Cleaners payment demands

[Jontysquirrel]

Recently my Mum started having a cleaner come around for a couple of hours every other week. We decided it would be easier if the cleaner notified me when they have been and I would pay them and in turn Mother would write a cheque out to myself. This is due in part to Mum becoming a bit forgetful. It just irks me when the cleaner messages me to say she has been she texts this "Hi 2 hrs done for (blank) this morning. Please process payment. Thank you (Blank).
It just pissesme off with the "please process payment" bit, it is unnecessary. I know to send the money when she has told me she's been. Am I being unreasonable, overly sensitive?

As a former cleaner I can tell you a LOT of people are lax with paying..I've had loads of clients just pay me when they remember which is really annoying when hour so skint you rely on the said payment to buy food! I'm not saying you are like that, your cleaner probably says it to everyone to avoid this nonsense

Thank you for all the replies, it seems I am being unreasonable. Fair enough I hold my hands up to it. Some people have commented on the way we pay the cleaner. It stems from an unfortunate incident where Mum was cold called and coned out of some money 2 years ago. We now have no cold caller notices. Once again thank you for the comments 🙂

The only reason she is contacting you is to get the payment processed surely? I think you are being a bit picky tbh. I’ve been a cleaner and if getting paid by someone other than a householder it’s quite common to send a I’ve been for x hours please pay me type text. I used to clean holiday cottages.

If you use shortcuts on phone you can save a message under clients name or whatever to save time so may just be same set message. I think often clients forget you need you to I be paid as it’s only x or whatever and they will pay by the next clean but prompt payment is important for good cash flow.

YABU

She's asking you to pay her in a business-like way - particularly of you've not set up an electronic automatic payment system & she has to ask to be paid.

You need to have a word with yourself.

No, from a business perspective it wouldn't be. The OP could fail to pay and, when chased, claim 'confusion', as she was never asked to pay. The cleaner needs to be very clear with clients on payment terms. This isn't a friendship; it's a business transation.

I think its telling that these threads about people having the audacity to ask for payment for their work are always about cleaners, gardeners etc. They are never about lawyers or accountants etc. having the audacity to expect to be paid.

Change it up so she doesnt have to chase you everytime. It's ridiculous that you expect her to.

Sorry, misread and thought the cheque was for the cleaner!

I know you probably don't mean it this way and you feel like you were just about to pay it anyway and don't need a reminder to do it, but if you don't like a tradesperson asking for the payment due, it can come off like you hadn't wanted to pay, otherwise why would you object to the normal request for payment due?

If it's just about the 'being told' aspect when you were just about to do it anyway, I would make sure to pay earlier on the day she's due or at least before she's finished so that you can reply with 'already paid, have a great week' and then everyone's happy and you'll be one of her favourite clients.

This is a silly thing to be offended by

Actually, setting up a standing order would help both of you, you wouldn't need to be chased and she wouldn't need to chase so it's perfect for this situation.

You are being ridiculous. She is simply sending a generic request for payment. Her text is v polite. If you don't like being texted then get your mother to sort it or you text her every week asking how much you owe. I am guessing that would be more inconvenient for you than coping with someone simply asking for their pay!

I wouldn’t even think twice about this message if I received it. YABU and overly sensitive.

Funny you say that. The way the solicitor wrote to me whilst dealing with the affairs of my father after his death (I was his executor) was something else altogether...if the OP thought this cleaner was out of order, she'd have a fit at the emails I was sent. It took "business transaction" to new height. Flatly refused to use my first name no matter how many times I asked, and always wrote to me in the third person when emailing the other executor and me.

For example: " I spoke earlier on the telephone to Mrs Tiler, in respect of the matter of [blah blah blah] with respect to the estate of the late Mr [father's name]". The temptation to email back saying "This is correct, I know this, I was there when you spoke to me".

I didn't of course. I never even thought to mention it on Mumsnet either. On reflection, I could kick myself.

I agree. It's appropriate to ask for payment to be made after business work is completed. I actually pay my cleaner 24 hours before she comes, although she doesn't request this. If I hadn't paid her and wasn't on the premises myself I wouldn't have a problem with that text.

She is being direct and clear. You should appreciate her professionalism.

She's not chasing her up, she's merely notifying the OP that she has been & and for how long.

@Jontysquirrel

I understand how jarring her message is to someone that would pay when they got the notification to say she had been there two hours, and feeling like she doesn't need to tell you to pay, because you're organised and well mannered enough to just pay. But sometimes people like to make things sound more important/business like then they are. Don't take it personally she'll be sending the same thing out to anybody that's not Home when she cleans.

Just try to focus on if she's doing a good job for your mum or not, and if she is just roll your eyes and pay it 👍🏻😊

I learnt very quickly as a nanny that when you are in people's homes doing work that (some) people view as uneducated and unskilled, you have to be overly professional in order not to have the piss taken out of you.

I had people who thought there was zero urgency in paying me, when they would have paid their lawyer immediately.

She is trying to maintain clear boundaries and not text you like a friend would or in an overly vague way.

You are so unreasonable to be annoyed about someone doing a service for your mother asking for payment in a totally unoffensive way.

It just pissesme off with the "please process payment" bit, it is unnecessary.

It could well be unnecessary to you, but could well matter to the cleaner. You wouldn't know if she has to message other people with other instructions, such as "Hi 2 hrs done for (blank) this morning. All is well, but she is running out of milk and she asked me to let you know so that you could bring some". Or whatever.

To simply say "Hi 2 hrs done for (blank) this morning" would only confirm that she's been. Added to which, when I've worked for people and been paid by a third party (nothing to do with cleaning), you wouldn't believe how many people have forgotten all about the arrangement and can't think why I am messaging them.

I learnt very quickly as a nanny that when you are in people's homes doing work that (some) people view as uneducated and unskilled, you have to be overly professional in order not to have the piss taken out of you.

About twenty years ago I used to help look after a frightfully posh elderly couple (funnily enough, in the fullness of time I discovered that the despite being posh and incredibly wealthy, the lady wasn't as bright as I thought, but that's another story). Anyway, they came back from shopping one day, they'd been to some sort of market, and there I am breezily vacuuming the lounge when Mr Posh-As-You-Like shuffles in with a shopping bag, turns to me and says "Tiler! I've had an impulse purchase!" then proceeded to pull a coconut out of the bag.

"They had a box full of them. Have you seen one before?".

To this day I wonder where the hell he thought I'd been brought up and was now living, but all the same the fact he said it with such innocence meant I couldn't help but laugh...I think some people just lose track of reality. He once asked his wife if they still had a phone number for their previous cleaner...she'd retired in 1969 and as I said to him, if he wants to speak to her, we'd likely have to hold a seance rather than make a phone call.

This did make me giggle.

I had employers do VERY similar things to your coconut story. Or we would be attending a dinner where I would be working, supervising the children, and they would make comments about how nice it must be for me to try food like this.

I was telling one mother about a guy who had asked me out and she asked if I was worried that our "worlds would be too incompatible" (he was an accountant with a bit of money).

The assumptions people made were quite hilarious considering I grew up with far more money than most of them had (ponies, yachts, etc).

I never really mentioned those things except if it came up in relevant conversation, because I think it is tacky. It made me feel a bit sick how some of them changed the way they treated me after finding out certain things.

One mother called me "the aupair" to people (despite me actually being a qualified nanny) and then after finding out my background immediately switched to "our lovely nanny".

YANBU This would irk me too. Although, I've learned from MN that this seems to be normal for cleaners.

If you prefer a different tone, why don't you work on that over time through your messaging to her?
How is she supposed to know what tone you prefer, or to coincidentally be on exactly the same page as you regarding what a text message should be like?
Christ.

Text her back, The house was so lovely today thanks so much. Hope you have a great Easter weekend.

See if over time the communication moves to something with more mutual trust. Or, be funny with her because you've taken offence that she asked you to pay, and have formal, impersonal texts forever. Up to you.