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?

Again, you're jumping to conclusions. How do you know he doesn't have a wife and family here. I'm a nurse. My colleagues not-from-the-UK speak good English. Their husbands speak very little. They're in the UK because the wives were recruited by the NHS from their home countries. The husbands work minimum wage jobs because they're either not qualified for something better, or because their English level isn't high enough, or because they need something low-commitment so they can support their wives' careers (e.g. working opposite shifts so there is always something there to look after the children). Cleaners, porters, taxi drivers, labourers, care assistants in nursing homes etc. They would be mortified to be questioned over why they are here or classed as vulnerable. Because, like I said, no one would ask a French person if they were trafficked in.

You’ve never heard of women having unexpected periods which mean having to go change or sit in blood soaked underwear?

Quite

Son's friend is bussed in to work at a motorway services McDonald's.

Regards the modern slavery etc stuff Agree. Its like the new County Lines obsession that was on here a while ago.

A large number of office workers do treat office cleaners as if they are beneath them.
Saying cleaning as a profession can be well paid is irrelevant. It is like saying nurses can be well paid, when many are not well paid for what they do.
Office cleaners are always low paid. But it can be easier work to get than other jobs.

Yes 🙌 to this. We need more of this view everywhere. I bet you had a lot of fun with your workmates.

Hiding this cleaner earphones is truly horrible I agree.

The cleaner probably didn't expect OP to knick his earbuds...which effectively she did.

Hopefully the cleaner won't report the OP to management for being light fingered.😀

And I am shocked that anyone is shocked that office cleaners do not usually have somewhere to have breaks and eat. They do normally just sit at a desk. Because in lots of offices there is no common room, staff just eat at their desk or leave the office.

So you don't actually own the desk you put your knickers in, and the cleaner's ear buds?

@VerySweatyBetty1 as a tiny charity you should have greater understanding of what minimum wage work is like and there are no break rooms for office cleaners.

And if you nick his stuff, he is going to look for it. Don't want someone to go through your desk drawers? Then don't steal someone else's possessions.

You begrudge someone taking a break at your desk when you're not there?

I'd have either left the earbuds obvious for him to find, or found him to return them. If you hadn't played games, he wouldn't have opened your drawer.

I already explained. The OP hasn't said where this cleaner is from. People are only querying if the cleaner is some poor trafficked person because they associate cleaners with certain ethnicities. I.e. ethnic stereotyping.

Pretty much.

I can understand feeling like you’re having your workspace invaded. I would feel weird if someone was using my office when I wasn’t there and looking through my drawers. Even though it’s not technically yours, it is like a home from home and he’s essentially a stranger. I’d also feel having visitors climbing over him doesn’t seem very professional and for that reason I’d be annoyed at him sitting on the stairs.

I have worked in small family businesses so I understand how the environment differs from a corporate office.

Personally I’d try to smile and say hi so he knows you’re a real person, not just an anonymous worker in a random office. If he left things in my room I would leave them on a table/ledge/whatever in the hallway and probably take the charger home. I understand he may have a rubbish life, but this is a professional office not his house where he can leave his stuff lying around. He doesn’t even know your name but he uses your stuff without asking and naps on your chair, if this was a colleague from your office they’d be taking the piss!

Your attitude is quite mean.
Let him be.

I work for a tiny charity, where we're all "family". That includes the cleaner, who is also foreign and contracted. I make her a cup of tea when I arrive each morning, I really wouldn't mind if she sat in my chair and if I found her belongings, I'd return them, not hide them. Charity begins at home, you sound awful.

Ok, what does race mean and what does ethnicity mean? Slowly please, as if I am very stupid.

Would any of the people piling on OP go into a colleagues office, go through their drawers and sit eating at their desk?

No because I'd have my own desk.

I thought the cleaner went through the desk looking for the stolen AirPods ?

I would go into their office if there was nowhere else for me to go and they weren’t there, yes.

OP also doesn’t like him sitting on the stairs, so what exactly is he meant to do?

I would go through their drawers if I had reason to believe they had taken something of mine and put it there.

I only got halfway through the thread.
i would be very concerned about the possibility of trafficking or exploitation for these cleaners. Everyone has a responsibility to look out for signs and flag to appropriate authorities:
https://www.ourwatch.org.uk/moern-slavery/reporting#:~:text=Contact%20the%20Modern%20Slavery%20Helpline,helpline%20on%200800%20808%203733

I would also raise concerns with your senior managers. Even in serviced offices they have a duty not to be benefiting or supporting potential slavery or exploitation. If it's only a small organisation could you request that the cleaners don't clean your areas. Could you employ a separate cleaner or do a cleaning rota yourselves? (I have done this previously in small organisations).

Could you put a sign on your door saying no entry / request no cleaning of your space. You could put your bin outside for emptying.

look at lockable storage, although it doesn't sound like anything has gone missing.

take an interest in the welfare of these workers, you say you presume they have a space for breaks- why would you presume this if they are sitting in communal spaces? Consider how you might be able to advocate for them...negotiate a space for them to take their breaks / access to a kitchen / toilets etc. even if they are contracted by the main office owners, you are a client of the serviced offices and as such have power to advocate and ask questions to make improvements for the cleaners and for everyone working on the site.

As someone who has worked in the charity sector for a number of years I am pretty shocked and appalled that concern for others welfare and a willingness to champion and advocate seems so far from your list of concerns and considerations 😏

If I was the cleaner yes I'd maybe sit at The Sacred Desk for a few mins and as for going through drawers he was clearly looking for the buds that she'd hidden for some reason.

Can't we just be nice to others and not tut at someone eating their lunch in the stairwell whilst committing the crime of 'talking loudly'. I have worked in places where the domestic staff are the people I'd much rather spend my time with anyway.

I wouldn't think twice about sitting at a colleague's desk for a few minutes, if that's where I happened to be during the course of my work and it was free.

Another classic batshit MN thread. No, he shouldn't be parking himself at your desk or leaving half eaten food, or going into your drawers. His personal circumstances are completely irrelevant. And he's not even cleaning properly? Wow.