Cleaner drank the juice, ate the salmon and charged her phone

[Shadow743]

I have a cleaner who has been coming for 2hrs a week for approx a year. She is unreliable, often texting the day before with a wide selection of reasons as to why she can't make it, and she doesn't always do a great job. I've been thinking about getting rid of her for a while but I have a lot of guilt around having a cleaner in the first place, as it feels like such a luxury and I feel like a bit of a snob for having one. I've come home whilst she's been there before and seen her charging her devices, noticed that the cordial seems to have been drunk and a couple of weeks ago, I'm sure (but can't be 100% certain) that she finished of the smoked salmon from the fridge. Today, my kids marked a line on the juice bottles as a little experiment and lo and behold, I've come home to find not only has she drunk the cordial, she's finished it AND put the empty bottle on the top of the bin.
Am I being unreasonable to be furious and feel like she's taking the mick now or am I overreacting to some minor issues which I should overlook because a little bit of juice and a little bit of electricity here and there won't kill me???

Referring to squash as juice is the exact opposite of pretentious, surely?

Holy fuck, you're actually encouraging your kids to be as mean-spirited as you are.
I can't imagine grudging my cleaner some juice or the charging of her phone.
If she's unreliable and doing a bad job (though something tells me you wouldn't be the easiest of employers), then get rid for that alone. Not the ridiculous other reasons you mentioned!

I think the word juice has confused some people. The op clearly means cordial or squash, but in some places in the uk it is known as juice. The cleaner did not go into tne fridge and get herself some fresh orange, she had some squash, which is clearly out as the op said she can see when she enters if some has been taken.

i also wonder if the op is so tight and controlling with food and drink her kids are scared to admit they ate or drank something.

Hope the cleaner dumps you OP.

I would sack her.

It just shows she cannot be trusted to have clear boundaries.

Maybe she cancels at the last minute when she doesn't fancy salmon.

What a mean comment.

I’d put money on the fact the cleaner never touched the salmon and whomever ate it didn’t wish to admit it as the op monitors food and drink so much.

Agree with this. Should’ve binned her for poor work and being unreliable. At least she put the bottle in the bin and not back in the fridge!

Get a different cleaner

I cannot imagine begrudging a person working in my home a bit of squash or a phone charge. How petty.

But if her work isn't up to scratch then fine, let her go for that.

YABU about the phone charger and allowing your kids to set traps.

YANBU to be annoyed at her unreliability or for going into fridge/cupboards and helping herself to whatever she fancies without asking. I wouldn't dream of doing that at a friend's house let alone an employer's!

We once had to fire an absolute nightmare of a cleaner who was constantly helping herself to drinks, bags of crisps, cans of coke, making cafetieres of coffee, none of which I'd have minded but the fact she NEVER asked first had me raging. So I do understand how annoying that is and tbh I'd let her go, you don't sound a good fit for each other.

Ahhh ok - I didnt realise people had feelings about it/thought it was below them. Learn a new thing every day.

ive known cleaners to steal clothes so you’ve got off lightly. Get rid.

Charging phone = fine

Having a drink = generally fine, but in some circumstances, such as finishing the bottle of drink, that isn't fine. I don't know how expensive cordial is as I just drink water, but if it's an expensive drink, then that also is not really OK to just help herself to.

Eating salmon = ridiculously out of order.

Pooor woman, having some squash and charging your phone at work is very normal. Very concerning the attitude you are passing to your kids about how to treat people. Have a good hard think about that!

Agreed.

I'm 64 and it's always been "juice".

I doubt the op is coming back. I think this is one of these things when you behave in an unacceptable way and don’t realise until you tell people what you’re doing,

it’s bad enough begrudging the cleaner some squash and a phone charge, but when you involve your kids and get them to treat her disrespectfully too then you should be ashamed op.

Exactly. If your kids marked the bottle as a test then I wouldn't put it past them to eat the salmon and blame her. Clearly you're talking about her in a way that they consider her a scapegoat.

Do you ever charge your phone at work?

Give up. She didn’t eat your salmon. I pick my cleaner up and drop her home. She can charge her phone as much as she likes and I wouldn’t begrudge a random on the street a drink never mind the woman cleaning my home.

if her cleanings terrible get rid of her. For everything else you are being pathetic

Why would you feel a guilt about having a cleaner? And why is that a good enough reason to put up with a bad unreliable one?

If you don't like it, the longer you allow it to continue, the harder it is to give that as a reason for sacking her.

It doesn't matter, but she might have a whole lot of cleaners in your area and find it difficult to replace her.

You are not being a snob for having a cleaner. You can spend your money how you like. When my kids were young I had cleaners. I went out to PT work to pay for them. It bought me peace and I didn't have to come home to do housework one day a week.

I had three children, my friend had 5. One day a week we would have all the dc for after school, or in holidays, which gave us both a rest at least once a week. Not only did it cost us nothing, but the dc were better behaved with their friends.