Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

who cleans your aupairs room..your cleaner (if you have) or your aupair?

40 replies

golfpro60 · 05/07/2012 14:42

My cleaner cleans the whole house and changes all the sheets weekly except since we have got an aupair she will not clean her room and says it is for her to clean it herself?! I think that as she is employed to clean my house she should and obviously she does a better and more thorough job and i want the room kept clean. The aupair says it's fine and she will do it herself but she doesn't do it often enough. Am i wrong to expect my cleaner to clean!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

mogandme · 05/07/2012 14:44

It is her personal space!

I am a live in nanny and I know my untidiness annoys my boss but.... it is the only space I have in the whole house which is MINE.

Although I keep my room unitdy it is tidies throughout the week and it is usually clean just messy.

We do not have a cleaner, but I don't think I would want someone in my room cleaning/tidying it, I think it would make me feel awkward.

mogandme · 05/07/2012 14:46

Oh I thought the aupair had said No. If the cleaner has said No then I would have words with her, it's not upto her who she cleans up after and what rooms etc.

mopbucket · 05/07/2012 14:49

I would say to cleaner that you want au pairs room doing even if she just flicks over with a duster, does not matter id the au pair is family or not its a room in your house

Rubirosa · 05/07/2012 14:50

The au pair is supposed to be part of your family - so if the cleaner does all other family rooms she should do the same in the au pairs. Unfair to treat the au pair differently.

However, the au pair needs to leave the room tidy enough for the cleaner to hoover/dust.

Original poster

golfpro60 · 05/07/2012 14:51

Thanks mogandme. Exactly it is the cleaner that has said no. It is a really awkward situation now as the aupair knows she won't do her room and so was doing it herself but from what i have just seen it's pretty filthy so i want to say to aupair keep it cleaner please but feel bad because everyone gets their room cleaned except for her. On the other hand I could ask my cleaner to make sure she does it but whenever my cleaner is here aupair is always sleeping in there. would you feel annoyed if your boss told you to clean your room more often?

OP posts:

KenHomsDadsWoksDead · 05/07/2012 14:53

To be honest I would be annoyed at being told to keep my room tidy if I was the au pair (though I doubt I'd have to be asked anyway). The problem is really with your cleaner - I'd tell her if she's not happy cleaning the whole house I'd find someone else that would.

Original poster

golfpro60 · 05/07/2012 14:55

thanks mpbucket and rubirosa this is exactly what i told the cleaner, she is part of the family and the room is part of my house. She said she has nothing to do all day (as she works in the morning and then late afternoon) so she should clean it herself! This is wrong isn't it? I think the cleaner who has been with us a long time just has a problem with the aupair full stop and somehow feels pushed out or something i don't really get it myself...

OP posts:

missnevermind · 05/07/2012 14:56

Sorry I have been trying to word this so it wont cause offence. But I dont think I can

I find this really amusing that the 'Hired Help' wont clean up after a lesser employee.

My own sense of humor but I am having visions of Mrs Bridges and Daisy

Original poster

golfpro60 · 05/07/2012 14:58

Exactly missnevermind, the help doesn't want to help the help!

OP posts:

KenHomsDadsWoksDead · 05/07/2012 15:00

I think you need to send them on a Team Bonding Day.

mogandme · 05/07/2012 15:00

As said my room is a mess however if the door is shut then no-one knows that!!

I would be annoyed with my boss if she told me to tidy my room - she did bring it up in my appraisal and tbh it did annoy me and I haven't changed the way I keep my room tidy.

The prob is I tend to dump things in my room throughout the day ie a pile of my laundry, a box of books, a bag of shopping etc so by the time I go upstairs at 6pm I can't be bothered to put it away.

As long as theres no cups/plates it's not unhygenic I don't expect to be told how to keep my room.

Rubirosa · 05/07/2012 15:03

If the au pair doesn't want the room cleaned and would rather sleep in when the cleaner is there then I would leave things - so long as the au pair isn't damaging the room (eg. spilling things on carpet) then I think it's up to her to clean/tidy it or not and you shouldn't go in there.

However if the au pair does want her room cleaned, then it isn't really up to the cleaner to choose not to - you are paying her to provide a service.

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 05/07/2012 15:05

golfpro - just tell your cleaner to clean her room, what is the issue?

Although, if you aupair is asleep when she comes, then that is her lookout and she needs to clean her own room in that case. I thought you were supposed to treat an aupair like an older teenager. When I was 16/17 I could either be out of bed and have a tidy room when the cleaner came, in which case she would do my room. If I slept in or it was a complete tip then I had to clean it myself. Which I think is fair enough.

Original poster

golfpro60 · 05/07/2012 15:05

Well mogandme the floor needed a good hoover and all the surfaces on bedside tables were dirty and the undersheet i gave her on monday is still not on the bed and sleeping with no sheet on mattress(eww) and not changed the duvet cover etc for over a week....so i understand messy but this is dirty.

OP posts:

PostBellumBugsy · 05/07/2012 15:06

If you have an arrangement with your cleaner to clean your house, then that is what she should do, regardless of who or what inhabits the rooms she cleans. If you can't face the battle with the cleaner, then get the aupair to clean her own room - it isn't exactly a hard-ship & can become part of the arrangement you have with her.

I had au apairs for 7 years and one of the conditions was that they kept their room clean (hoovered at least once a week). The "cleaner" in my house was me & I was dammed if I was going to be cleaning the room of another adult, who was supposed to be helping me. Given I hoovered the whole house once a week, most of them felt they were getting off lightly!

Original poster

golfpro60 · 05/07/2012 15:09

Alibabaandthe40nappies the problem is the cleaner thinks its beneath her to clean her room i have asked her twice. I would love to just get rid of her but she has been here for 6 years and we trust her with a key etc and she does do a good job otherwise.

OP posts:

LadyHarrietdeSpook · 05/07/2012 15:18

Our au pair doesn't have any general household cleaning duties unlike some others (no hoovering etc). The only cleaning we ask her to do is looking after her own personal space, which I think is reasonable.

Original poster

golfpro60 · 05/07/2012 15:19

She just has an issue with an aupair for some reason, when she first arrived she asked me how much i was paying her?!?! and when she saw her in the day doing nothing while i looked after the children exclaimed "what does she do for you, she does nothing" little did she know she had just clocked off and had got up at 7 with the children! i don't know why but she just has a problem with her...

OP posts:

LadyHarrietdeSpook · 05/07/2012 15:19

the cleaner needs to keep her beak out of things, none of her business.

PostBellumBugsy · 05/07/2012 15:25

If the cleaner is long-standing, trustworthy & reliable - I wouldn't bother fighting this battle with her. Just ask the aupair to clean her room once a week.

minipie · 05/07/2012 15:32

Sounds like the cleaner is wondering if she should be an au pair instead...

Maybe it's worth spelling out to the cleaner what hours the au pair does since she clearly doesn't see her working.

I have some sympathy with your cleaner - it sounds like your au pair's room is pretty grim - so presumably this would be extra work on top of what she used to do before you got an au pair? Are you paying the cleaner extra for the extra work?

Personally I'd either pffer the cleaner a bit more money to compensate for the extra time spent on the au pair's room, or I'd ask the au pair to keep it cleaner herself (definitely she should be using a sheet, ugh). However if it was the au pair cleaning her own room I'd apply lower standards, eg I wouldn't be asking her to hoover once a week - once a month maybe.

minipie · 05/07/2012 15:32

offer

Bonsoir · 05/07/2012 15:37

OP - your cleaner is being all princessy about having to clean for another member of domestic staff - her ego is hurt as she thinks the au pair is beneath her in the pecking order.

I would have another go at explaining that your cleaner is employed to clean your house, which includes the room in which the au pair sleeps.

Original poster

golfpro60 · 05/07/2012 15:49

minipie yes i offered her an extra hours work as at first i though tit was mainly due to what you said, but after i offered her that was when she said about she is free all day and she should do it!
Bonsoir i just feel i can't say it again as already had a few talks about it. I think i basically mis managed it to start and so got myself into this mess partly.
I do feel however though that as a matter of decency the aupair should keep it cleaner, wouldn't we all if we were a guest in someones house? I shall just tell the aupair to keep on top of it a bit more even though the cleaner has totally wound me up and so has the aupair really, uch!

OP posts:

PostBellumBugsy · 05/07/2012 15:53

golf, it is your house & whilst the aupair isn't exactly a guest - you are the boss of her! Don't ask her, tell her that you expect her to hoover her room once a week & this is part of what being an aupair in your house involves.

I'm all for aupairs being well treated & not being used as cheap slaves, but cleaning her room once a week is perfectly reasonable.

Flip

1 2

Swipe left for the next trending thread