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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To have said this to my cleaner?

343 replies

wellwatnow · 22/02/2026 19:25

NC for this. I've had this last cleaner for almost a year, I've had several over the years and although this one isn't all that great she's one of the best at cleaning and I will say is by far the most reliable. She comes every other Monday and sometimes I have to text her on a Sunday afternoon to tell her I won't be in as she has to use the key safe (usually I am home).

I wasn't home last time she came, and I won't be home tomorrow either. As always I thanked her for doing a good job, she's always said I must let her know if anything is missed out with her cleaning, so I asked her if she could make sure my laundry room gets a good clean as she forgot to do it last time.

Anyway, a while later she replied and said no problem, sorry if you thought the laundry room hadn't been cleaned, she said she had cleaned it but would give it a good clean. I replied to thank her and said I'd noticed that one of the wall cupboard doors had definitely not been cleaned which made me think she'd forgotten the room. Well she replied quite quickly by saying she knows which door I mean, and that she hadn't cleaned it because it looked like it was covered in dried cat sick (my cat often sleeps on the top of the wall cupboards in the laundry room) and that she didn't want to clean it, and that I must have known about it because otherwise how did I know it hadn't happened after she left? She said she left it as she didn't want to clean it up and thought it could be the thing we never spoke about, whatever that means. She then said she can't make tomorrow but would be in touch when she's free.

I suspect now that she won't be coming back, which is infuriating as it's impossible to get people to clean, all my friends that have cleaners tell me they are too busy and won't give me their numbers. I only found this one as she was cleaning for a neighbour one day. I had to wait ages for her to find a space to fit me in. But I can't help think she's taking this way too personally.

OP posts:
PinkTonic · 23/02/2026 19:42

People get a lot of stick on here if they moan about their cleaner, but it’s really hard to get a decent one and it’s quite decently paid work. Having said that I wouldn’t expect cleaning up cat sick 🤢
I work full time in a full on job, have an autoimmune condition and I don’t feel bad about outsourcing cleaning. I’m completely prepared to let the cleaner advise on how much time is needed to cover what I want done, and I’m very pleased to have the help, but it can be almost impossible to find someone whose work is a decent standard and is reliable. The first one I tried turned up 5 times out of 13 sessions, then I thought I’ll use an agency and they sent someone who literally didn’t know how to clean; she was a gauche teenager who sprayed so much polish on the stair bannisters and didn’t wipe it off that I slipped and very nearly fell down the stairs. The next one spent most of her time on the phone and the mirrors/glass looked worse after she’d supposedly cleaned it than it did before. I don’t think this is a me problem.

Lmnop22 · 23/02/2026 19:42

EvangelicalAboutButteredToast · 22/02/2026 19:30

It tickles me somewhat that people pussy foot around with cleaners when they pay them a fortune and are so grateful. I used to clean donkeys years ago and was paid five pound an hour! I wish the people I’d cleaned for had been so delicate with me.

You don’t say if you did leave dried cat sick for her but youve obviously pissed her off with how you have communicated and yes it sounds like you will be cleaning your own cat sick off your own cupboard in future.

Edited

Genuinely read this as you saying that years ago you used to clean donkeys for £5 an hour. I was intrigued. Then I realised what you meant 😂

sunshinestar1986 · 23/02/2026 19:48

HerosUncle · 23/02/2026 19:41

@sunshinestar1986 Think you're on a wind up. You've been consistently blasé and racist with users on here. If it's that easy - you do it, hey?

Racist?
Haha
What by saying foreign?
Please 🙄
Well considering you're willing to pay 100s for the job
I'm even willing to do the washing up and clean and cat sick 😉

InsectsMatter · 23/02/2026 19:50

Mumof2wifeof1crazytimes · 22/02/2026 22:08

expecting someone to clear up your cat’s sick is grim and it is even grimmer that you left it for her.

OP did not leave cat sick for her.
Why don’t you bother to read posts properly.

Branleuse · 23/02/2026 19:51

What is the point in having a cleaner if she's going to be squeamish about cleaning things.

I think she sounds weird and judgmental tbh.
I've cleaned people's cat trays and loos and cleaned their own shit and piss when working in care, for less than most cleaners seem to make, and it's part of the job. It's not my favourite bit of the job, but you do what needs doing. There's no point having you otherwise.

InsectsMatter · 23/02/2026 19:53

My cleaner insists on calling me ‘ma’am’.
I told her that only female police detectives are called ma’am but she says it’s a sign of respect, but it always feels passive aggressive.
I was a cleaner on my 20’s, where have they all gone and why is it so hard to find a good one?

sunshinestar1986 · 23/02/2026 19:54

scottishgirl69 · 23/02/2026 12:55

Easy job? Oh and you've been lucky with your cleaner because she's foreign? She'll do the jobs other people might not - not sure if that's the flex you think it is tbh

You think cleaning peoples homes is an easy job - as for the twenty quid an hour I expect she's self employed and has to pay NI contributions from that and put money aside for a tax bill if they earn over the threshold -plus travel between jobs. Not a fortune as a self employed person

Maybe she doesn't pay much NI considering I pay her cash in hand 😉
And my cleaner is the normal one, not stuck up people too posh to wash dishes 🤣

ArcticBells · 23/02/2026 19:56

I can’t believe she’s being so precious. If you’d left a dirty loo I’d understand, but a bit of dried cat sick is ridiculous and she should get on and do her job

sunshinestar1986 · 23/02/2026 19:58

Iamsotiredandfedup · 23/02/2026 08:19

Please start a business cleaning and enjoy the “easy job” it really is a piece of piss

and congratulations on your foreign cleaner, they are well known for being underpaid and doing shit work that English people would (quite rightly) tell you to shove up your arse

you are and the OP are the sort of clients I would drop like a sack of shit

Don't worry 😉
I would never hire a stuck up person who thinks they're too good to wash dishes and clean up.

I mean, you wash dishes at home, why would you be too posh to wash 😂

And I dunno what part of the UK you live in, but getting £20 an hour, cash in hand in my little corner of Wales is simply amazing 🤣
No one earns that much for cleaning.
No one!
Don't see much English people around either 😅

Booboobagins · 23/02/2026 19:59

I'd message her, apologise and say you'd never ask her to clean up cat sick and she was right to leave it. Ask her to let you know next time she sees something disgusting as you hadn't seen it.

Mumof2wifeof1crazytimes · 23/02/2026 20:01

InsectsMatter · 23/02/2026 19:50

OP did not leave cat sick for her.
Why don’t you bother to read posts properly.

Of course she knew, how can anyone not notice vomit down a cupboard door.

levitational · 23/02/2026 20:12

First of all you say: "I've had several over the years and although this one isn't all that great"

But then: "she's one of the best at cleaning and I will say is by far the most reliable"

Two deeply contradictory statements. So which is it, OP? Beyond being great at cleaning and being by far the most reliable, what else would she have to do to be "great" as a cleaner? You sound exceptionally hard to please. Perhaps not a mystery that she's decided to sack you off.

Cosyblankets · 23/02/2026 20:24

wellwatnow · 22/02/2026 19:41

But I didn't "leave it for her"! It just happened to be there on the day she was coming to clean any way. It wasn't there the night before, if had I would have cleaned it up.

In your shoes i would have messaged and said I think the cat has been sick. Leave that room I'll do it when I come home I only just spotted it on way out.

I wouldn't have expected her to do it

RiverFalls · 23/02/2026 20:38

EvangelicalAboutButteredToast · 22/02/2026 19:30

It tickles me somewhat that people pussy foot around with cleaners when they pay them a fortune and are so grateful. I used to clean donkeys years ago and was paid five pound an hour! I wish the people I’d cleaned for had been so delicate with me.

You don’t say if you did leave dried cat sick for her but youve obviously pissed her off with how you have communicated and yes it sounds like you will be cleaning your own cat sick off your own cupboard in future.

Edited

"Pay them a fortune "?! I don't know any cleaners that are paid a fortune and "£5 per hour donkeys years ago" is likely more (comparatively) than most cleaners earn nowadays.

LadyCrustybread · 23/02/2026 20:39

dadtoateen · 22/02/2026 19:43

Pay them a fortune? How do you work that out?

five pound an hour donkeys years ago you say? Times move on you know…

cleaners are on what £20ph? Using their own products, paying for insurance, travelling costs, paying tax etc….

to the op, sounds like you need to look for another cleaner

That’s more than I was on as deputy editor of a national newspaper… 3 years ago.

Iamsotiredandfedup · 23/02/2026 21:02

HerosUncle · 23/02/2026 19:41

@sunshinestar1986 Think you're on a wind up. You've been consistently blasé and racist with users on here. If it's that easy - you do it, hey?

If she spent this amount of time and effort on her house she wouldn’t need a cleaner 😂

DreamTheMoors · 23/02/2026 21:13

A few years back I stumbled upon the best cleaner in modern times.
I’m talking brilliant - up & down. No complaints.
Then she left me, to work in the kitchen at an elementary school..
Not too long after that, she was the boss of that kitchen.
Now she’s the head of all the kitchens in all the schools in our city, including high schools.
All of them - she’s the big boss.
And I am very proud of her.
Go big or go home.

dadtoateen · 23/02/2026 21:17

LadyCrustybread · 23/02/2026 20:39

That’s more than I was on as deputy editor of a national newspaper… 3 years ago.

You were employed though correct? So on paye etc….

self employed is a whole different ball game

scottishgirl69 · 23/02/2026 21:22

LadyCrustybread · 23/02/2026 20:39

That’s more than I was on as deputy editor of a national newspaper… 3 years ago.

Sorry what? Once more people who are self employed need to pay travel. Put aside money for taxes. Pay NI contributions. I was a self employed fitness instructor for years on 15-20 pounds an hour and I was far from rich. It's not the same as being on a salary - on any level!

And some cleaners and fitness instructors won't get 35 hours a week work - it's often insecure. Jesus fucking Christ what planet do you live on if you think 20 quid an hour self employed is a huge wage. It's not on any level

prideandpurrjudice · 23/02/2026 21:22

tealgrey · 23/02/2026 16:34

Are you stupid? You do realise self-employed people are not obliged to work for anyone they don't wish to work for?

If they don't like you they will leave.

Even on my procurement training course, the trainer reminded us that our contractors will be judging us on how much of a pain of an arse we are to contract with and work with, against all their other options and the value of the contract.

Your purchase of two hours a week of cleaning does not give you the entitlement and power you seem to think it does.

It doesn't really give you any over someone who can just tell you to get lost and go to work for someone else.

Oh dear. Comprehension not your strong point.

LadyCrustybread · 23/02/2026 21:23

scottishgirl69 · 23/02/2026 21:22

Sorry what? Once more people who are self employed need to pay travel. Put aside money for taxes. Pay NI contributions. I was a self employed fitness instructor for years on 15-20 pounds an hour and I was far from rich. It's not the same as being on a salary - on any level!

And some cleaners and fitness instructors won't get 35 hours a week work - it's often insecure. Jesus fucking Christ what planet do you live on if you think 20 quid an hour self employed is a huge wage. It's not on any level

… do you think I also didn’t have to pay to get to work (£300 a month) and pay taxes and NI?

scottishgirl69 · 23/02/2026 21:26

LadyCrustybread · 23/02/2026 21:23

… do you think I also didn’t have to pay to get to work (£300 a month) and pay taxes and NI?

You aren't getting my point. Self employed work is more insecure as I said in my previous post. People on self employed contracts need to set aside money from said twenty pounds an hour to pay taxes and NI contributions - not the same as having a salary on any level.

If you were self employed you might get it

scottishgirl69 · 23/02/2026 21:28

The amount of money you paid to get to work is irrelevant. The issue is that self employed people have to pay NI and taxes and travel from their hourly wage - therefore they don't get keeping the 20 quid an hour to themselves

scottishgirl69 · 23/02/2026 21:29

Imagine thinking a self employed cleaner on 20 quid an hour is rich. Words fail me

Frugalgal · 23/02/2026 21:36

Wow it sounds like a sellers market, the cleaning business!