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???

You are encouraging your children to collude in trying to catch out the cleaner having a drink? Allowing them to set a trap for her? You might not want to be 'a snob' OP, but you need to seriously think about what type of people you are raising if you allow them to think a child treating an employee this way is OK. If you don't want her having a glass of squash and charging her phone, tell her. She probably doesn't realise that the tuppence h'apenny cost matters so much.

If my cleaner was eating food from my fridge I would worry that she cannot afford to eat.

If she does a good job of cleaning I would just have a word with her about not eating anything in the fridge and maybe leave her out a snack and drink.

I actually think the fact that she finished a bottle of juice is over the top.
Charging her phone isn't a big deal to me.
But as PPs have said, get rid of her for being unreliable and useless.

I wonder if you've answered your own question in the OP? You feel a bit of a snob for having a cleaner? Why not for paying someone to cut your hair, or fix your teeth? A snob is someone who looks down on others, and IMO if you begrudge her a bit of cordial in her water and a penny or two in electricity to charge her phone you can't see her as equal.

The salmon is different - I doubt many people expect an employer to feed them - but you say you aren't sure she ate it. If she's not a good cleaner then yes, you have good reason to get rid of her, but did you agree what she would do when she started? It sounds to me as though you aren't used to employing someone, and don't know how to do it. When someone's workplace is your home, it's always a bit tricky, but you really need to talk about expectations on both sides.

Dragging your children into this is bloody awful, op.

How much squash can someone drink in a couple of hours? I mean, really, come on.

We don't have squash so it's not an issue but I have no objections to my cleaner charging her phone. I'd hate it if someone was that parsimonious that they wouldn't allow me to if I were in that position.

If the real crux if the matter is that she's rubbish, stop using her but be honest rather than all cats arsed about it.

Agreed, that's really not nice behaviour from your children.

Pretty horrible actually.

Seems strange that you feel like a snob for having a cleaner and yet you obviously talk to your children about the fact that she has used some of your cordial so much that they decide to be total brats and mark the cordial bottle.

You should get your kids to hide a couple of shillings under the hearth rug next time, to see if she's either not cleaning properly, or a thief!

Maybe she didn't want to put it in the general rubbish bin, but didn't know where the OP kept stuff for recycling?

charging a phone costs less than a penny. One portion of "juice" might work out as about, what, 5-30p depending on the size of the portion and cost of the juice (and whether it is cordial, i.e. diluted or juice drunk as is), so yes, on the face of it this is a very odd thing to be "furious" and "feel like she's taking the mick" about.

However you are entitled to stop using her for whatever reason you'd like. Being unreliable and not a good cleaner are perfectly good reasons, and feeling guilty/snob for having a cleaner are utterly bizarre reasons not to sack someone - surely if anything they'd be reasons to stop?

Charging her phone - no problem.

Helping herself to your food/drink - not acceptable.
She is being paid by you to do a job. I wouldn’t dream of going to someone’s house and helping myself to their food and drink (except my parents’) especially when working. It’s not hard to take a bottle of water with you.

@Shadow743 what the fuck are you teaching them??

it's cordial. I'm confused how she's using more than a splash, but so what? She's doing manual work in hot weather, how can you begrudge her some cordial??

you don't even know if it was her that ate the salmon?!?!

& charging her phone, again so what? It's pennies.

HOWEVER, she'd have been long gone with the unreliableness (unless they were genuine issues)

& if she's no good at cleaning she'd be gone too!

find someone else, but you might need to stipulate all the things they're not allowed to do!🙄🙄

It's hot, when cleaning she needs a cold drink. I wouldn't mind her charging her phone either. Don't you offer her a cool drink? I think you're being a bit mean. If she's not reliable then get a different one.

I wouldn’t care at all about a tiny bit of electricity. Food or drink might be an issue because some things I buy with exact portions for between shopping trips and the portions are scheduled for particular people.

That is because experience tells me my family is ultra reliable on those items and if I buy more it goes to waste. However, I also have household members with arfid so if one of their staple foods is not available, someone has to go to the store, we can’t just substitute something else.

my drinks and snacks I wouldn’t mind.

Finished off the bottle of juice, there was already some gone before.

Don't be silly.

It's common courtesy to not help oneself to anything not offered, regardless of why you're in someone's home.

The cleaner is being paid, not working for free. She's a cf and taking advantage.

OP, get rid.

Did she drink all daddy's beer too?
Does she have stripes?

It is odd that you have involved your children in this. She is an adult human being doing what can sometimes be a demeaning job. They should not have any part in this or any say in any of it.

"Am I being unreasonable to be furious?" Yes, absolutely. Be annoyed or upset, but furious is, in my opinion, an over reaction.

Charging her devices? Why are you worried about this?

The only genuine complaint is that you perceive her to be unreliable.

I hope you get the cleaner you deserve.

It’s a glass of squash, how can you and the op begrudge this?

Unreliable and not doing a good job - get a new cleaner.

The person cleaning your house had a drink and plugged her phone in - get a grip.

And as for making your children complicit in denying the person who cleans their house a drink....I'm hoping you're a troll because that's disgraceful.

Would you not just have a glass of water?
We offer our cleaner tea/coffee, biscuits but I wouldn’t expect them to help themselves to food and drinks if I am not there. Likewise, if I went to a client’s home I wouldn’t help myself to their fridge.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with her charging her phone. The cordial I wouldn’t have a problem with either. The salmon would be a different story I would consider that inappropriate. However you don’t seem certain she took that.

I think you are being very petty-minded re the cordial and the phone charging.

If you aren't happy with the cleaning and how unreliable she is then that is the conversation you should be having with her.

Are you sure it wasn't your kids?