to be annoyed at my cleaner for trying to reorganise my house?

[Essie3]

I know the answer is yes probably I am being a bit unnecessarily tetchy, but I need to find a way to deal with this really.

I have a cleaner - a girl from the village who has 2 small children, can't work (can't drive, no work around here as it's rural) and so does some cleaning for me for a bit of pocket money. (Yes, people, it is the Black Market, and I can explain further but don't call the Social on me.)
She's a brilliant cleaner.

However, there are two minor issues:

1. she uses bleach. Loads of it, place stinks of it, and I want her to stop - I've asked, but she snorted and ignored me. I tried to claim DH (and now DS) have delicate skin (they don't) but nothing doing. Any suggestions?

The other issue is the reorganising. We have baby clutter, and I tidy up before she comes (if I have advance warning which I don't always get), but she still insists on moving things around.

• toys were moved into another room, when I'd stacked them all tidily on the play mat
• I was requested to take down DH's stained glass angel decorations, and also his chandelier. (No, he's not gay! )
• I have packing boxes for my office, and she asked me to chuck them - no, they're there for a reason.
• baby clothes which I had taken out as DS is too small and put in a separate pile in my room for taking to charity were taken back and put in his drawer (not folded, btw) so I had to re-sort
• his door bouncer was taken off the door where it lives permanently and put in his bedroom.
• furniture was reorganised upstairs!

It sounds minor (it is!) but I was a bit peeved as it's my house, she doesn't live there, and whilst I don't mind her moving stuff in order to clean, general reorganising of my house, and of things which are there for a reason, and attempts to bin stuff gets to me as she doesn't live here. And I don't need the whole 'can you put this in the bin?'(no, it's there for a reason) etc etc.

Sorry! Feel better now!

Credit crunch came to my house over a year ago, and I had to let my lovely cleaning lady go. I argue quite often that she was essential for my well being and therefore , the households' wellbeing. Isn't that what's family allowance is for.
Feeling funny talking to Essie3 in English

Essie3 - interesting name. Is it your rl name or where from?

erm, not the '3', obviously

I could have written your post. My cleaner is lovely, she walks the dog and tidies up. But she does like to move things, more than I like them to be moved. We went away for a few days and when we came back every single toy had been relegated to my son's room so it looked like he didn't live here anymore! She takes down birthday cards when I like to leave them up.

She does some rather odd things too. She even took down our extra long shower curtain and replaced it with a short one so it finished a good 40 cm above the shower tray!
I got home yesterday to find my dishcloth soaking in non-bio liquid, not bleach! DOn't know what that one's about!!

She even rang me at work the other day to complain that I'd never told her how to turn on the dishwasher. I asked her to leave it for me as it wasn't full and she said she'd take it all out and wash it up by hand!

Actually, there are a few issues but I'm too much of a wuss to sort them out. Often the house isn't locked up properly and she will do stuff that doesn't need to be done, like wash up rather than load the dishwasher, when the bathroom hasn't been cleaned all week!

I must start leaving notes, but I hate doing it. I do enough nagging people at work without having to do it at home too!

Ah, we are joined in sorrow, Pagi! Well, I just realised that the toothbrush I had carefully put on to charge this morning is unplugged, and therefore has not been charging. That was her too!
I will have some Words next week. Admittedly, they won't be angry or even particularly scary, more like apologetic, but she don't live here, so she doesn't get to rearrange.

Hecate LOL I thought I had one of the most boring names on mumsnet and nobody has commented before! It's not my real name (although it is a name, I think - have a daughter, call her Essie for me! ) although several people call me that. My initials are S E and I always sign off e-mails as SE, and when I gave my name over the phone once as S E Surname, the person called me Essie throughout so I thought it would be a fun nickname.
It's 3 because there is - or was - another Essie on here! And my PhD thesis was on the number three in medieval Welsh literature. No, I'm not joking.

YANBU. I think it is an Alpha female thing. My cleaner hid my loo brush this week. I had put it outside on the windowsill as DS (14mo) likes to play with it. This obviously offended her sense of propriety and so she hid it in the cupboard in the bathroom. On the shelf above my make up box. A loo brush. In an enclosed space!!! Where I keep my towels.... YUCK!!!

Ewwwwwww, brogue! Spatter her with it!

I hate loo brushes so much. And yet, and yet...how can you live without one?

i have no loo brush.have the disposable head system

Oh - do tell me more please, ScottishMummy. I loathe loo brushes.

Apparently Anthea says just use loo roll.... bleurgh!!!!!

Disposable head? What is this?

disposable toilet brush i abhor loo brush manky germy shitty objects

The disposable head things are expensive but a bit of folded up loo roll inserted into the stick is just as effective and much cheaper.

It caught my attention because it is something I am called! It's a form of my name!

You managed a thesis on the number three?

I am impressed. That must have taken some bloody doing!

Did you do your thesis at Lampeter? I did Welsh Studies there and had a lecturer with a fascination for numbers in Med Lit.

Essie, no real advice on your cleaner (my SIL used to clean for us - now that was an interesting dilemma!), anyway just wanted to wave at someone from Anglesey. I grew up there, Bodorgan area and went to Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni. Although I was glad to leave for university I still miss the place very much, sadly we don't get that much chance to visit these days as it is at least a 6 hour journey.

I would write something in Welsh, but my spelling has eroded dramatically!

Ah! A thread of Welsh speakers!!

Can I hijack this for a moment as I need to get hold of a beautiful piece of writing in Welsh to use as Lorem Ipsum text as a client of mine is poking holes in the standard Latin I use saying it has spelling mistakes in just to show off that he speaks Latin. I therefore want to use something I know he does not have a hope in hell of understanding. Can you help me???

hijack over

Phew I'm glad I'm not the only one. I thought I was being really ungrateful to complain about my cleaner. We're really lucky to afford one, but she refuses to use all my nice environmentally nasty chemical free cleaners and instead insists on cif and flash which I hate! She also throws away my contact lens container every week, even though I ask her not to. Despite that, she neatly lines up the little (disposable) plastic containers my dh's daily disposable lenses come in! Minor niggles though, cos I haven't wielded a hoover in anger in months! Happy days.

brougemum, can I suggest some text from the Mabinogion - traditional welsh stories. here is one of them from wiki. There are lots of translations of the text out there too (in fact more translations than original text it seems)

Lionstar - thank you so much!! This is fantastic - just what I need.

Actually I stand by the recommendation of the Mabinogion stories, but that link I posted is a bit wierd (I only did a quick search) it reads funny to me, it may be old/medieval Welsh

So long as I know what it is and can give a brief synopsis of the story that's fine. In fact, it could be really cool to say something like, "Oh, but of course this is medieval Welsh so you'll probably notice a few differences....." in the sure and certain knowledge that he won't.

Ha ha ha! One in the eye for the language snob! (he's a nice chap really)

Thanks again Lionstar.

I can suggest extremely obscure pieces of medieval Welsh - that's my topic! Not at Lampeter though.

Thesis is on triads - was about to link to my book but that would out me in RL.

DOH!!!!!

You will now have to pick me out from the thousands of books on triads!

Oooh. I am interested Essie3 - I need something so obscure this guy won't know what it is. Could you e-mail me something? Pretty please? Essie bach?