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...

Cleaners are an absolute nightmare. Had one steal £300 from me.

She's the one being unreasonable, I think you should look for another cleaner..
It's your money after all, why let it go to waste?

let her go and keep looking till you find a good one - it will be a mission. Activate your network, be prepared to be assertive. There are so many bad cleaners.
I had a really judge one once who turned up on her first day and phoned me up in a rage because my house was not next to the next number house. “I’m at 26, you said you were at 27? Where are you?!” On the other side of the road. Like most roads, the odd numbers are on the other side from the evens. This pretty much set the tone for the whole thing- she was constantly telling me off for things she had misunderstood.
I have found out about Mrs hinch since then and I “get” her now - her look and vibe was very much “I want to be Mrs hinch when I grow up”

she was the worse but the main problem with bad cleaners is you can’t ask them to do things or not do things with any traction. They treat your house like their workplace. So they want to come and go and do what they like even though you love there and you are paying them. Don’t use bleach, don’t throw away the toddlers’ “crafts”, don’t come at random times when im breastfeeding in my pyjamas but at agreed times, don’t use air freshener etc etc … all ignored

Honestly, why does this puritanical view always get trotted out?

It is difficult to find a good honest and reliable cleaner. The best two I ever had (and for years) both cleaned primary schools in the early mornings and then came to me. So there is my tip of the day. They were honest, professional, DBS checked etc

Not the point of the thread I know, but so many of you are saying you booked a cleaner for two hours and cleaner started leaving early...I don't know what's surprising me more - that you can get your cleaning done to a worthwhile standard in two hours (because that's not a lot of time for a "proper" clean), or that the cleaners seem to think they can get it done in even less time. I know I said I was paying my last cleaner for the work he did and not the time he spent on it, but even then he was never here for less than 3 hours.

I restrict humanity to treating them well as an employer, for example, paying the cleaner during Covid when she couldn't come and wasn't eligible for furlough. Similarly paying when they are bereaved, etc, and can't come.

If they are telling me their life story, they aren't cleaning.

At work I am very mindful of professional boundaries and don't overshare. My reports sometimes have to tell me personally.stuff in the context of reasonable adjustments. But work is work, not a chatting shop.

We don’t have anyone , and to be honest I could do with the help , my house is a bit much for me .
But quite a few years ago , we had a fortnightly clean of a larger house for a few months .
I would leave to walk my dog and come back after an hour and they’d be still busy so I’d pop dog outside and keep out of the way in the study area for work .
This got so that as time went on I did a shorter dog walk and they’d be heading out the door as I returned ☹️ leaving much of the finishing off to me

I had the same issue with my cleaner. She would do everything in 2 ISH hours ( 3 hour clean) and then say she had done everything and dart out of the door...so I gave her a set job each week such as clean the fridge, cupboard, window etc. Basically, she just wanted to do a surface clean and then go. She left...

I have no advice except to agree with everyone saying that it's hard to find a good cleaner.

We have compromised with our cleaner who is reliable, personable, trustworthy and a really lovely person, but ironically not terribly good at cleaning and generally lacking in initiative. For example, she doesn't empty the hoover and if I forget to empty it before she arrives she will spend half an hour diligently hoovering the whole house with it anyway despite it clearly not picking anything up. She dusts around objects unless I specifically request them to be moved. She leaves streaks on all the mirrors. We were on holiday for 3 'cleans' recently and I asked her to do other jobs like windows, cupboard doors etc on the 2 weeks after the first clean. She forgot and did the exact same clean 3 times. she spends up to an hour in the bathroom mostly on her phone I suspect and rarely stays the full 3 hours.

HOWEVER, she turns up every week without fail, forces me to keep the house tidier than I would without a cleaner and maintains a basic level of cleanliness that we would struggle to keep without her. I still clean, but because the basics are done the half-hours that I do have here and there really make an impact.

TLDR: cleaning is a poorly paid job that isn't most people's first choice of career. A good cleaner is near impossible to find, but if you are prepared to compromise you can find a good-enough one.

If money's no object, why bother. Lots of people find cleaning dull and boring and value the extra hours free to do something they enjoy.

I stopped the cleaner due to shortened visits and got a roomba and spend money on low effort cleaning products like bathroom mousse and toilet fizzers.
I hate cleaning and miss having a pristine house for the day it was done, but forking out so much money when I can do a half assed job myself for free was beginning to get annoying.

She wouldn't get the option of coming back with that attitude if she cleaned my house , she would be told not to bother coming back. Why do ppl put up with shitty behaviour because it's nearly Xmas ( forgotten who was worried about not keeping their own cleaner) you dont owe them anything, they are not doing the job they said they would to an agreed standard. Find someone else or don't but you choose to let them take the piss if you don't address it

You can't possibly think why there would be any confusion?. Ever? And you have never heard of paying for a job to be done, versus being paid an hourly rate?

It happens. It really does. And it's absolutely fine to operate this way- as long as that what was agreed up front. If you read the OPs posts AFTER mine was made- you will see she clarified by saying it was an hourly charge they agreed....but I do find it sheltered that you don't understand that there could have been miscommunication- and there are different ways of pricing tasks.

For example - washing a car. The amount might say £16 and list what this includes. Some cars might take 35 minutes. Some might take 37 minutes some might take 55 mins. But they all are priced at £16.

So yes, the person washing the car that took 35 minutes could leave after the task was finished.

HTH.

All cleaners seem to do this - i just accept it

No, there are some very decent people out there.
Years ago we had a lady who wouldn't accept a penny more than the hours she spent.. sometimes there was less work, sometimes more - but she always insisted the hourly rate calculation is done at the end. She was from east Europe and she used say a saying about long term relationships nurtured by fairness - something like that

If she does come back, I would install a ring doorbell then you can say to her she left early so wages will be deducted accordingly unless she stays for the full 2 hours. Personally I would say that if she's telling lies about working for the full 2 hours then she can't be trusted and I would get a different cleaning lady anyway

She's a twat.

I've done cleaning work in the past and never snuck away early - if you're being paid to do 2 hours then you can normally find things to clean!

If it's a house you go to regularly, you can rotate tasks, like extra dusting and deep-cleaning of particular places.
(I used to do things like completely emptying out and cleaning the fridge, or kitchen cupboards, every few months, as these didn't usually need done every week)

Those who are saying that your cleaners keep doing this: I would recommend nipping it in the bud straight away (on week 1 or 2) and making your expectations very clear. If you've agreed an hourly rate and your cleaner needs to leave earlier than scheduled, either they get paid less or they 'owe' you those minutes and make them up the following week.

I think good cleaners take pride in doing a good job, and focus on cleaning the things that matter most to their employer, so it's good to be clear about what really matters to you (eg i don't care about ironing, but really need you to do the vacuuming of the staircase). I quite enjoy tidying/ organising people's houses as well as cleaning, so never asked people to tidy before I arrived.

If any of you are looking for a reliable cleaner in Glasgow, feel free to get in touch!

This is why I use an agency. They have only cancelled twice in six years, due to last minute sickness. They charge for the job, not the time taken and two (or occasionally 3) people descend on my house, work hard for a couple of hours and leave the place looking good. It costs more so I just have them fortnightly and do it myself in between. But I would rather that than employ someone directly. It's too awkward.

A cleaner I had a while back was leaving early and still charging me for 2 hours. I don't know how long it had been going on but noticed it on the CCTV one time and texted ' I'm surprised you sent me a bill for x hours as I noticed on the camera you left at xx time " . She did not last too much longer after that

Those who are saying that your cleaners keep doing this: I would recommend nipping it in the bud straight away (on week 1 or 2) and making your expectations very clear

Wise words there, @Longtimelurkerfinallyposts
So many feel awkward expressing their expectations, but it's much better done early and without nastiness to avoid exactly this situation developing - and much easier to do it early, before angst and resentment have clouded the picture

It is so difficult to have that conversation though. Do you really want to be, straight off the bat, suggesting to them that if they do a bad job; they’ll be dealt with? You are in your home, youre leaving them amongst your things. It’s awkward. And let’s face it, I doubt very many of us are ‘Lady Mary” types used to having lots of staff. We’re as ordinary as our cleaners and it’s difficult to discipline them.

With the last agency, I went through about 3 cleaners in about 6 weeks. The agency were rubbish and I still had to deal with the cleaners being salty that I’d asked for someone else. They had my phone number so would text me asking what the problem was. For 3 weeks I asked the cleaners to clean the windowsills in my bedroom. Even wrote it down but despite paying £50 a week, I ended up doing it myself. They’d also say they’d finished, yet hadn’t even hoovered the carpets.

I also had ones that just hoovered away with malfunctioning hoovers. They wouldn’t empty it or clear a blockage. Just completely oblivious.

Sadly I agree with most of the posters here and think she is trying to rip you off. I had the same thing when I had a cleaner years ago in the less frugal years, she did 3 hours (large 4 bed detached house) and then started cutting corners, arriving late and leaving early, and leaving tasks undone. I was usually out at work but surprised her a couple of times on a day off, or sick child at home.
'Luckily', I could no longer afford her when I became a one income household 😂

Do you really want to be, straight off the bat, suggesting to them that if they do a bad job; they’ll be dealt with?

Depends how it's put, @KitsyWitsy, and there's no need to threatening-sounding things like "they'll be dealt with" when "I'd appreciate it if you could ..." does the job just as well

I agree it's not especially easy though, but my point was that it's a lot easier than trying to straighten things out when not doing what's being paid for has become a habit