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?

Only one dick here and it's not the OP.

Glad to read that the OP has raised it with a senior manager to deal with.

Perhaps brushing up on Spanish would be useful if the OP goes there on holiday, as it will be appreciated.

If OP isn't supposed to want to feel 'comfortable' in her office space, why should the cleaner be allowed to @Nospacedilemma ?

Your experience isn't a benchmark for us all to live by... is it? Do you see everyone's desk as a space to have your break, when you're having a tough time in life?

@NiceCutRoundDomeDormice

most reputable charities have ethical purchasing policies.

I’m sure they do - but that doesn’t mean the OP is in a position to “allow” the organisation to use this cleaning firm.

I wouldn't want someone eating and napping at my desk (even though I don't have a "my desk" as we hotdesk). It's unhygienic and negates the cleaning.

I hope you don't eat there either.

I was going to say that there should be a suitable place for him to take breaks - it's a requirement for employers to provide this. If there is one and he doesn't want to use it, that's his choice, but I agree he shouldn't be using your desk/office space for this.

I don't think you can blame him for looking for his earbuds though - you "hid" them. You should have left them somewhere visible.

If you can't have a chat with him, then I think you do have to have a word either with his manager, or yours, to ask that people use the communal rest and lunch space for ... resting and eating. And ask for a lock for your door/drawers. No need to single him out.

I'd find this annoying too, OP. I've worked in a similar office and my desk and chair area were very much my little home for the eight hours a day or so that I was working. My cardigan on the back of the chair, my family photo and cactus on the desk, my tampons and paracetamol in the drawer. It was the same for all of us. It's completely different from a hotdesking environment!

It's not acceptable for him to use your office space as his rest room. Do you have an underused area anywhere nearby - perhaps at the end of a corridor? If so, how about getting an old wing chair (the sort of thing that is often given away for free on Facebook Marketplace etc) and putting it there, and showing him that this is for him to take breaks? That way, he has a comfy place to sit down and eat lunch/nap, but he'll be completely our of the way.

I assume he needs access to clean the room

Did he also eat your porridge? Maybe he tried a few other chairs and they weren’t comfy and yours was just right?

I joke it sounds annoying. What’s his company Goldilocks cleaning?

This all sounds very odd. Stop gossiping with colleagues because it might be one of them rather than the person you suspect. Put your knickers in your hand bag. Don’t set any more traps. Report your worries to your employer, let them investigate in an appropriate manner.

The thought of a member of staff eating their lunch on the stairs makes me sad.
Putting his earbuds in your drawer was a bit shitty. They are very expensive and when he saw they were gone he probably panicked and of course he was going to look around for them.
I get it, everyone appreciates their personal space but neither the desk nor the chair belong to you so I doubt there is much you can do. Maybe look into how he could get access to a proper space for breaks

I clean a number of different offices, this is not normal! I'd never dream of sitting at someone's desk, let alone riffling through there draws! Maybe he genuinely doesn't know it's weird, or he's knows full well but knows you can't call him on it. I definitely would have a word, even if that's through a third party.

You are being really unfair to be honest, I would be annoyed by the lack of cleaning yes completely. But having a break and leaving when you come in, so what.

I have a private office which overlooks our entrance and colleagues regularly have lunch there if I’m oht, receptionist etc as you can easily see if anyone’s coming and nip back down

So the OP is an AH for wanting to keep THEIR personal office - that no one else uses but them - as THEIR personal space? Oh and this makes them entitled? Wow, I must have the wrong meaning of "entitled" because to me this is just plain common courtesy of being given a workspace! Would people be saying the same thing if it was a fellow colleague muscling in on the space without asking and setting up their day on THEIR computer at THEIR desk when they're still on their way to work? For goodness sake!

OP I would be more than annoyed by this and would have probably said something a long time ago, or as others have suggested, if the door and drawers can't have locks on them then buy your own (keep the receipt for if/when you leave of course) just so your stuff is safe. Who wants to walk around with their knickers in their handbag?!

The earbuds thing has really confused me. Everyone calling OP out on this - you're putting a lot of emphasis on them being expensive and valuable to whoever owned them. But say OP should just leave them lying out on a desk in a room that can't be locked and can be accessed by basically anyone who works at that building, rather than put them out of sight, somewhere they deemed safe? I mean the fact the place doesn't have door locks would have made me put them in my bag and take them home, wait for someone to say something and then point out they were left in MY office, why exactly where you in there if you don't mind me asking? Leaving them in the drawer was the best course of action, at least we can hope the owner took them and not someone else rifling through the drawers.

I'm genuinely shocked by all the unreasonable votes. Either you have your own lockable spaces, you work from home or you hotdesk and so this idea of having your own personal drawers is alien to you. Nevertheless, OPs personal space was invaded - I don't care who you are or where you work, you do NOT go through drawers that have no relation to you or your work for any reason whatsoever. It's already been pointed out the cleaner doesn't do much cleaning in that office so it's not like he's going above and beyond making sure every nook and cranny is clean for OP, he had no reason or right to be in there. What if they keep important and confidential documents in there? The company doesn't provide anything lockable but the OP doesn't want to take them home, where else to put them?

But no, OP is in the wrong for wanting to protect their working space. Oh my days.

Are you bussed in with a gang?

“Bussed in with a gang” 😆😆 A lot of companies put on transport for staff, particularly if the location isn’t well served by public transport. I used to work for a major institution that did just that - all kinds of people, including senior management, used it. I doubt people on six-figure salaries were being trafficked.

An employee bus service might also be the ideal way to transport members of staff who need to get to diverse locations. How do you know the OP’s office is the only stop for this bus? It could also be particularly useful if you employ people in low income jobs who might not be able to afford their own transport - like, ooh, I don’t know… cleaners?

I’m happy to have sword with him. I speak Spanish. In fact I think your cleaner might be my husband.
He has absolutely no idea he has pissed you off. He was hoping nobody would notice the earphone thing. He is knackered - he works about 3 minimum wage 0 hour contracts. He is sorry for using your chair to sleep but he can’t cope otherwise.

To be fair, you created the need for him to open ‘your’ draw.
it’s a low security office with no locks , many cleaners will open them to give the rims a wipe regardless.

it was a power play, given his circumstances those headphones are likely a lot more important to him, he potentially needed them to watch media on his phone in shared accommodation. It’s like someone emptying your front room for an evening.

Many cleaners will be opening those draws regardless to give them a wipe unless there’s a policy against it.

She knew who owned the headphones, your whole little song and dance about pretending someone was going to steal them invalidates the claim that the office is private doesn’t it?

I’d help the cleaner take you to HR for theft and bullying. He left his headphones on your desk whilst doing his rounds and you do some weird power play. The office is low security but safe, there’s no need for locks on everything. Who’s going to steal his headphones if no one goes in her office and he usually cleans that area?

I’d help the cleaner take you to HR for theft and bullying.

You'd be making an absolute fool of yourself.

I’d help the cleaner take you to HR for theft and bullying.

For those of you advocating this, how do you really see this conversation going? Because if I were the HR Manager, I’d be asking quite a few questions before I even spoke to OP - for example:

How can you be sure you left the earbuds on the OP’s desk and not one of the many others you clean? (And if the answer was “Because I took my break there”, I’d be asking why he was taking his break at someone’s desk.)

If you suspected the OP had moved them, why didn’t you report this instead of rooting through drawers that could have contained private property or Information?

Unless your earbuds are particularly distinctive, can you be sure this set is yours and doesn’t belong to the OP?

Why do you think the OP was stealing them? Wouldn’t she have taken them home if she was going to do that? Perhaps she just put them away for safe keeping, or mistook them for hers, or didn’t even notice them when putting her things away?

Only when I had answers to all those questions would I double check with the OP that they definitely weren’t hers. I would then tell the cleaner to be more careful with his property and not to rush to make accusations. I think this is what any normal person would do.

I am amazed at how many people think the desk isn’t personal to her. The desk / office comes with her job . The desk / office doesn’t come with the cleaner jobs so he shouldn’t be using it like it does. If you get a company car it doesn’t mean it belongs to you but at the same time the cleaner isn’t intiitled to use that!
Since it is her office with the job she should be allowed some privacy and not have somebody looking through her drawers.
Yes he is probably getting paid peanuts but at the same time he has has a job to do too.

I would look into where he should be having his lunch because the stairway isn’t the place for that. I would continue to monitor it for a bit see what it is like for the next couple of weeks and then use google translate to say please don’t use my office and explain what you want to be cleaned and not go theouhh the drawers. The reason he continues to do this is because he probably doesn’t think he has done anything wrong but you haven’t said anything to him.

Possible red flags of modern slavery/exploitation