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?

You're in a bubble it's a real issue which is how the boats work.

Hmm, yes, I believe that ‘it’s not uncommon’ is one of the reasons given for being reassured that modern slavery isn’t taking place is that. It might even be top of the list.

Again to all the corporate types: we're a tiny charity, not a 'company'. The furniture is mostly scrounged from what other businesses on the estate have been chucking out! Some of the stuff my colleagues have bought themselves. The filing cabinets are secure but that's it. We don't have a big hierarchy of governance. to complain to and demand lockers.

Being bussed in for many places is normal. Many Companies do this. Someone has to work the job. Doesn't mean he's a victim of trafficking fgs.

People being bussed in, working odd hours (the cleaner doesn't need to be on site all day), not being allowed to leave (which might be why he sits where he does), not speaking English are all signs of modern slavery and it's good to be aware of it!

He may be using your office to escape from some kind of harassment or unkind treatment from his colleagues. So you could speak to his manager framed as a concern.

Your office isn’t really YOURS though is it, and you’re not entitled to privacy there. It is your place of work, and it is also his place of work. The office equipment is for you to use while you are there. When you are NOT there, however, I see no issue with him sitting in your chair. It’s not your personal property or space (unless you are personally renting the office, I guess?)

Unfortunately we don't employ the cleaner directly.

On that basis, I could set myself up to work in one of the private offices used by our senior management, or our legal team. Or commandeer the break room table for a board meeting. But I don’t. Nobody does. It shouldn’t be difficult to understand that someone’s desk isn’t where you take a nap.

@NiceCutRoundDomeDormice - thank you!

People aren’t risking their safety to borrow earbuds 🙄

If you hadn't taken his property and put it in your drawer, he wouldn't have needed to go in your drawer to find it. There's no need to keep private things in an unlockable drawer either, use your bag. I don't know anyone who has ever kept underwear in an office drawer.

The rest of it? Let it go, I imagine his home circumstances are pretty dire, and he may even have been trafficked.

So you can just ignore that there might be something dodgy going on???

But what did you expect him to do about the ear buds? You shouldn’t have put them in your desk and he wouldn’t have gone into it then. The rest would slightly annoy me but not enough to get worked up about it or say anything, what harm does it do you if he sits at your desk?

That’s a lot of words for my cleaner is eating in my office what should do. Nothing @VerySweatyBetty1 do nothing, it’s a workspace not your home, why do you give a fuck

This.

He's doing no harm.

Way back in the dim mists of time, I worked very briefly as an office cleaner. We were instructed not to clean desks but to stick to emptying the bins/wiping the door handles and push plates in the offices, as that was all the contract paid for (and we were considerably busier with the skanky toilets in any case).

Yes he shouldn't have gone into your drawers

But tech you stole his earbuds

So he was just looking for them

No he shouldn't eat at your desk

Maybe get to work 10m earlier

I have a lot of personal belongings around

That's your choice. It's your workplace not your home.

There wouldn’t be a cleaner if your organisation wasn’t paying for it. Go to your line manager or however your organisation works (and it will have a hierarchy of some description, it can’t function legally from a HR point of view without it) and discuss declining whatever the cleaning is part of the package of (rent most likely), get some locks installed and clean your own spaces.

Actually, he’s not your cleaner he’s your colleague as you both work for the same company.

He could have used a Google translate app or sign language to come and find me and say that he'd left his earbuds on my desk. (which he could have placed / dropped there - not necessarily having a nap. All legit). He once came back because he'd literally left a half-eaten baguette in the middle of my desk! But he chose not to and then chose to look in my drawers.

Ask the office manager to call the cleaning company and ask for them to send a different cleaner. I am one of the people who pays for our cleaners and I can tell you I would be very unhappy with this cleaner in our office he would be moved on.

@Usercyzabc we very much don't work for the same company. We rent an office on an estate and he is one of the team of people who cleans and does some maintenance for the whole estate. A serviced office basically. talking to a colleague, we're not even sure who is ultimately their employer. the cleaner comes with the office.

Also, i'd be pissed off with a colleague who napped at my desk and opened my drawers without asking. But they don't / wouldn't. Because there is trust.

Speak to your boss about it. Ask to lock your door or get a lockable set of drawers.

I would hate it too but now my desk at work is a hot desk and I too have things in my drawers, so it can be used if I aren't there. Our cleaners don't have keys to our offices though.

Do they?