Our cleaner got offended

[Hocuspoc]

I am confused.
We have a cleaner for a couple of months now, a nice lady, but doesn't exactly stick to a schedule.
We agreed on 2 hours per week after her own assessment how much it would take her to clean the flat on weekly basis.
With the exception of first two times, she started leaving earlier, for a couple of weeks now she is staying no longer than hour and a half.
Yet, she always says at the end - 2 hours done hence x Pounds for today.
Because I don't find money on the street and because there are more things left to do every time she announces she completed the work, we decided to make a list of tasks so there is enough work to use up the 2 hours (which we are paying for).
She was absolutely livid when I introduced this plan. There was nothing out of ordinary on that list, nothing that she didn't do the first time she cleaned the flat. Yet she stormed through the flat for 2 hours to the minute and left without saying goodbye - assuming she is not coming again 🤷🏼‍♀️
I really don't understand people anymore,sigh...

I do find it a little bit stressful, yes - making sure everything is ready for her and finding a balance between getting her to do what I want (and not to do things I don't want her to do) and not offending her in any way.

But I think she's pretty good, so I'll put up with those things which are mostly "me" issues.

How annoying for you, not just the leaving so early (five minutes would be fine but not 30), but taking offence at having it mentioned. It would make me cringe to have to deal with this on an ongoing basis, and I'd let her go.

We had a cleaner for 3 hours twice a week . She would say after 2 or 2.5 hours she had ‘finished’ so I would check the time and say ‘there’s 1 hour/30 mins left so please can you do these extra jobs’ she used to be really irritated

So she's earning £25 for less than half an hours work,that's ridiculous! I've always said no air freshener,ever.
I think it's definitely time that you said thanks but no thanks.You have been far too nice.

What’s CF she is!!

No, me too. We don’t have one either. The stress of having a tidy place by a certain time and date would be too much.

I used to charge by the hour but with a minimum of 2hrs charge - if the agreed work was completed within 1.5hrs I would still charge the 2hrs - however, I used to agree weekly, fortnightly and monthly tasks with clients and have like a little contract. Some weeks I would be there 2hrs 10mins, (this is would only charge the 2hrs) but all work was always completed - and to a high standard - not just a quick go over with the hoover and half bottle of air freshener

I think she it taking the mick

@ExhaustedHousewife

I know. I don't want to be a stalkerish person and say "I watched you on the Ring camera and you started at X and finished at X".

I'm just going to say what a previous poster has said below and say I'm going to do it myself going forward after Christmas.

She messaged me last week wanting me to confirm I wanted my weekly cleans running up to Christmas, I said "actually, could I skip one for XYZ reasons" and she replied basically saying she had held the spot for me and turned down other work because I'm her regular and she didn't bank on me saying I couldn't have a clean that week 🫣

I was a bit stunned as why would you ask if someone still wanted something and then be in a huff when they said no? I've never cancelled on her previously either.

I ended up still having her and paying due to her reaction 🤦🏻‍♀️

The reason why I didn't let her go weeks ago is that it was so difficult to find someone who actually cleans 😞
We changed 2-3 before her for unbelievable reasons. One spent almost an hour cleaning a small bathroom behind closed doors,and when I got in to check up on her next time around she was sitting on the toilet (dressed, to avoid confusion), so deeply focused in scrolling her phone that she didn't even notice me 🤦🏼‍♀️

The other one was talking half of the time she was there - and this was the first time
She was commenting books on the shelves, asking us about hobbies and why do we have a musical instrument. She also said the she will clean that day only if we agree on her coming in next week and continuing regularly. She said this time it was more about getting to know each other 🥴 she did expect to get payed for having the chit chat with me 🤦🏼‍♀️
I really don't understand what is going on with people...

I’d replace her. I wouldn’t be having someone storm around my house.

Oh this is horrible, I do feel slightly better though that I am not a complete fool, seeing that others are struggling getting out of similar arrangements too...
Perhaps you are, same as me - a people pleaser 🤣 I think both of us need to be more assertive. i wish I knew how.

No, I would love a good regular cleaner but I think they are too hard to find.

How are you finding these people? 🤣

Go on NextDoor or the Mums’ FB page for your area (there will be one, just search for it) and ask for cleaner recommendations. They most certainly aren’t hard to find, and most are fairly decent (although really good ones are rare). Sounds like pretty much anything would be an improvement on your current situation, through.

Did you arrange by time or jobs? I have someone come and, (as long as the jobs are done) i don't mind how long she takes. Sometimes I think things are rushed, but other times she does things I don't think about, so it all evens out in the end.

In this sort of situation I'd probably ask her to do deep clean tasks (such as wipe skirting boards or cupboard doors) or something like ironing or changing the sheets.

Nothing wrong with charging by the hour, and nothing wrong either with making a list of jobs which will fill the time - the issue here is that you've got another pisstaker who didn't appreciate you making it clear you'd noticed

Once they've shown this attitude there's no point at all in continuing, so just tell her she's no longer required and look elsewhere

I think these cleaners rely on you feeling a bit guilty about having a cleaner. She doesn't respect you and she took the piss because she thought she could get away with it.

They're not doing you a favour cleaning your house because you're paying them. You're not doing them a favour by paying them because they're doing a job. No guilt or awkwardness required and being upfront about expectations re: tasks, quality and timekeeping shows respect on both sides.

Maybe next time agree on how long it should take for a clean and also agree on you providing a list of as and when tasks that they can do to make up to the hours when it's been an easy week.

A self clearing out cleaner, very good. I don't know why so many work like this, it can't be good for business.

I find it very difficult too. I've list 2 cleaners who took umbrage when I asked them to tell me next time they weren't going to show up.

One was here for 2 hours and in that time only cleaned the shower tiles. Literally that was all she did, just wafted about and still got paid.

One invoiced me for £167 for a 3 hour clean. Another tried to charge me 10 hours when she had done 5.

Our current person is often found sitting at the kitchen table on her phone. She misses random things every time, for example last time didn't clean the toilet.

All these women have cried poverty to me and I just don't understand why these situations arise.

I don't have a cleaner at the moment as I can just about manage, although I do miss my last cleaner dreadfully. Over the years I feel like I've had the lot - I've had people cash-in-hand who cleaned on the side, I've had cleaning companies (both small companies and franchises of big-brands), I've paid by the hour, and I've paid by the job.

Some people cleaned well, some didn't. Some were reliable. Many weren't. Ultimately, I preferred someone who worked alone, and my last cleaner was a god-send, as he worked alone but very much ran his service as a business. He provided everything to clean with, it was the same price every time (I remember well him telling me explicitly at the start that he did not charge for his time, but for the quality of his work). He was on the pricier side, but worth every single penny.

He also only came from word-of-mouth (he was a friend of a friend, which is how I came to know him). I know this sounds arrogant, but he always seemed "too good" to be doing that sort of job - I think he just enjoyed working alone- although all good things must come to an end, and eventually he went back to education as a mature student to retrain for something else altogether. He came to me for over fourteen years and I swear he was a mind reader when it came to cleaning my house - I never knew what he did, I just trusted him to come and do it. Since he finished about 18 months ago, I've noticed all the nooks & crannies that are getting dirtier & dirtier - he used to be on top of all of that.

The stress of finding someone else, and known he set the bar very high has meant I can't face getting anyone else in yet.

We had one like that, first 2 times, amazing then not so good clean, leaving early, getting a friend to pop round instead (!) Another nattered endlessly and still wanted to be paid for all time, although agreed not much cleaning done!

Your cleaner is getting the job done quicker but has increased her hourly rate by leaving early. A list is fine, but you might have to let her go.

But if she has finished and it's a fab job, no point hiding upstairs for 30 mins:)

If I had a cleaner that turned up, did the job, didn't try and chat endlessly to avoid cleaning, they could leave a bit early. Trouble is, the standard of work drops off. Ime.

It's better to have a dusty, slightly dirty house than to deal with all this horseshit OP.

You could always clean your own home and save money problem solved.

That's what I am doing now, and frankly I'd rather have someone to do the cleaning than I would the money I am saving.

My cleaner started leaving early. I said would it be better if we reduced the time? She stopped leaving early