Annoyed with the office cleaner

[VerySweatyBetty1]

Here’s a thing:

I've suspected for some time that our office cleanerr sits and dozes / charges his phone / eats his breakfast in my chair. I’ve never quite caught him but I’ve often ‘surprised’ him ‘suddenly cleaning’ when I've walked in earlier than normal (I'm a late person). My office is an easy choice – comfy, fan, phone charger ready plugged in on my desk. He will have noticed I’m rarely in before 9.30 and he can listen out for people coming in and out. In fact, as I’m above the front door, you can hear people arriving as the door slams shut.

He's been caught out in the past by leaving his breakfast on my desk, and coming back for it. Apologetically.

My colleague once nearly caught him in another office, so it's a known thing amongst us that this happens.

Yesterday there were some ear buds in a case on my desk. Barely anyone else here this week and nobody would want to sit here anyway, as they all have their own comfy offices. So I was pretty sure they were the cleaners. Wondering what to do / and wondering what he would do, I put them in my desk drawer while I thought about it. That was yesterday. This morning they’ve gone. This means he’s come in looking for his earbuds and has opened my personal drawers in my desk. These contain my personal effects – medication, spare underwear, receipts, personal letters and cards. I can't lock the door of my office or of my drawers. We're a pretty low-security establishment and trust one another.

In addition: we have a very narrow entrance to our building (which is part of a group of buildings, which are all serviced by an external company). He has taken up residence at the foot of the stairs. Eats his lunch there. sits on the stairs having loud conversations on his phone. We have to literally climb over him to get in and out, including when we have visitors.

I've always found this highly annoying and inappropriate but my colleagues don't seem to mind and tolerate it and I don't want to be the office bitch. The bloke is bussed in with a load of others from goodness knows where, at the crack of dawn, probably on the minimum wage and probably not well treated. There must be a common room where his colleagues hang out, but he seems to prefer our stairwell. Maybe they bully him, and he just wants some peace and quiet. So, I don't want to ruin things for him but he's crossed a line.

He speaks barely a single word of English, so I can't even have a gentle chat with him (or I'd have done it by now). The only way to communicate is via his boss. I suppose I could use Google Translate and leave him a note:

"Please do not take rest breaks at my desk, and do not open my drawers"

I don't want to scare him, though, or I'll end up being the one in trouble.

WWYD?

Yes, I should have actually gone and found him yesterday and given the earbuds to him in person. For once he wasn't actually sitting on the stairs to jog my memory. And I should / could have left a translated note on the desk. Hindsight is always a great thing.

It's good to be kind but when someone is obviously taking the piss, frequently, then it's not on.

No, but it is not kind to steal someones earphones either. Because this is what you did. You obviously knew they were his, or how else would you know that it was him who opened your drawer. So it sounds like you are both taking the piss.

@Turtonator - point is I smile and say hello because that's all I can do because I don't speak his language. No, I don't think I'm a hero and you're deliberately misinterpreting what I say to suit your agenda.

He could have reported you for stealing. He probably did not because he knows as an office cleaner he is bottom of the pile and no one will give a shit.

And i didn't steal his bloody earbuds - I put them in my drawer to decide what to do. ie to leave them with a note, go and find him etc. But I didn't do either when i left yesterday and I left them in my drawer. I would have dealt with it today.

Our cleaners wash our floors but cleaning the desks with wipes is up to us. We started doing it during covid and just carried on. It is a little irritating that the night porters when making tea and coffee do not clean up after their mucky selves! They also use the receptionists' chairs rather than their own and some (it has been noticed on CCTV) go to sleep under the desk (and this is their bosses!!!)

Of course you're not being unreasonable OP, I wonder if he would push his luck quite so much if it were a man's office.
He may not mean to, but he is being inappropriately over familiar with your office imo. I'm bemused why you are getting such a hard time on here tbh.

@Teazels - thank you!

@VerySweatyBetty1 genuinely interested to know if it's just him, or you think anyone sitting in your chair at your desk in your office is taking the piss?

Anyway guys, gotta get some work done! Have fun.

@Teazels where is he supposed to take his break? After OPs complaint he will be forced to take his breaks on the pavement outside or in the loos.

Why is that OP's problem?

Why did he need to be sat on the stairs to "jog your memory"?......I would have thought seeing the earbuds every time you opened the "drawer of important stuff" would have done that. Poor guy can't win can he, you complain when he's sat on the stairs and you get snarky when he's not.

I see your dilemma and agree entirely with people pointing out the power dynamic and the likely material conditions he lives under. I would suggest using google translate to have a polite conversation (you can speak into it and it translates it, if you use the app version), saying you're feeling uncomfortable with his use of your office, you don't mind him having a rest in there but could he make sure he's out of there by [time] and not move around any of your personal things. (Personally, i would let him use things like phone charger, energy is expensive these days). But have the convo as you would someone whom you respect as an equal, not like a school teacher telling off someone beneath them, because that would be both prejudiced and unethical.

It doesn't need to be OP's problem, but she could surely have some empathy for the man who wants to use her desk for a few minutes to avoid eating on the stairs or the loos!

But I do agree with you OP that people having really loud conversations and watching loud things on their phones (but maybe someone took his earphones so he had to have the sound on 🤔) is annoying tbf.
I suspect it adds to it that he talks in a language you don’t understand.

Lady Bountiful at the very least! Smiling at the lower orders like that.

Spare underwear?! Personal letters?! Yeah you're keeping those in basically a public space which many people have access to - maybe keep things like this in your bag instead....

She doesn't have to really, she doesn't know anything about the guy and nor do you!

It’s a bit like the recent thread where the OP had a friend who stole her new glasses. OP couldn’t prove they were hers but she knew it. People encouraged her to look for them in her friends house and simply steal them back.

The cleaner knew where he likely had left his earphones, so stole them back. People love their earphones and wouldn’t want to be without thembfor a couple of days, and OP being often very late for work wasn’t there, so he couldn’t ask her. I think it is fair enough he opened the drawer in this case.

Show a little kindness, OP. He’s likely to lose his livelihood if you report him. I think it was very mean of you to hid his earbuds, if they were his, to try and catch him out.

If you don’t own the company you’re talking about then you are being extremely unreasonable

It isn’t YOUR office, it is a space allocated to you in your work role.

the cupboards and desk and chair are also not yours.
if you decide to turn it into a ‘homely’ space with personal stuff in it then that’s totally your lookout.

more to the point, aside from your ‘suspicions’ you haven’t any proof at all he’s been doing what you claim (sleeping in ‘your’ office). He is clearly allowed in said office to clean, and therefore finding earbuds is hardly smoking gun territory.

@HollyKnight

Again, you're jumping to conclusions. How do you know he doesn't have a wife and family here

no, I’m going by the fact that the OP said that he doesn’t speak English so we only have the details given here to go on.

Because, like I said, no one would ask a French person if they were trafficked in.

how would you know someone was French? Because they spoke French? That doesn’t mean they’re from France.

lets face it, you’re jumping to as many conclusions as anyone else here. Personally, I would rather people highlighted suspicions of exploitation out of concern for a person even if it was patronising than thought ‘it’s probably ok’.

You wouldn’t, you do you, but I don’t see why that would move you to crusade against other people’s legitimate concerns by throwing around accusations of racism.

I can’t say for certain that this particular gentleman is being exploited and you can’t say for certain he isn’t. The onus on your position to act is less than mine so you’re pretty much done on the subject surely?

She doesn't have to but equally she could show a bit of human kindness.

Op, why don’t you get a lockable box (like a cash box) to keep your private things in your drawer? Then it won’t matter if the cleaner opens your drawer: he won’t be able to get into your things. As for sitting on the stairs, I think you and your co-worker need to take it up with the cleaning company - I would raise it as a fire hazard - normally, entrances and exits have to be kept clear - and also inconvenient for visitors to the office.