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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to get pissed off with my cleaner for building towers?

243 replies

hf128219 · 31/10/2009 20:06

Yes - towers of books on my coffee table. I have 2 piles of books - you know the usual type of coffee table books.

She will polish it and then put the 2 piles into one big one. Then add newspapers and anything else she can lay her hands on.

I get home every night and put it back into 2 piles. She then changes it every day.

I measured it yesterday and 'the tower' was
20 inches high.

AIBU or do people have 'towers' on their coffee table?

OP posts:
hannahsaunt · 31/10/2009 21:22

Can I have her?

GooberIsLockedInTheBootOfMyCar · 31/10/2009 21:23

How much?

stuffitllllama · 31/10/2009 21:26

Cut her hours or give her lists and a schedule. This is a non problem.

annh · 31/10/2009 21:27

Good Lord! She fine-tunes work stuff too .... she sounds like a national treasure!

BOOdeniites · 31/10/2009 21:28

this thread is brilliant how the other half live i ised to be a cleaner until i discovered the joys of ebay imake the same for selling a couple of bits of clothing as i did cleaning up other peoples mess and filth and dont start me on the wet patch

Ledodgy · 31/10/2009 21:30

A simple answer to your problem would be to move the coffee table books into the bookcase in the kithen so there are no books to pile up. If she then gets a pile of books from said bookcase and piles them back in a tower on your coffee table then you may have a problem.

However there is always the option of simply putting up and shutting up. On the great scale of things separating a pile of books into two piles 5 times a week isn't such a hardship.

Ledodgy · 31/10/2009 21:30

*kitchen

GooberIsLockedInTheBootOfMyCar · 31/10/2009 21:31

WET PATCH?????????

mazzystartled · 31/10/2009 21:34

i reckon if she spends possibly more waking hours in your house than you do she's entitled to tinker with the arrangements

Original poster
hf128219 · 31/10/2009 21:38

Don't get me started on what she does in the kithen/breakfast area. I have a tray that sits in the middle of the breakfast table - this is my messy area. She piles everything into this tray - I mean everything. Bills, letters, magazines, maps, work paperwork et al.

On Friday I measured it and it was over 30 inches high. It looked like the soddin' Leaning Tower.

OP posts:
crankytwanky · 31/10/2009 21:39

A silk rug in a child's bedroom?
Maybe it was, um, dirty?

I'd put more books on the coffee table and see how high it'll go! Just add one a week, and let us know the measurement come christmas!

FWIW, calling an other adult "disobedient" is disgusting.

fabhead · 31/10/2009 21:42

this thread is a wind-up, surely?

If not, if she does 4 hours a day 5 days a week she is a housekeeper isn't she, not a cleaner?

And why do you have these same random booksevery day on your table anyway? Do you read them every day? If not, put them in a book case and problem solved.

If this is genuine, coffee table books that never change, never get read are the height of snobby ponciness imo - what is the point other than to show off how intellectual you think you are?

theyoungvisiter · 31/10/2009 21:43

Ok, I am starting to think you are avin a larf HF.

30 inches high is nearly 3 feet. You are telling me she managed to make a pile of paperwork 3 feet high on your kitchen work surface?

  1. I'm surprised it didn't touch the ceiling and
  2. she shoudl take up structural engineering - she's obviously missed her calling and should be designing skyscrapers.
alwayslookingforanswers · 31/10/2009 21:43

actually you know what - 20hrs a week - even at minimum wage - I'll do the job - I won't pile the books into towers, I'll get all the work done and have loads of time to sit down and drink coffee and read the coffee table books after I've finished each day

annh · 31/10/2009 21:43

This has got to be a wind-up! There is a pile of paper 30 inches high in the middle of your kitchen table?! For the love of God, given that this woman is spending four hours a day in your house cleaning, at what rate are you producing this mess of paperwork, magazines etc that it can rise to 30 inches without you needing to do something about it? Don't some of those bills need to be paid, letters returned to school, newspapers read?

BrokkenHarted · 31/10/2009 21:43

she needs to put theswe thing somewhere so you can sort through them. you are coming off as a snob you know.

Katisha · 31/10/2009 21:45

Maybe you should re-employ her as a PA and then she could do the paperwork for you instead of piling it up...

ClaireDeLoon · 31/10/2009 21:45

You can't really blame your cleaner for your 'messy tray' being messy - get off your bum and put stuff away. She can't file your paperwork and pay your bills. Is she organising your life (as in a housekeeper) or cleaning your house (as in a cleaner, which is what you're calling her).

Would you prefer she just binned your mess?

Original poster
hf128219 · 31/10/2009 21:46

I repeat this is not a wind up.

The towers were really that high. Country Life/Yachting Monthly take up lots of room in these '
Towers'. Then add on all the frigging Boden and White Company Catalogues - you get my picture?

I do like coffee table books. I couldn't imagine a table without books.

OP posts:
annh · 31/10/2009 21:47

I am still musing about this pile of papers. Given that you can't possibly have any cleaning or ironing to do yourself, surely you should be dealing with this paperwork? I mean, what do you expect the cleaner to do other than put it in a pile? Or is she also responsible for bill payment, summarising the latest celeb gossip from the magazines and choosing Christmas gifts from catalogues?!

cktwo · 31/10/2009 21:48

This thread is hilarious.
It's like Audrey Hamilton for the 21st century

peggotty · 31/10/2009 21:48

I am intrigued at what this 'fine tuning' of your DH's work stuff involves......?

whomovedmychocolatecookie · 31/10/2009 21:49

Are you sure it's your cleaner and not a poltergeist that is doing this? They are well known for creating towers of items.

Actually, come to think of it, my cleaner makes piles too - I think it's to guilt me into putting stuff away. It doesn't work. Unfortunately.

theyoungvisiter · 31/10/2009 21:49

sorry, still don't believe you. I work with magazines and you simply can't make an unsupported pile of magazines 30 inches high. They are too slippery and heavy.

Plus I think the mention of "yachting monthly" was a touch too perfect

I will need a photograph of this pile on your profile before I believe you

fabhead · 31/10/2009 21:49

Recycle them. Throw some away. File. Process. Organise. Take action.

This is most people's life. If you are not capable, employ a housekeeper and PA.