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).

Everyone here has their own nail clippers and barbicide pot for brushes, this would make me feel unwell, YANBU.

It's a nail clippers, not a razor. It's not like she left bodily fluids all over it. It won't have taken long either - not like she was doing a facial with your expensive products.

She probably can't find her own and was snagging her nails as she cleaned, saw yours and decided to just sort it quickly.

You like her, you've known her for years, you trust her with your kids. Firing her would be wildly overreacting.

People here really hate cleaners. The recent thread about a cigarette end, horrible.

Watch her she’ll be wearing your knickers next.

That wouldn't even register, but then I make my cleaner a cuppa and catch up on all the gossip before she starts.

Are you a bat, op? It seems amazing to me that you were able to work out that she was clipping her nails (and how many) through sound alone. And seems very surprising that she would relocate from bathroom to kids’ bedroom to do it. And do fingers and toes but then look sheepish about it.

I wonder whether she wanted to snip something (eg hair or thread caught somewhere), looked for scissors but only found the clippers. The story as it is just sounds so unlikely. Not great but more likely than her suddenly doing a mani/pedi for no reason.

Anyway, I certainly wouldn’t fire her over something you know so little about, and even if you knew she was cutting nails (which you don’t) I would assume she had a need. People on this site are incredibly quick to suggest firing cleaners- this job is part of her livelihood so probably best to treat it more seriously and want facts before you act.

Really? Every time I think I’ve got to the end of MNers mad hygiene behaviours something else crops up. Barbicide in your own home with your own equipment? Feeling unwell because someone’s nail touches something you might touch?

So she's fine to clean your toilet for you but not to use your nail clippers?

Seems a preposterous reason to fire someone to me.

Bizarre that this would bother you so much. For me it'd not even register. I like my cleaner and it's only nail clippings. She's not taking a bath or anything. What's the big deal?

Well quite!

I'm amazed people are bothered by this! I often end up clipping my nails mid-clean as I realise they are getting in the way. Granted that's in my own house. But I can't imagine being bothered that someone stopped for 3 mins to clip their nails, or that they borrowed a clipper. But I seem to be in the minority!

Hopefully people wouldn't leave a toilet dirty for someone else to clean.. {In a domestic house at least}

When we were young, mum had a cleaner, and everything had to be clean and tidy before Cleaner arrived...or else!

Definitely no poo to clean off loos.

It’s nails. We all have them and yours aren’t any different to hers. I expect they were bothering her whilst she was cleaning / dirt from cleaning your house was getting under them, so she took care of the problem. Just wash the clippers if you’re that concerned. It seems like a real non issue.

Firing her might be an overreaction but your second paragraph highlights the issue beautifully.
A professional shouldn't decide to 'sort something quickly' using someone else's personal items. Equally, having had lots of cleaners over the years nobody has felt the need to clip their nails. If they're so long that they cause an issue with cleaning, they shouldn't have been left that long in the first place.

You don't work cleaning and then 'suddenly realise' your nails are too long LOL.

Again, up to the OP how much she values the babysitting etc but clipping nails isn't something reasonable to expect.

Personally, I'd find it a bit yuk, but it wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me. Not if they have helped out in emergencies and were generally good to me and my family.

I would however have a word about the cleaning not being up to your standards. Doesn't need to be a big deal, more of does she feel she has enough time to do the cleaning to the standard you want. Does she need a list with your expectations set out as a guide. etc.

Don't give too much energy to something as simple to resolve as this.

Good enough to scrub your skids off the toilet but not good enough to use nail clippers? Stick them in some Milton or something and have a word with her.

🤣🤣🤣

Exactly what I was thinking.

Cleaning is exactly the kind of work that can make you realise your nails are too long.

Perhaps some people do hate cleaners but there seem to be an awful lot more who actually hate people who are in a financial position to employ cleaners.

I think it's perfectly normal if you have someone working in your home to expect a standard of behaviour from them.

And I'm saying this as someone who has worked as a cleaner and is perfectly aware of some people's reaction when I tell them this .

Could you give her a warning instead of sacking her?

I would definitely say I'd want them disinfected, and talk about the risk of cross-infection (that could go both ways - she could get something from you, if you have a fungal nail infection,) and say if she ever needs to clip a nail she breaks or something, to ask first.

I really don’t think I’d be bothered by this. Our cleaner often has to take personal calls while she’s working here, she’s become more of a family friend and she’s much loved here. I need her in my life to make it all run better.
If she decided to quickly clip her nails while she was working it wouldn’t register with me other than it being impossible as we don’t own nail clippers! But something like nail scissors or tweezers or whatever. She gets her job done to a standard I’m happy with. She used to stop and have a cigarette break and a cuppa halfway through and usually we something baked that she could help herself too (she doesn’t smoke anymore but she still has the tea and cake).
Anyway only you know if you’re happy to get rid of her over hearing what you think was her clipping her nails. For me that’s not something to fire someone over but I am not you!

Have you asked her if she used your clippers

Your mum was a good’n! Trust me, plenty of people leave dirty toilets and expect another equal human to clean their shit, but balk at clippers / cigarettes / cups of tea etc. Awful people.

Imagine you’d all be horrified by my cleaner using our microwave to heat up her lunch while she’s at my house too. I wonder what the Venn diagram of people complaining they can’t find a good, reliable cleaner and people complaining vociferously about something like using a nail clipper looks like 🤔