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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Worst stories from cleaners, please!

31 replies

buildingmycorestrength · 20/05/2013 22:17

Just a bit of fun, and maybe also to make me feel better about my housekeeping 'skills'...

...if you are a cleaner, or employ a cleaner who tells you these things, what is the worst house you/they have ever cleaned?

One of my lovely cleaners told me about students who needed a sudden clean as the landlord was coming over, and she just had to bin virtually the whole kitchen, saucepans, plates and all, as everything was crawling in maggots. Bin bags had never been thrown out and had just pulled up to shoulder height along one wall.

Do share! But make sure they are really awful so I don't wonder if it is me you are talking about...Hmm

OP posts:
EasterHoliday · 27/05/2013 21:31

oh my god Bowling, tell me that wasn't in a London hotel and involved a broken umbrella and one of the guests was a pop star at the time? There's a framed letter on a colleagues wall from the housekeeping department of a hotel dealing with a very similar clear up operation and the additional charges levied

fussychica · 28/05/2013 16:53

We cleaned holiday rentals for a while - worst stories

  1. Couple turned electric of at the end of their stay without removing the food from the fridge/freezer - 40 degree heat. Imagine the smell/mess when we arrived to clean.
  1. Arrived to find all the windows/patio doors had been left open - genuinely thought the place had been burgled, it was such a mess. Wet towels everywhere, spilt milk under beds, unflushed loos, crayon marks on the walls, food under the sofas etc. Renter was a friend of a friend of the owner (who was gutted that her brand new luxury apartment had been abused in this way) Woman said she had paid the rental and was on holiday so didn't clear up or care!

3.Candal wax all over bedclothes and loo - occupants said they'd had a power cut - we thought they'd watched Body of Evidence Grin

fussychica · 28/05/2013 16:53

Candle

KatyTheCleaningLady · 28/05/2013 18:18

I used to clean holiday cottages, too. One time, I got there bang on the dot (10 am). It was my son's birthday and we were going to rent a boat and go fishing as soon as I was done. Normally, if I really hustle, I can get that cottage clean in a couple of hours.

Don't you know, that was the one time the clients were still there. I got there at 10 and they were not even starting to really pack. They were sort of faffing about. It was a very weird situation: they weren't on holiday but said they needed a place for a week while moving into a house in the area. They'd enrolled their children in the local school, but there was no house. They just went around looking for a place to rent. A friend of mine had some cottages and flats and talked to them and said they were weird.... the mother had asked if my friend could drive her children to school every day, as they didn't have a car. Confused

Anyway, there were three adults and two children in a two-bedroom cottage. They weren't the usual holiday family with a couple of suitcases: they'd decanted their entire life's belongings into the house for the week.

I told them that they were supposed to be gone by 10am and they were saying "Oh, just give us a bit of time to tidy up..." I said, "No, you don't need to tidy up. My job is to clean. You just need to get out of the house so that I can clean." I was polite, but I think my annoyance was clear. And, when I say "You don't need to tidy up" that wasn't quite true. The clients were expected to leave the place as they found it, and then I would sanitize it, so to speak, and change the bedding. Well, they left it in an awful state. Rubbish everywhere. Children's toys everywhere. Crayon on the walls and chewing gum on the furniture. Fridge full of food and bins overflowing with trash. They even went into the storage cupboard under the stairs where the cleaning supplies are kept in a box, rummaged through the box, and took stuff. Many dishes and glasses were broken.

My son's birthday outing was spoiled and the cottage owner had to arrange other accommodation for the guests that were due to arrive that afternoon. He had to come up from England to redecorate because of the state of the walls.

He kept their entire deposit and paid me most of it for my cleaning. They left a scathing review on Trip Adviser about how awful it was, how cheap the dishes were (they broke so easily!) and remarked on the "nasty cleaner who was rude about us wanting to take our time in the morning."

AntoinetteCosway · 29/05/2013 09:26

I spent a summer working as a cleaner at a university when they had school-age students in for language schools. I enjoyed it, though I've never worked so hard in my life, but I will never forget the room that had the post-it on the door that said 'please change bed' and blood soaked sheets, duvet, mattress, bed slats...honestly, it looked like someone had killed a pig in there. Who would leave that for a cleaner to handle?!

buildingmycorestrength · 01/06/2013 07:16

Sounds like some people leave their ethics and brains behind when they go on holiday...how awful!

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