To ask cleaner for money back?

[gollyimholly]

I've been a bit dumb. Our cleaner is £20/hr. She came at 1pm and left at 5pm. I thought she did a nice job and I had a spare £5 note so I added it as a tip. I paid her £105 thinking she worked 5 hours.. she counted and said I had overpaid, me thinking she meant the tip I said it was ok. I then realised after she left that I should have paid her £85.

Should I ask for the £20 back/pay her £20 less next week? It was only her second time at ours and I don't want to put her off.

Absolutely not, chalk it up to experience

No I wouldn't. She offered and you declined, Not her fault you can't count!

No you can’t do that, I would just chalk it up to experience. She had a nice bonus and you gave yourself a little life lesson in double checking your calculations. Easy to do - I’ve paid over the odds before (not for a cleaner but in other situations) because I’ve been in a rush or didn’t check my maths twice. She pointed out the error but you didn’t check at that point just how much the overpayment was, which is when the penny might have dropped. Take heart in the fact that she undoubtedly thinks you are a lovely generous employer now!

If when she said 'this is too much' you basically said 'no it's not, it's a tip/no, you keep it' then definitely not.

She flagged it up to you and you didn't correct it at the time. So that ship has sailed.

Omgod no, you definitely can’t ask for it back and I definitely wouldn’t deduct it from next weeks pay.

I think asking for it back would put her off.

I would just be a bit more on the ball next time.

Argh yes that all does seem very fair, I agree with what everyone is saying... I am very annoyingly now seeing lots of "missed spots" but really probably only because of how much I paid.

You're probably looking extra closely because your resenting your mistake

Agree, you can’t ask for it back. She was honest and said something, and you basically told her it was a tip. She
may have spent the ‘tip’ portion on something as a treat, whilst the wage part has gone towards bills. Deducting it next week could leave her short.

No recovery but the good news is that she‘s honest and that’s worth a lot to you.