To not pay the cleaner

[MamaD2207]

We have had a cleaner for about a month and she is absolutely great. Today I had £100 on my bedside table this morning. There is no one else who could have taken it, but there is no evidence it was her. Am I being unreasonable not paying her ?

Unless you can prove it was her. She could take you to court

you need proof. You can’t just not pay her.

I thought that. And you say other people are trusting! There is no way in hell I'd do that, unless I wanted to test the cleaner... and if you're at that point, then why have them in the house at all?

She’d need proof. Regardless of how certain she was.

This makes no sense. The cleaner has a steady job, perhaps she is even trying to build up reputation and clients and there's a handy 100 quid on a bedside table?

Rubbish, ever heard of cctv. Most houses with a smart alarm
have cameras now and the owners certainly don’t go round asking everyone who passed by or does work in their house for permission to film them. How many times have you seen stories of carers caught abusing their charges because the suspicious family put a hidden camera up, and this evidence is then accepted in court.

You can be certain. But you can’t be 100% without proof

That’s not true. They can do on private property but for GDPR reasons it would have to be stored correctly and not use to defame someone.

These are 2 separate issues. You do have to pay her. But yes she might or might not be untrustworthy. It seems foolish to leave a large amount of cash out. But sadly some cleaners, like some people, are untrustworthy.Some are not, of course.

People saying they wouldnt risk a job for the money, are not always correct. It can be opportunitisc. A friend didn't receive many Christmas cards for her children from her family. Her family said they'd posted them - with money inside, and yes the cleaner had opened the mail, took the money and put the cards in the recycling. Lost her job and large Christmas bonus. Some people are dishonest and they bounce around the local area. But some are honest and by leabing large amounts of money out - you are being unwise.

How are people so trusting of this cleaner?? I would firstly look for it and as the OP has said she's 100% sure, it's clearly the cleaner who took it.

Do you have kids? Were they in the house at all between the time you saw the money there and when you noticed it missing?

Because people capable of seeing the wider picture can see that:

A) there’s nothing ‘clear’ about it - things we’ve ‘lost’ can turn up years afterwards
B) OP has no proof so can be taken to small claims for this amount and the cleaner will win

Shes probably moved it to clean..... message her (nicely! and ask wgete she has novrd ot to when she cleaned as you cant find it

This!

Leaving cash out whilst you have a low paid worker in your home is stupid and your responsibility.

However I question that someone with a steady job would sacrifice it for only £100 and getting a bad reputation and possibly a police investigation.

You are a fool.

Hang on a minute, 'low paid workers' are no more likely to be thieves than any other worker.

@MamaD2207 why would you leave £100 cash on the bedside table? Genuine question. A bizarre place to leave it unless you were paying a sex worker. Just us in the house and I’d still leave it somewhere safe, let along out when the cleaner comes!

I've left money in my bedside cabinet many times, for example if I'm going shopping later and just to remind me to pick it up when I go, or my husbands left it for me to pay for something, or a handyman needs paying for something they'll be doing in the house later on. Can be a reminder that something needs to be paid for if anything.

Saying that I don't have a cleaner and if I did, it wouldn't be on show, any stranger coming in to my home shouldn't be able to easily access my money.

My upstairs neighbour had a cleaner. Kids never liked her, she was quite shady looking I thought ( I was also a kid). Turned out she had been stealing gold chains, earrings, bracelets, lockets anything she could get her hands on, from the kids and the mother. She was prosecuted for it as there were other victims in other households.
I had an electrician come by to hang a new lamp in my bedroom and some other odd jobs. I had quite a lot of stuff like turquoises, lapislazuli, semi precious stones stuff set in silver. He told me I should be careful as someone might steal them. I sort of said, well why? They´re not worth much? There was only one vauable item and it wasn´t on display but in a thin box. The pearl choker my grandad brought my gran from Japan after the war. A couple of days later I noticed it was no longer amongst my stuff on the chest of drawers. I searched everywhere, I lived alone, no pets. I knew the bastard had taken it but couldn´t prove it. A sixty year old too. No young one. A couple of years later I needed an electrician, the maintenance guy gave me a contact, I phoned, and it was this guy! He relalised before me who it was, and said "no, no no!" and put the phone down on me. I hope my gran ruined his night sleeps from the day he took it.

@WitchesCauldron I'm not sure if that's even true is it? If someone chose to film me while I was walking up the road then could I sue them/get them arrested?
But I don't know how else you could prove she did it I guess is the main reason for saying that.

That would be a very stupid thing for her to do so I hope it doesn't turn up somewhere else or you find someone else has taken/moved it

One of my friends accused one of my family of stealing an item of jewellery. Absolutely insisted she'd left them out whilst staying over and they couldn't be anywhere else. Family member was so distressed and embarrassed at the idea that he might have stolen them. Friend found the jewellery tangled in a piece of clothing in her case when she got home. Have the cleaner back or don't have them back but absolutely do not accuse unless you've got more than "I'm sure that was there when I left".

Wow, way to damn an entire tranch of people
What a disgusting thing to say, because the implication is crystal clear

She wouldn't, its not a court room.

I think when you have people working in your home, you need to adopt the approach of - don’t leave money or jewellery in temptations way. Just slip it into a drawer or wherever, it only takes seconds.

It seems odd to me that you need knew your cleaner was coming but yet left £100 beside your bed. It’s the same as when you’re leaving the house, you wouldn’t leave cash out.

I was once accused of stealing from an office petty cash box. Not to my face, just comments etc. all day. I was a temp so would have probably lost my job...but then the big boss strolled in at the end of the afternoon, to replace what he'd 'borrowed' earlier. Don't jump to conclusions.