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’re beyond tight.

YANBU to get rid of her because she is unreliable. YABU to get rid of her because she had some juice and charged her phone.

You'll be telling us she used your nail clippers next.

That’s a really good point, it’s the shit cleaning that is more of an issue than the drinking.

By the way OP are we talking posh cordial or Asda own brand squash here?

I have no issue with charging the phone of course, but helping yourself in the fridge is ridiculous. Even for juice. I wouldn't do it at my parents without asking, certainly not my employer!

😂
Sounds like something from a Charles Dickens book, not sure which one.

Oh my word! Tell me she didn’t use the bathroom scales too.

You are NBU to feel furious, but you are being totally unreasonable to invite a stranger to your home and leave him there unsupervised. Why???? I would rather live in a dusty, unpolished house.

Snort. Excellent callback.

When working as a cleaner I would never help myself to something in someone's fridge and I wouldn't charge my phone either. She is only there for two hours, there is just no need imo.

Do you have the same type of cordial/squash I do? Firstly it costs about £1 for the entire bottle. And secondly for someone to finish it off the line would be incredibly close to the bottom, unless they were drinking tons and tons of it. It’s probably less than 5p a glass. Of course yours could be more expensive though.

I wouldn’t begrudge a cleaner charging phone, having a tea, coffee, squash etc. Eating food out of your fridge is not on though.

Surely the problem here is poor manners just assuming they can use the electricity / drinks / food? That’s the only reason it would bother me. Would it be different if they asked first, OP?

Cordial is diluting juice or squash.

Charging her phone, no probs, that's pennies and in fact, if I've been at a student's house and my phone's going flat, I've asked if I may plug it in - I need to know if someone down the line is cancelling. A cold drink or a cup of tea, ditto.

Taking food from the fridge (if, indeed, she has) is a definite no-no but the deal-breaker would be the unreliability. That's more than irritating.

The Mumsnet approach to tradespeople and other blue-collar workers in their homes is sometimes very disturbing. It's almost as if they are seen as beneath human.

And I don't live in the UK so maybe I am underestimating the cost of electricity but surely, charging a phone is negligible?

Charging your phone is 100% normal behaviour in the modern age. It might be nice to ask, but I'd take it for granted.

I don't think it's OK to eat or drink anything you haven't been offered (but as an employer I'd make it clear that tea/coffee/squash are on offer from day 1 anyway).

But basically the problem is that she isn't a good cleaner and you don't trust her.

I'd be finding a new cleaner if she is not good at her job or not consistent enough.

However, getting incensed about an employee charging their phone or having a drink is absolutely grim. It's really not that hard to treat people decently.

Charging a phone is fine, drinking cordial is really not an issue imo. Eating the smoked salmon is weird (but equally you don’t sound sure about that), being a shit unreliable cleaner is a reason to fire her.

recruiting your children to help check up on her is deeply unpleasant, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Cordial is not juice !

So she charged her phone and drank some squash? May or may not have eaten smoked salmon. Fire her if you don't like her, but not over pennies worth of electric and a soft drink.

I don't think it is the cordial or the phone charging, it is the fact that the cleaner feels like it is her home, I think. A mate of mine opened a cupboard and took a cup out when I put the kettle on, it rubbed me the wrong way, no, I did not begrudge the cup, but the host-like manner was rude I thought.

Ew. You sound very mean and tight and clearly that not guilty about being priveliged if you‘re willing to post all over the internet that you lost out on a pound or two on juice for someone employedin your home- shudder

It is in NI. Even coke is juice here. I'm waging a losing battle in my own house - juice of what?!

Is it not the ultimate compliment to your hosting and friendship that she felt at home in your kitchen?

If she is unreliable just get someone else. You do not have to use phone charging and a glass of cordial as the reasons to find a new cleaner