Cleaner invited friends over AIBU

[Nestingbirds]

We have an arrangement with our cleaner that she takes care of our animals when we are away for a few days. She usually stays in the annexe but this time stayed in our house due to refurbishment.

We had an agreement when this started that we would prefer she didn’t have visitors apart from her long term boyfriend. He is away atm. She was totally on board, and said she would feel the same if it was her house.

We pay her really really well, and leave her lots of treats including fresh flowers. She told me she likes the time she has to herself, and all is well.

Only our neighbour texted me to say there are people coming and going from our house and sent me her ring doorbell footage. Not only is she having friends over, she isn’t actually spending time with the animals or cleaning (we pay her separately for both) as the rest of the time she has been out. We never leave our dog all day. Whilst we obviously don’t mind her going out, and want her to be happy, I just feel taken for a ride as she is clearly not there doing either.

I have messaged her to see how she is, hoping she would be honest about her friend coming over and staying for hours in our house, but she has continued to lie to me.

I feel like I can’t trust her now. Wwyd?

I’d be careful with the agency op. It’s surprising they have availability - and IMO a potential red flag.

I’d have cameras up for sure. Agency staff are random strangers who have been subjected to extremely basic checks only. I imagine that the cleaning company itself is simply a middle man profit making machine. Which will hire more staff if there is more demand for cleaning.

I need a cleaner, would love one and can afford one. But I am old enough that I now trust no one. So our house is a lot less clean than it could be.

I posted up thread that my sibling’s cleaner stole cash whilst he was in hospital. This cleaner was someone who he was friendly with and he knew a friend of hers and her mum. I have another friend who had an agency in and she caught them on her alarm system lying about how long they’d been there etc.

Add all is okay with the Dog🐶

I'd just get rid of her. She's broken your trust and get your own ring doorbell/CCTV

Cameras indoors too. The only way I feel confident leaving dogs as I can tell if the person is actually home. Or use a trusted agency there are some very good ones that stipulate sitters are only off site max 2 hours a day. Not cheap though c£200 per day for 2 dogs is what we pay.

You do know you can stop reading the thread......don't you? Just in case, you come out of the post and don't click on it again. Then find something more to your liking. There you go, you're welcome.

I'm glad everything is well with your dog. Thank you for the update.

I am relieved your dog appears to be all right and hopefully will soon be back to normal.

You've done everything right and I think the woman shamelessly took advantage of you. I feel sorry you and your animals had to go through this.

However it's all over now, chalk it up to experience. You'll be fine with agency cleaners, they are usually super-efficient. Onwards and upwards.

Totally unacceptable behavior on her part, esp. if she is lying AND accepting pay for work she's not doing. Time to find a replacement.

Sack her. Pure and simple. She isn't doing what you pay her for. She is breaking agreements. She is taking the piss

Then you can't go in holiday. Are you going to want until you find things missing??

OP you sound like such a lovely person. I am so sorry this has happened to you and your animals. Unfortunately some people out there take advantage of people’s kindness, it’s like they almost lose respect or regard kindness as weakness. I’m so glad that you stood up for yourself.
Also, please try to ignore the trolls. Unfortunately there’s some real saddos about this platform who are set to cause upset to people. So many unkind people around. It’s really sad :( xx

She isn’t a good person.

The petsitter/cleaner, I mean!

Honestly I find your post a bit strange. When dog sitting, I do my job walking the dogs 3 - 4 times daily, feed them at the regular times, also I would provide plenty of cuddles, as well as providing daily photo and video updates to the owners.

The dogs I'm looking after love me, and their owners are very happy with the work I do. BUT I will be out of the house for hours here and there! As should be expected when I'm not paid to stay around 24/7. Your cleaner / pet sitter might have new clients that you don't know about.
And the idea that she should disclose personal information about step kids - why?

If my employer asked me specifically to not have friends over, I would respect that. But I would find it intrusive and offensive to be monitored the way you are doing to your employee. Also, adding flowers to your home as a nice gesture, is nice enough, but it's your choice, and it doesn't add to any of the professional setting.

Fired, gone, dismissed effective immediately.

Agreed. In my younger days I used to house sit sometimes for a couple who had to travel occasionally for work. They had dogs and horses and used to allow me to bring my dog with me. Beautiful house and I always respected the rules, I could not imagine behaving like this.

uh...no kidding

Thats not how most home security cameras/ring doorbells work. Footage is triggered by movement so they would only need to review those clips to be able to determine if she came back in between. Takes a few minutes.

OP, I don’t know if anyone mentioned this as you had over 900 replies, and I can’t read them all 🙈
When we go away, our dog stays with a couple whom we met through borrowmydoggy.com
I’ve been a member there for years and it’s really good.
There is also trustedhousesitters.com if you prefer your dog to stay in your own home.

I’d definitely confront the cleaner and fire her, it’s not on, you pay her very well and you are clearly a very kind person, she abused your trust and lied to you too, it’s not acceptable! I’m sorry this happened to you!

This. The cleaner thinks she rules the roost and even being fired hasn't fazed her because she's not taking it seriously.

I read the cleaner as being quite manipulative, the OP as being naive and being sucked in by her, ending up giving endless "second chances". She's shocked because she was sucked in by the cleaner's nicey nicey exterior that hid her true nature. OP has glossed over red flags in the past and now has been confronted with something she can't ignore. The drip feed about the cleaner's faults is because the scales have fallen from her eyes and she's looking back at the past with her eyes open now, seeing things for how they really were and coming to the realisation she's been played.

I can't remember if this is the thread or if I'm getting mixed up with another, but if you're this is the OP who mentioned the cleaner being mean about the previous dog sitter to her and the dog sitter avoiding the cleaners, what you've got to realise is this is the level of meanness the cleaner showed to your face OP, I'll bet she bullied the dog sitter mercilessly when you weren't around because she wanted to steal her job.

RTFT!!!

RTFT

I think it was in the same thread....

Find someone new asap and then sack her.