To ask: if you are a cleaner, what are the things in the house that would make you judge someone?

[Eastie77Returns]

I spend about an hour doing a pre-clean/tidy before our new cleaner arrives. There are some things I think look too messy for her to deal with and I also worry she will judge me on the general state the house has fallen into in between her visits.

A friend who has the same cleaner thinks I'm nuts for doing this.

Can I ask, if you are a cleaner are there certain things that would make you think someone is an absolute slob or you don't think you should have to deal with? I know surfaces should be as clear as possible and also cleaners should not be expected to tidy up,fold clothes etc (unless mutually agreed).

Tidy and toilets here too. I used to clean at uni, anything sex related is just disrespectful, and I don’t want to pick up your dirty knickers.

I tidy just so I can maximise their cleaning time, if they’ve got to pick everything up then they won’t have the time to do everything else I want done.

I wouldn’t expect my cleaner to do anything “gross” so I give the toilet a quick clean, empty the bathroom bin and make sure the toothbrushes are clean and away. I’m pretty tidy anyway so the only room we have to tidy specifically for her coming is DD’s, and she does that the night before. Usually!

I'm a cleaner and I have to admit I did once judge when there was green mould in someone's sink and there were kids living there. Other than that I don't think there's been a time where I've judged anything

Yes this sounds good. For example I clean the toilet (separate room) but don’t always dust round the back and the pipes etc. And I would like a better clean of the bathroom but it’s a rented house and really the grouting needs redoing so it will never be all white. But I think a fortnightly clean plus oven and fridge would be good. Although we’re meant to be saving to buy. Definitely getting one when we move though!

Errr... I definitelt don't clean before the cleaner, what a waste of money and energy that would be. She is fantastic and will clean and also tidy up, I also have to say though that I like to live cleanly so I maintain it during the week so it's not actually disgusting. I do empty the bins but again just because I do that every day anyway. She also gets paid for 3h and it's plenty time for our small house hence she has time to tidy up, fold clothes, etc if needed. If I had to clean/tidy up before hand, I would rather pay the cleaner for an extra hour if I could - it's their job! Also, if a cleaner judges me/the house because it's dirty/untidy, then said person should do a different job imo

Same thing, surely?

I've been a cleaner and I've employed a cleaner.

One job I did, I was employed for 3 hours per week. It was untidy. I didn't judge (I couldn't care less if you are messy) but I did have to spend an hour tidying up before I could clean. This meant a 2 hour clean. Best believe I wasn't staying longer than my paid hours because the cleaning wasn't finished.

For this reason, my house will ALWAYS be tidied before my cleaner comes.

I make the kids tidy up. Things like tidying clutter in the living rooms/cleaning up any skid marks we would do as we go anyway. We clean very halfheartedly once or twice a week between her visits but the whole point of paying for the help is to not do it ourselves so it’s very minimal. I do also do a full on spring clean a couple of times a year, usually right before she comes and avoiding the bits she will cover.

I'm in between cleaners atm 😭 but DH and I always tidy up before the cleaner comes - we have young kids and the house usually ends up with their toys and books etc everywhere, as well as just general clutter. We like to put away things in the kitchen, leave the bathroom and house in general tidy. So that the cleaner can actually spend the time cleaning.

As for the toilet - we scrub skid marks as we go along, it's disgusting not to. So I would double check there were no skid marks we'd missed. But I wouldn't clean the toilet, pointless when that's what we are paying the cleaner to do.

Oh and I told the cleaner never to empty our bathroom bin as I wouldn’t expect that at all

Ex cleaner here of about 5 years. Definitely clean the loo, not shiny clean but not smeared with shit. I can't help but feel a bit 🤮about people that leave the loo like that and still remember the. 20 years later!
I now occasionally have a cleaner and tidy and put some things on the bed so they hoover thoroughly. And always give the toilet a quick scrub.

Well I’d never expect her to clean it off! Bleach only!

I've trained my family that we all tidy up on Sunday night because the cleaners are coming the next day. This is apparently a better reason than "because it's your mess and you should tidy it". But it only takes 15 minutes now because they've learnt it's quicker to tidy if everything has a place where it lives.

I want my cleaners to spend their whole time cleaning, not putting my teenagers' clothes away for them.

Honestly some of the people I have worked for had no respect, skids in toilets along with accompanying smells, pubes on the toilet seat, sex toys strewn around, a used condom on the bedside table, dirty washing on the floor, food waste spilling onto the floor, dog pee left for me to clear up with a chair over it and dog poo walked in throughout the house by their child. I leave it just to make a point, no one should be disrespecting a cleaner they are there to clean not to be a slave, hence why I changed companies regularly then started my own business as I was sick of being treated like less of person for being a cleaner.

@MounjaroUser

of course it's not. I don't need to clean the toilet 'before the cleaner comes' because it's always clean.

(& I don't have a cleaner)

I do practically nothing to prepare (but not in the habit of having a skiddy loo/random sex toys strewn around anyway). My cleaner is a total hero, she cleans once per fortnight but comes twice a week and helps with other chores like folding laundry, hanging washing, tidying the (little) kids' rooms, doing ad hoc stuff like cleaning the extractor fans and washing the patio door windows. I hope she doesn't judge us - maybe she does, I don't care as long as she doesn't leave because I'm not sure how we would survive without her!!

Minging.

Only thing I would judge is not being paid promptly.

I work hard - you pay me.

not here to judge your home.

I really need a cleaner as work full time and have primary kids that I ferry to clubs 5 days from 7 including weekends. I spend all my spare time tidying but I never get it clean and I have a house needing renovation so even if it's clean it doesn't look it but I always worry a cleaner would judge me too much so never got one. This thread sort of helps as maybe I am worrying too much. The main remaining issue is clutter as we have too much stuff in too small a space. Maybe if I do a big sort (with what time?) then I might go for a cleaner.

Or, conversely, I see many threads here where people say their cleaner is their best friend / one of the family, which I think is equally weird

My cleaner does a good job, I respect her hard work and treat her well eg paying throughout Covid, when she's on holiday etc

But she's not my friend. It's a professional relationship

Yeah I had similar concerns as our house needs renovation so I initially held off getting a cleaner for a while. Our windows are really grotty for example and no amount of cleaning really helps as the ledges are broken and it just looks grim. There are quite few things around the house that I clean but they don’t look it because of the state they are in. I’m also ferrying kids to activities 5/7 and work full time!

I used to be a cleaner - yes the toilet thing!

But my main bugbear was washing up - I had one client and when I went in she would always say leave the washing up and all the baby bottles,,,, how am I supposed to clean the kitchen when the sink and half the worktops are covered in washing up? And they had a dishwasher, i normally emptied the dishwasher filled with pots and washed the remaining. I didn't mind going to clients and there was the morning pots in the sink but when the sink is full of dirty water and pots yesterday its a no, I sliced my finger open at one clients because there were massive knives in the cold dirty water.

I had another client she paid me for 2 hours to clean her kitchen and front room each week, she had 5 kids and there were toys, washing, clutter all over the place, you couldn't see the floor but there would be a weeks worth of washing up on the side. I only went for 3 weeks and then on the 4th week she must have had a party because it was off the scale. I went in, started clearing up and thought sod it. I locked up, posted the key and messaged her to tell her I could not go back it was that bad.

Pre cleaner prep for me is strip beds and leave them clean bedding to put
on / check loos clean / ensure floors clear/ get mugs and bins out of teen rooms. Bring little bins down. Takes about 30-40
mins to do all this.

“AIBU..I work as a cleaner and the owners of the house I clean usually have the surfaces clear when I arrive (so I can clean) and although the bathroom needs cleaning there isn’t poo smeared around the loo. It looks like they do a bit of tidy up before I arrive and ensure the toilet is decent. I find this so humiliating! Why are they treating me like this? Like I’m a member of some kind of flipping sub class😤

They clearly really pity me by doing a 30 min tidy so I can do my actual job and clean for 3 hours which I what I’m contracted to do. The lack of respect here is wild.

AIBU to leave and find another place where I am not treated with such disrespect?”

I am terrible for this, but my cleaner is neighbour and would hate her to gossip with other neighbours.
I tidy, change beds (more so that everything is clean), wipe sinks and toilets, bleach loo I even run the hoover around.