Abusive cleaner took pics of my home

[ChicExpert]

My lovely self employed cleaner went back to her own country. New cleaner started this week. House is tidy but dirty floor and surfaces, needs a good vacuum/mop/wiping up. We hire 4 hours a week for a deep clean of the downstairs(kitchen dining living room)/hallway and stairs. Standard 3 bed house in London with kitchen extension, takes me 2 hours to do but pay for 4 so the job gets done properly.

New cleaner came and in 4 hours couldn't clean what we asked which is just vacuum/mop and wipe down all surfaces. Had to ask her to clean individual window seals as she didn't and when she left I noticed the living room window seal wasnt cleaned. She broke my glass chopping board and didn't say anything and left chemicals in the oven which I told her not to clean. Last cleaner was able to wipe the skirting boards and didn't leave a spec of dirt in corners, this cleaner left many areas dirty.

I said nothing and thought I won't hire again. The company messaged me why I don't want to hire again and I said I wasn't happy with the clean nothing else.

I then get very abusive messages and pictures of my floor being dirty saying my house is disgusting. Didn't get to respond before I was blocked by the company.

AIBU? I feel completely violated and want to complain some how. She took photos of my home without permission.

Don't even know what to do now and feel uncomfortable using another cleaner. Husband says I'm over reacting :( am I?

FYI I've added a photo of my home before the cleaner came. Floors are clearly dirty but the kitchen is tidy/needs wipe down.

Once I get down to it, I'm quite obsessive in my cleaning

When you say this, I can tell you are a good cleaner. It is a personality trait as much as a skill.

It’s a bit gross. Rather not imagine what the rest of the place must have looked like! Not sure why you feel violated. The cleaner probably just took a pic for her boss. I doubt they will be sharing it.

Honestly, I can't believe what I'm reading! Who actually cleans before the cleaner arrives? Madness and ingrained shame. It feels like just another layer of that pressure on women to keep their homes spotless all the time. The floor’s dirty—so what? That’s literally why you hire a cleaner! Who has time to be scrubbing floors mid-week?

I live in Spain. The women scrub and bleach the pavements.
For what? Why?

It makes me so angry. It is also so bad for the environment.

"Ran for the hills"? Quite the opposite. The cleaning company rang the OP to ask if the cleaner could come back. Did you not read OPs posts?

I live in Spain. The women scrub and bleach the pavements.
For what? Why?
It makes me so angry. It is also so bad for the environment.

I remember during covid some Spanish local council bleached a beach! To "make it safe for the children". Did horrible environmental damage, including the trashing of ground next by the tractors used to spray. Loons.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-52471208

That was a seriously weird response from the cleaning company! Of course your kitchen floor had stuff on it before the cleaner arrived, wtf does she think you’re expecting the cleaner to do? Do most of them turn up to immaculate homes and get paid to sit around filing their nails and drinking prosecco? It’s like a doctor complaining about his patients being ill or a primary school teaching slagging off her 4 pupils for not being able to read! Just very very weird and I’m baffled by the people here who appear to be siding with this strange unprofessional business owner who is trying to gaslight a customer.

It must be awful to live with this level of anxiety.

Firstly, I'm sorry you have this problem, I'm sure youre not unique.

A cleaner, whether hired direct or through a company, has to agree the work required, in terms of the hours allocated.

So I think it is entirely appropriate for them to take ' before' pictures, as for you to take 'after pictures'.
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It clearly would help your position, if you could submit a statement from yr previous, ideal cleaner, relating how easily she completed the work in the alloted time.

This is an old custom that used to be practiced in working class areas of British cities too. There are lots of old photos showing women out scrubbing the pavements.

Back in the days when people understood how problematic spitting was but men continued to do it, women felt they had to do this. They also scrubbed pee and probably dog poo off the pavement in front of their homes. It was a daily routine and evidence of womanly strength and perseverance.

There are many cities where water trucks go around and hose down the pavements at night.

Oh leave off everyone, OP employs a cleaner precisely so she doesn’t have to clean the floors.

OP, get yourself a robot vac, and maybe a robot mop. I’d get separate ones rather than a two in one. Get the highest suction you can find, self emptying ideally. Set it up to go out once <checks photo> er, twice a day. Makes a huge difference.

Sorry but thats not hygienic iin summer you must have bugs and all sorts. It would not take long to at least sweep it and with mess like that Id think cleaning window seals would be the last thing on her mind. I have an friend that owns an cleaning company and she always come out to look at the houses and tells the client how long the first clean will take to sort out theres kind of problems.

I would imagine the cleaner took photos to protect her when the complaint came through that she had not managed to clean to her usual standard. However, to clean up before the cleaner comes is crazy!
If it were my business I would have preempted the complaint and given you a call to explain why they were unable to complete the job in 4 hours.
I find people’s automatic response is defensive and rude now, it’s a horrible state to be in. Don’t dwell on it, take some advise from the feedback here and talk to your family about helping out (or buy a robot hoover), find a new cleaner and move on.

How long does it take to sweep up crumbs?

Why don't you try reading all of OPs posts. You're posting without all the information. Also, it's autumn not summer

Better still, get the men who make the mess to buy the robot vac.

Sorry but thats not hygienic iin summer you must have bugs and all sorts. It would not take long to at least sweep it and with mess like that Id think cleaning window seals would be the last thing on her mind.

Have you read the rest of the OPs posts? The dirt is all the dirt on the floor swept into one area, and then photographed.
She also said that she misspelled sills as seals. Given that she also says her family are of a different culture, English may be her second language.

Was the "er twice a day" necessary or are you just a bit of a dick by nature?

I did read it all I meant if the floor was in the same state in Summer, ues your brain! Also my point was If someone had of checked her house they would have gave her an realistic time of how long it would take to cleaan as my mate has have people claim they only need an cleaner for an hour and after seeing the house she will tell them if its possible. Giving your house an quick clean when busy dont take long but she had clients wanting tiles cleaned with certin things, floors buffed and all sorts that take longer then they are willing to pay for.

Use my brain? The sheer audacity of you to say that after posting this.

Also my point was If someone had of checked her house they would have gave her an realistic time of how long it would take to cleaan as my mate has have people claim they only need an cleaner for an hour and after seeing the house she will tell them if its possible

What does that even mean?

What I mean is clear who told her it would only take 4 hours? I did an little house cleaning whilst at collage also and an new clean was always checked as diffrent companies and cleaner have diffrent standards. I would of cleaned the things that were clearly messy first then done things like window seals s after if I had time also all houes were checked by boss after cleaning so also an case of an bad cleaning firm shes picked.

Why are you posting about your mate's cleaning business at all? It's irrelevant, particularly when OP has provided all the pertinent details of her situation in her posts (which you say you've read?).
OP's told us:

• House is tidy but dirty floor and surfaces (needs a good vacuum/mop/wiping up).
• She hires 4 hours a week for a deep clean of the downstairs ONLY i.e. kitchen, dining room, living room, hallway and stairs.
• Standard 3 bed house in London with 6m kitchen extension (takes OP 2 hours to do all of downstairs, but she pays for 4 hours so the job gets done properly).
• New cleaner was asked to vacuum/mop and wipe down all surfaces, including window sills.
• New cleaner was specifically told not to clean the oven.

Now, I reckon I could easily clean to OP's above specification in around 3 hours (maybe a bit longer the first time when I'm unfamiliar with where everything is) and if your mate were to tell OP that a decent clean of the downstairs of her house was going to take longer than four hours, she'd be having a laugh.

And why the reference to the state of the kitchen floor in the Summer? Again, it's irrelevant. OP is heavily pregnant now, and can't clean her floors now. My guess is this wasn't a problem for her 3 - 4 months ago in the Summer, so her kitchen floor wouldn't have been so dirty, and it won't be a problem for her next Summer (unless she has a gestation period to rival that of an elephant!).

And given that her former lovely cleaner was with her for 15 years, if she was going to "have bugs and all sorts" in the Summer, don't you think this problem would have presented itself before now?

It's called "word soup" - don't even try to understand it. It's English, but not as we know it. 😉

Your floor is very dirty. It's difficult to say if the cleaner is inefficient

You've spectacularly missed my point of you having the audacity to say to someone "use your brain", when in fact,, your post is so grammatically full of errors that it's illegible.