhaps wonder around and get into contact with our dog. So your mum would have been charring elsewhere. I worked to support myself through university as I didn’t have a parent out cleaning toilets for my financial benefit. That must have been hard work for her.

Does she have to ask permission to use the loo, the TP, the soap, or the towels?

Should she disclose any issues like nail fungus, identified or unidentified rashes, Molluscum, STDs, parasitic problems, etc, when she asks permission, just so the homeowner can know exactly what she's letting herself in for?

Why don't you read what I wrote? No, I was not expected to clean. It was probably half-term, or day off school for some reason, and my brothers were at school but I was not. So I went along with my mother since leaving a child at home on their own is illegal. Employers mostly out (but on one occasion - perhaps more - I played with the employer's little boy. I remember he had a playroom to himself bigger than our sitting room) but they did not seem to mind my being in the house quietly reading a book while mum cleaned. What I am saying is that life is not transactional in the way you think. And no way would I sack someone for cutting their nails with my nail clippers. I do not have attachment issues with nail clippers and if I had I would stick them in the dishwasher - or buy a spare set for the cleaner.
How dare you suggest that I had my mum clean toilets so I could go to university. We are talking children here, and my parents' choices - or lack thereof - which they made so that their children should have more choices. I received a grant (not full, because my parents did not have a mortgage and rent did not count towards outgoings) and had summer jobs and went 'on the post' when I was at university, certainly my mother was not cleaning toilets to pay fees - although my youngest brother went to a small private school because his progressive state school did not teach him to read.
You are mean-spirited in that you think the world is transactional. I have pointed out that it is not.

Take your own advice to heart and read what you are commenting on. I get that you weren’t expected to clean. As I have written the cleaner is welcome to use my scissors (I don’t have clippers) to do their nails as soon as his/her hours are complete. It’s like in the supermarket for example - the cashier can do their nails once their shift is finished. Imagine waiting in the queue whilst the cashier took the time to cut their nails lol I think that you wouldn’t be too happy with that and neither would the checkout supervisor.

Well she might cut them in her tea break, and she has to have loo breaks, too, presumably. I always loathed working in shops but I did it in my summer vac and paid my mum rent when I was at home from uni.

“Unwell” 😂

You did not apologise for suggesting I let my mum clean loos so I could go to university. I am older than you. My DM went charring to enable her three children to stay at school beyond 15, which was the school leaving age until 1969, so that we could get O levels and perhaps A levels and get a better job and thus have a better life than she and my DF. I had friends at school who were made to leave at 15 to get a job because their parents or grandparents in one case, wanted the wage they would bring in. My DPs did not do that. My DF worked overtime and my DM went cleaning well-off people's houses so we could stay at school. Once I had done A levels I got a university place, for which in 1968 I received a partial grant (I'd have got more had my parents had a mortgage, but they could not get one - another instance of the poor paying for the well-off, DCs of people with mortgages got a bigger grant than I did with poorer parents) and I worked and paid rent to my parents in the vacations.
I get that you probably do not understand this situation, but it is unforgiveable to say someone made their mum clean loos so they could swan around at uni.
NB - My DD worked her way through university, of which I thoroughly disapproved, since the in the time in which she did term-time jobs she ought to have been studying. Not a fan of working through college!

That’s what it sounded like from your post. I have nothing to apologise for. I can only deduce so much from the words on the screen. Perhaps you want to apologise for your nasty comment? Taking your own advice is always good. My comment was in response to the nasty tone you applied to me. You went off on a tangent about you, as a child, sitting in a lounge reading whilst your mother charred. It made no sense to the post or discussion but was deliberately aimed at being nasty to me implying that I wouldn’t have allowed this and thank goodness your mum didn’t work for someone like me. That’s nasty.

It's the sneaky bit I don't like.

Also lazy un-thorough cleaners are extremely irritating. Why pay them, when they just can't be bothered, and you end up doing it yourself properly.

Well, it is nasty. But the tone you choose to speak of your cleaner left me remembering my DM (who died in March, aged 95). And when you read people's comments - and this board is as off-piste as it could possibly be from the original question - you need to bear in mind they may not be your generation. I apologise if I came over as nasty. It would be nice if you apologised for telling me I let my DM clean loos so I could go to uni - because that is not the case at all. She did it as she had no qualifications for a better job because she left school at 14. She got a scholarship to a grammar school but her mother would not let her go because the other children had not had this advantage. DM did not want to do that to her DCs. Try not to jump to conclusions about people in future, too. (NB to say my DM went 'charring' absolutely dates me to the 50s and 60s - not really used after that, 'help' and 'cleaner' being more common.)

Well, I have never had a cleaner who did that.

Listen to you talking about jumping to conclusions - look at what you tried to pin on me. No apology on my part is required.