To report this cleaner?

[queensonia]

My daughter has just got a job in a pub restaurant. Part of her job is cleaning and laundry and she has been trailing the regular (senior) cleaner to learn the ropes. She came home today horrified, because after watching the other woman scrub the toilet bowls and urinals with a micro-fibre cloth, she then chucked the dirty cloth into the washing machine along with all the restaurant's tea-towels and other kitchen cloths as well as all the other cleaning cloths that she'd been cleaning the basins and furniture with. She said it would be OK at 90 degrees but my daughter isn't convinced and neither am I. We certainly wouldn't do this at home, and you'd expect a restaurant to have higher standards of hygiene. My daughter also realised that this woman has been using the same rubber gloves that have been down the toilet every day for the entire week (and presumably before that as well) without ever washing or disinfecting them. This woman has worked there for years and has apparently always done this. My daughter wants to bring this to somebody's attention, but knows it will cause trouble. She says that the guy who runs the pub seems pretty clueless about domestic matters and probably wouldn't care anyway. We looked on the Food Standards website to see what the official guidelines are and the idea of washing toilet cloths and tea-towels together hasn't even occurred to them, because they have nothing to say on the subject. On the days when she works on her own, my daughter's plan is to use disposable cleaning wipes for the toilets (which she'd have to buy herself because the pub doesn't use them). Should she just keep her mouth shut? Is anybody else disgusted by this or are we over-reacting?

If it’s washed on 90 degrees though- kills all the germs?

does the place have a sickness issue?

If she’s been there three years then I think it’s ok

Well you have no input or control over that so if I were you I’d just forget about it. Also make sure your daughter isn’t going to be the precocious and annoying newbie with no experience as she”ll wind people up in that environment

So your poop particles are special golden little poop particles. Not like other people’s 😂

Well yes if it did make anyone illl I can’t see how an environmental health investigation wouldn’t have uncovered it by now- they are obliged to report every report of food poisoning for investigation and they would’ve been quickly joined up.

if it was dangerous it would be happening, not “ah well it’s been ok but maybe in the next 5 years they’ll bE a one off poo bacteria incident” type of scenario

Exactly. Darn that grease.

Thank you. Thats very reassuring

If they all end up in the same machine, I cannot see what difference it makes whether they are in one load or separated. If the machine isn't going to get things clean, then some of the bacteria will still be lurking around in it. 90° is practically boiling point.

Exactly

YABU. It's like the recent handkerchief thread 🙄. In this house it's cottons at 60, synthetics at 40 and wool blends at 30. And all in together regardless of what the item has been doing before it's washed. Nobody has died.

I think it would be mean to report the lady. She might be sacked .It looks like 90 degrees is fine.

Regardless of your own standards you need to let it go.

Having worked in pubs it's important that both you and your daughter understand that a newstart barmaid with no experience is at the absolute bottom of the pecking order and far less senior than this cleaner. Presuming to tell a more experienced, grown woman how to do her job (let alone involving the actual management) will not be received well and will not improve your daughter's working relationships or cause anyone to respect her. She can only earn respect by paying her dues, being agreeable (knowing her place) and being good at her job. It's quite telling that both of you felt the need to talk about this privately, and that your proposed solution is to 'report' the woman to someone more senior. Why not just say something directly to the woman as soon as she noticed? Your daughter did say something at the time but then felt miffed when she was overruled - she mistakenly thinks she is management and expects her preferences to take priority over those of an already established member of staff. Bad attitude. Appeals to FSA or other external 'authority' is another middle class strategy that will only earn you ridicule in a working class context.

As I said in an earlier reply, ‘report’ was a poor choice of words. We never imagined reporting this cleaner to anyone outside the pub itself. My daughter just wanted to know if she should flag it up to the kitchen staff who may have issue with her methods.

Yes, they do this at a “fancy” hotel my DD worked at. We thought it was disgusting - DD was told off by the manager for questioning it.

This is just pathetic. "Horrified" enough to run home to Mummy and tell her. Then you both get so worked up about it you want to report a cleaner and post on Mumsnet about it. Do you really have so little to think about?

Disposable wipes for a daily job? No wonder we are drowning in rubbish, microplastics in our lungs and sewers full of fatbergs

I am a massage therapist most spas dont change towels and sheets between clients they turn them to get two go's.
Recently on a trade Facebook group a young hairdresser was appalled that the salon didnt wash towels between clients just tumble dried them I expected outrage but literally 100s of hairdressers said yep that's normal practice.

I always thought I was a bit of a slob. It’s cheered me up no end to discover that my cleaning standards are apparently higher than 95% of Mumsnet

That’s gross. I work for a cleaning company and we use the blue paper on a roll for customer’s toilets.

You do realise she's not cleaning the kitchen with dirty toilet cloths, right?
It's about them being washed together at 90° - as a PP said... it's not a problem, everything comes out clean.

Exactly - the dirt etc is being washed off by the soap and hot water in the machine?!

Such thoughts wouldn’t even occur to me and I’m a clean, hygienic person. I only really separate whites & colours to wash at home, regardless of what items may have been used for (asides from sometimes washing DH work clothes separately as he works with paint, oil etc which can & have stained other clothes in the same wash before)

I’m sorry but I think more fool your daughter wanting to spend her hard earned money on buying wipes to clean the work loos with, when her employer is happy with the current method which is costing your daughter nothing!

I missed that the daughter is going to buy her own wipes- please tell her not to do this. Obviously it’s insulting to the cleaner but it’s a really poor example to a new worker that you buy your own equipment for a business to conduct their business. No one should do this

Mate ! I wash my babies reusable bum wiped with towels and tea towels ! 🤣 washing machine cleans them - I use laundry sanitizer and 60degrees

it’s fine

90c wash - fine. Probably commercial/industrial washing powder too.

Yes, the clothes come out of the washer - clean - and some are used for the loo and some for the tables etc.

Unless she is lobbing pooey cloths in the washer and then getting other dirty cloths OUT of the washer before it has been run... and using them on tables etc, that isn't an issue.

The gloves - well they're probably in contact with a lot of cleaner and water and then dried and not much is going to survive that.

I would use one set of gloves for the loos and another set for everywhere else, and that is why gloves come in different colours. But it probably isn't going to spread germs anywhere near as much as simply bare hands all around the place from customers and staff alike.

Is DD going to eventually be responsible (alone) for laundry once she's finished training? If so she should just follow this person's lead for now and then develop her own system once she's the one in charge.

But I have to say what you're describing isn't unusual. You'd be horrified if you found out how hotel rooms were cleaned (hot tip - don't use the water glasses without washing them first! In one job we were told to use the same cloth for wiping out the water glasses, as the one we used to wipe down bedside tables etc. And no, I didn't do that once I was left to my own devices!)