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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think of sacking our cleaner for small irritations?

51 replies

curiouscat · 11/05/2009 19:17

How annoying does a cleaner have to be for me to replace her? She's pleasant and willing, but speaks little English. The problems are

1 Uses whole bottle of multi-purpose cleaning fluid every week which would last me a month and entire kitchen roll every week
2 Uses yellow dusters to clean the bathroom, gets them all wet and ruined
3 Cannot use Dyson properly, has broken one attachment and insists on using the other attachment wrongly attached so the handle's on the floor.
4 I don't trust her with my new Miele vacuum which I hide in the car boot when she's due
5 I dread trying to communicate and explain what I need (tried endlessly) so avoid the house when she's around

AIBU to give up on her and find someone else?

OP posts:
RumourOfAHurricane · 11/05/2009 19:19

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Morloth · 11/05/2009 19:20

Sounds like it is more stressful at this point to have a cleaner than it is to clean the house yourself.

I got to this point with my last lady in February, I realised I was tidying up/hiding things and just generally dreading her coming every week. Ridiculous situation.

amidaiwish · 11/05/2009 19:21

no i would give up.
guess it depends how easily you could find someone else.
i had a fill-in cleaner for a while who used a whole bottle of cillit bang every week to clean 3 toilets. apart from the cost it is toxic!! she just didn't seem to understand (v little english) so yes i sympathise and yes i would give up.

JollyPirate · 11/05/2009 19:22

Does she get the house clean and save you time though? Is she otherwise very reliable.

To be honest if she's reliable, pleasant, willing and otherwise does a good job I would be willing to put up with the minor irritations and thank the powers that be for a cleaner (- that's an green eyed envious one btw).

PS - you don't want to know how much kitchen roll I get through - except the Bounty/Plenty stuff which lasts a bit longer.

amidaiwish · 11/05/2009 19:22

and just incase you're wondering my toilets were clean to start with!

Original poster
curiouscat · 11/05/2009 19:32

Well I could do the cleaning myself and save the money but dh prefers to have a cleaner so I don't ask HIM to do any hoovering/ironing etc. He actually hired this lady, and we've kind of settled for it. I'm beginning to see I'm lucky to have her perhaps - it means the house gets tidied once a week (by me before she comes) which wouldn't happen otherwise.

OP posts:
GypsyMoth · 11/05/2009 19:37

you only mention her mis use of cleaning equipment. how is her actual CLEANING?

Noonki · 11/05/2009 19:40

what language does she speak?

Get some one you know or on here to translate the problems in a nice way.

If she ignores it then think about sacking her.

If she changes then keep her on.

They are pretty low level misdeamours to lose a job over;.

sarah293 · 11/05/2009 19:41

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Original poster
curiouscat · 11/05/2009 21:18

Well I've demonstrated the Dyson handle business at least 3 times and she just doesn't get it. With the cleaning fluid I showed her the diagram on the back of 2 capfuls into one bucket and still the blasted bottle's empty at the end of the stint. The cleaning itself is ok, not as thorough as I'd do it but good enough.

Polish is her language, I've thought of asking some of my Polish colleagues at work to speak to her for me on the phone, but it would just be hideously embarrassing to explain it to them

Another niggle is that I really want her to come towards the end of the week but she can only do Tuesdays as she has other jobs. I'm getting tied up in knots here, I can see I look selfish and whiny so sorry and thanks for the advice so far.

OP posts:
TweetleBeetle · 11/05/2009 21:21

Have you shown her how to use these products and the dyson correctly?

If she's not doing a good job and Tues are no good for you then obviously you need to find someone else, but maybe try and help her first to see if the problems can be ironed out

LovingTheRain · 12/05/2009 09:30

If she's not doing the job you want, i'd ask her to leave and get someone else in. Ask other mums at the school/work colleagues or neighbours for their recommendations as they're likely to know someone good (not everyone wants to share their good cleaner though!)
Hope it works out okay.

PortoPandemico · 12/05/2009 09:35

"have you taught her how to use the hoover and how muh stuff to use? Its not in-built you know."

But if you're advertising your services as a cleaner, surely you know these things! I had a polish lady for about 6 months last year. She was fab. Flat spotless and all the ironing done. Unfortunately we moved and she didn't want to travel.

junglist1 · 12/05/2009 10:02

You're paying for the service so find someone else otherwise you're just paying to get irritated

stealthsquiggle · 12/05/2009 10:11

No YANBU. You are paying for a service. She is unable to provide the service you want. It's not personal, even if it feels like it is. Give her as much notice as you deem reasonable and look around for an alternative.

TweetleBeetle · 12/05/2009 10:35

PP - so do all hoovers work the same way.

I agree she really ought to know how to clean if she is a cleaner, however different machines have different ways of working.

Also maybe she is used to using inferior products where you have to use more to get the job done.

Of course she could just be crap, but isn;t it better to try and make things better before you let her go. she could be really good.

YorkshireRose · 12/05/2009 10:55

My cleaner insists on using only particular brands of cleaning products, turned her nose up at the supermarket own brand stuff I got in the other week. So I filled up the empty bottle of branded stuff with supermarket stuff and she never noticed.

She also told me on her first day that my brand new Dyson was crap and to go out and buy a Miele. I have not done this!

But the main thing is, though she is a bit bossy she does a great job of sorting out our pit of a house and she comes when I want her to.

I REFUSE to clean up before she comes, if I felt I had to do that I would get rid. I need someone to take the load off me, not create more work for me. She just gets on with it.

PortoPandemico · 12/05/2009 11:01

Tweetle, but surely once should be enough to show her how it works!

Bramshott · 12/05/2009 11:02

Remember, you are not "sacking" her, because she doesn't only work for you. It's not working out, so you need to find someone else.

sarah293 · 12/05/2009 11:03

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stealthsquiggle · 12/05/2009 11:08

Riven - how many hours/week are you getting funded? IIWY I would start with basics (bathrooms, kitchen) and work from there according to what is most important to you. I tend (not SS funded) to write a list and ask them to get as far down it as they can in the time.

MmeLindt · 12/05/2009 11:08

OP
I sacked our cleaner because of minor irritations too. I realised that she had been using my hair straightners which made me wonder if she had been using anything else. Plus, she was not that great a cleaner and I decided that I was not spending money paying someone to do a shabby job.

I am doing without at the moment.

Morloth · 12/05/2009 11:08

Riven, the main stuff I get done is the bathroom/kitchen/floor. I do tend to do my own tidying etc and am slightly obsessed with ironing being just so, so I do that myself as well.

Get the cleaner to do the BIG jobs rather than the day to day stuff.

So clean the bathroom top to bottom, kitchen the same (if they have time the oven/fridge insides are good), vacuum house, mop the floors and so on. Stuff that you don't need to do day to day to get through but which makes a big difference once it is done.

I now get someone to come once a month or so and do a deep clean - including emptying/wiping out cupboards/tidying clothes cupboards and stuff like that. This suits me better than a weekly cleaner.

oregonianabroad · 12/05/2009 11:08

I think these things sound pretty minor. Put yourself in her shoes: imagine you need a job, and hope to do well. Then you continually make mistakes that you don't understand. Wouldn't you hope that someone would be patient and kind to you, and help you understand how to get the job done?

Also, I think you can be a bit more creative in how to solve the problem. How about rationing the amount of cleaning fluid you want her to use?

MmeLindt · 12/05/2009 11:09

Riven
Agree with Stealth. Write a list of your priorities, and see how far she gets in the time that she is allocated to you.

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