To report the cleaner

[EmotionalLimbo]

I'm a PhD student and work in a doctoral school office with several other researchers, all doing our own thing. It's a wonderful quiet space and we're very lucky.

Well quiet that is until the bins are emptied every afternoon. I'm not sure if the person who comes in is a cleaner because I've never seen her do any cleaning in this office but she might do in other parts of the building.

She's just so loud. She's talking on the phone using Bluetooth earpieces so it looks like she's talking to herself. It's so distracting and it's not a work conversation because it's a foreign language.

I've contacted the estates people to ask them to tell her to stop as it's annoying everyone but nobody dare say anything. It's not my job to tackle her.

AIBU?

I can’t fathom the idea that people this educated haven’t got the wit to just ask her to be quiet (if it really bothers you so much).

50ish women aren’t y’know, a different SPECIES. You can talk to 50ish women cleaners using the same tone and manner as all other humans…

OP why don’t you stop replying to the goady posts/trolls and think about some of the more sympathetic posts and make a plan?

a few of us have asked how long the bins take or whether it’s the same time of day?

put a note on the door saying this room is silent /no talking/quiet study

https://amzn.eu/d/fYAB0Ys

she is doing her job prob for nmw and if she is chatting non stop via phone I get it can be annoying

is the space normally dead quiet. No one ever talks laughs chats to anyone

hope no one ever farts 😉

hopefully management will have a nice quiet word with her to listen to music in that area and not phone calls

Presumably you would put the rubbish in the same place the cleaner does? She doesn't eat it

I don't think that buying your own bin bags is particularly devastating if you cannot tolerate the cleaner

It's a fairly boring, bit gross job, she's doing it alone. For 20 minutes a day I wouldn't begrudge someone making some noise providing they were doing the job. Your office is quiet the rest of the time. Buy some loop ear plugs

Good idea. It's normally mid afternoon.

Yes of course people talk to each other, but we're not a team in the sense of a work office so it's not like that. It's not like a morgue and totally silent but we don't interact as office staff would do. It's hard to explain.

Are any of you working on important top secret research ?

Could be important. I am not sure why... yet. This thread has a long way to go :-)

I just find it very suspicious that this "cleaner" was coming into your office daily, tampering with the bins, but yet it is not obvious that she is a cleaner.

You said it yourself. Quote " I'm not sure if the person who comes in is a cleaner because I've never seen her do any cleaning in this office".

Yet she is lingering for 20-25 minutes. Hmmmm.

I should get a really good paper shredder for your office.

A quiet one of course.

Ah yes, we had PhD students like you when I was doing my PhD, just bl**dy appreciate that she's cleaning up after you.

Why did you even mention that you are signed up for a PhD? You are not a student anymore. You are undertaking research. I will leave you to work out what it reveals that you don’t see the distinction. My point however is that you are an adult who can talk to others in a reasonable way.

And it is standard to start with an Mphil until you upgrade to PhD.

Um, it's actually standard to go from a BSc (hons) straight to a PhD.

No it's not. But that's beside the point and nothing to do with the cleaning.

Not any more.

Yes, it is.

Agreed.

Love how people on here think they know more about your life than you!! 🥴

people get crazy on these threads

Not in my field, throughout the RG.

"you sound insufferable"
"We had a PhD candidate just like you"
"Racist snob"
"Entitled"

Could make a bingo card.

And I'm at a RG university with people undertaking a PhD with all kinds of previous qualifications. 21/22 year old IM graduates, mature candidates with "just" a degree but other experience, those with a standard degree and master's, someone who's in their 60s and has been teaching for decades.

In many areas of STEM we are happy to take students from an M(Subject) rather than a full MSc. However we would not take people with only years of English undergraduate training because they are not prepared to begin research and it is not likely they would finish in the time allocated for their financial support.

You sound like odious.
How difficult to have your lofty contemplation disturbed for the time it takes to empty some bins. Your PhD thesis could fall apart due to such outrageous interuption. Academia could collapse.
Get a grip .

Presumably we're not all in your field though, or in 'RG'.

Maybe she is tired after a day of clearing up other people's shit. Maybe talking on the phone relieves the boredom of a poorly paid repetitive job.

Yes. You might be more in need of students. Doesn’t make taking them at that stage ‘standard’.

Odious means extremely unpleasant, causing or deserving hate or repugnance. It describes something that is hateful, disgusting, or offensive. Get a grip dictionary.

You're being ridiculously precious, OP. Not a good look.

It's a shame that you were too cowardly to just have a quiet word with her instead of running to her boss.

I’m with you OP. If she brought a friend with her and chatted away together while she cleaned, would that be ok? No it wouldn’t. If she had music playing would that be ok? No it bloody wouldn’t. Why the fuck talking to a mouthpiece on a phone like this has become acceptable is beyond me.
would the posters who are defending the noise-maker do this themselves? Walk through a room where a work meeting is going on, and do this? No you wouldn’t.

If the OP worked among surgeons how would you be responding - the cleaner wanders through chatting on her mobile while the medics are fixing your mums hernia?

It’s thoughtless and selfish and smacks if anything of the cleaner being passive aggressive to the students. The students who’s fees fund the university and thus pay her wages.

AI is your friend and mine, here is what my co-pilot said. After being entertained by the crazy thread I cut and pasted the OP.

I don’t think you’re being unreasonable at all. You and your colleagues are entitled to a quiet working environment, especially in a doctoral school office where concentration is everything. Here’s how I’d break it down:

• The disruption: It’s not the act of emptying bins that’s the issue—it’s the loud phone conversations. That’s outside the scope of her job and directly impacts your ability to work.
• Your response: You’ve already taken the right step by contacting estates. It’s their responsibility to manage facilities staff, not yours.
• The hesitation: It’s understandable that nobody wants to confront her directly. She’s not part of your team, and it could feel awkward or even inappropriate to challenge her.
• Reasonableness: Expecting quiet during working hours isn’t unreasonable. If she were chatting briefly with colleagues, that’s one thing—but regular loud phone calls are disruptive.
• Next steps: Estates should handle it. If they don’t, you could escalate politely by explaining the impact on productivity. Framing it as “we need a quiet environment for research” rather than “she’s annoying” makes it more professional.

So no—you’re not being unreasonable.