To be a bit cross with the cleaner?

[Standbyeknee]

My wonderful cleaner, who’s been with me for years, is great at taking initiative, but sometimes it backfires. Today, she unpacked and set up a household item from an opened Amazon package, tossed the box, and I realised too late it was actually for a friend (a gift for her husband) who wanted it left in the box and unassembled. She’d had it delivered to my house so he didn’t see it.

I’d mistakenly opened it, thinking it was mine. I said to the cleaner that I must’ve ordered it without realising it. It is something I’d been in the market for and I can be forgetful!

I did NOT ask her to unbox and construct it.

Then my friend asked me if it had arrived and I realised…..

My friend is understandably upset, and I’ve offered to replace it, but it’s expensive. I love my cleaner and know she meant well, but I’m a bit frustrated by the situation.

You should be frustrated with yourself for not checking the package, before opening. You must have been expecting it to hold for your friend.

Cleaner crossed a line. Just tell her not to do that kind of thing next time.

Wtf? This is all so weird.
Why is your cleaner assembling things found in packages? What was the item that was assembled that can now not be disassembled?

She addressed it to me, rather than to her! And I do order stuff regularly so I thought it was mine. The actual packaging within the Amazon box was quite fancy, rather than being clear what was inside, hence I opened the box within.

I was quite confused but had to get off to work. I mentioned to my cleaner that I must’ve ordered it months back without remembering.

Definitely my fault for not putting two and two together immediately though. I did know my friend was ordering it but totally blanked in my rush to get to work,

That's an odd thing for a cleaner to do

Did she stay longer and if so did she charge you, or did she do that instead of other things that needed doing?

She’s been with the family years. She does stuff like this regularly to be helpful. She doesn’t charge me extra. I pay a set amount. But as I say, her helpfulness does backfire periodically.

That’s the main thing I was thinking. Probably not really the point but I hire my cleaner to clean and the two hours she has isn’t quite enough as it is 😆

You told her you'd ordered it and forgotten

If she usually does these things then it's 100% on you

She sounds more like a Housekeeper then if she's doing a broader role. If this kind of thing is happening regularly, tell her to stick to a core role and you'll add on ad-hoc tasks as and when required. She's human though, she's made an error ar work. Are you perfect or have you made errors of judgment?

I'm so intrigued about what item can be assembled by a cleaner presumably quite quickly and then never disassembled. Lego death star? A jigsaw she somehow had time to frame and lacquer?

I’m not sure she’s ever taken quite so much “initiative” before but she definitely does things to be proactive. I just happened to open the box while she was there and comment that I didn’t remember ordering it.

But yes it probably is on me.

I’m guessing a robot vacuum?

Please put us out of our misery op

What is it?

I won’t tell her off! Or charge her. I’m just a bit frustrated so came here to vent. As I say, not the first time her initiative hasn’t turned out great, but she’s very dear to us and getting on a bit, and I generally appreciate the effort.

This is on you. Pay to replace it for your friend. Your housekeeper was using her initiative and now you’re complaining about it.

Yes this, I won’t sleep tonight.

Dying to know what it is!!

Either pay for a new one for your friend or can you style it out into a gift box with other stuff (eg coffee maker surrounded by beans, or a reading lamp in a basket w books).

One year, when I was about 7, my father gifted me the Lego garage for Xmas. He had fully assembled it. It did not go down well with me.

We all want to know what this thing was

Cruel!

Well you said you were thinking about getting one to the point where you had no idea if you’d ordered it or not so the only thing to do is order a new one for the friend (don’t assemble it) and you keep the existing one.

I don’t think the cleaner is at fault here. If a package came to my house I would instantly know if I had ordered it or not. You must order a lot of stuff. I’d just laugh about this with your friends and say well we’ve both got one now, that’ll teach me for having such a proactive cleaner!

Fire the cleaner when she has reimbursed your friend.

Just kidding. This one is on you. Sorry.

Sounds like an episode of Miranda.

Meh

😂👏