Am I being unreasonable re stroppy note left by my cleaner? She says she is NOT A HOUSEKEEPER.

[WideWebWitch]

OK, so we are a messy house. But nothing really awful, just stuff like clothes on the floor, plates in the front room, mugs in the bathroom etc. Previous cleaner has gone to take another job (not cleaning, a job she is qualified for and which is more money and less work) and introduced new cleaner to us who, up til now(past 2 weeks) has been doing a good job.

We pay £8 an hour, which is over the going rate for this area (I gather it's £7) and I don't care when it's done as long as it's between 8am-5.30pm. She comes 2/3 times a week.

Today I got back today to a clean house but to a note that says

"I am little bit disappointed with the way your house was left this morning. It took me 40 minutes (her underlining) to gather dirty washing from your floors and collect cups and mugs...so I could start cleaning properly. As I said before, I understand you work full time...but I am a CLEANER NOT A HOUSE KEEPER (her caps)
I will contact you or I can even come over and see you to discuss how we can help each-other. SORRY, I hope I haven't upset you too much, but I find that 2 hours is NOT enough for me to do cleaning.
I hope you'll understand.
MY NUMBER IS xxxxxx

And she did 3.5 hours, which I will be expected to pay for (fair enough but I didn't agree it up front) and I'm PISSED OFF (My caps!). I Do work f/t oth, I have 2 children, I'm fucking knackered and my first instinct is to tell her to fk off and bring my key back. I want someone who's prepared to tidy otherwise there's no fking point imo. We're NOT talking shit smeared walls here, we're talking clothes on floor, cups on surfaces.

So, get rid or start tidying up before the cleaner comes and let myself be bossed around by this woman?

I have pmt and have tried to call but no reply from her house, I'll try later.

TIA for your views.

Hire a cleaner who doesn't mind tidying - sure there are plenty about!

plates in the front room

yuk www

you slattern

(Dior - your house is never untidy - surely?! It was SPOTLESS when I was there!)

you do need ot tisdy beofre you celan
but i rekcon youll ahev to bin her now

Message withdrawn

I think you and the cleaner are in sync, WWW. It sounds like you've both got PMT.

Fwiw, I'd tidy up dirty clothes etc before the cleaner came, it means she'd have more time for actual cleaning.

Ours does a bit of tidying (e.g. washes any dishes, folds clothes that have been left on air dryer, puts clothes in laundry basket [actually, as we do put dirty clothes in the laundry basket and she tends to target e.g. DS's pyjamas that have been left fairly neatly on the bed, I'd prefer she didn't, but don't want to rock the boat]) but just cleans around Really Serious Mess. That works pretty well for us.

I wouldn't sack your cleaner so much as talk to her and say "Well, to be honest, what I really need is someone who is prepared to do basic tidying, whether you call that a cleaner or a housekeeper. That's how the relationship with [previous cleaner] worked. Are you still interested in the job on that basis?" If she says no (sounds likely to me, but you're giving her the option) then you can part on amicable terms and find a new cleaner.

I would so love a cleaner! Can't get anybody round here though no matter how many ads I putin. Did use an agency for a while when it really got on top of me but that was £135 a month for 3 hours a week and i used to get phone calls saying 'sorry the cleaner says they couldn't clean your house today as you didn't seem to have any cleaning products' ie no Mr Sheen to spray ariund - we only use really limited range stuff because of asthma and eczema. If any MNers want a job do let me know.

WWW i don't think you are being harsh - you need to trust the person who picks up your knickers and you obviously work very hard.

I would so love a cleaner! Can't get anybody round here though no matter how many ads I putin. Did use an agency for a while when it really got on top of me but that was £135 a month for 3 hours a week and i used to get phone calls saying 'sorry the cleaner says they couldn't clean your house today as you didn't seem to have any cleaning products' ie no Mr Sheen to spray ariund - we only use really limited range stuff because of asthma and eczema. If any MNers want a job do let me know.

WWW i don't think you are being harsh - you need to trust the person who picks up your knickers and you obviously work very hard.

I'm with you WWW. I'm so slack that I'm not sure which days our cleaner comes on (they keep on changing) so it has never occurred to me to tidy up in advance of her. The deal with our cleaner is that we pay her £x/hour for y hours/week and during that time she does whatever laundry, ironing, tidying and cleaning she can manage. She seems to fit in everything as to my, admittedly slatternly, eye the house looks cleanish. I guess if there was an issue about having too much to do in the time, we'd sort out priorities, e.g. iron first, then wash the kitchen floor, tidy the DDs' bedroom last.

I'd sack her - but because my philosophy is that cleaners are there to make my life less stressful, and worrying about whether I've upset her by leaving a mug in the bathroom would be stressful...defeats the point of having a cleaner.
But then, I don't have a cleaner and haven't had one for 2 years because our house truely is too mucky to even ask one round to quote to clean it
My ex-cleaner would pick things up and put them in a pile in the room (clothes/toys etc) and then hoover/clean around it. And would leave dirty mugs on the desk and dust under them. However, she also never cleaned the skirting boards and would not clean any room that dh was doing the never-ending diy in (which was fair enough), but then moved on to not cleaning any adjoining room either - at one point I was paying her for 3 hours cleaning and just getting the kitchen cleaned, and hall floor swept (but with a half inch of dust left on skirting boards)..hence we now live in our own squalor

I'd have her back one last time before you sack her, and leave the place in a right old state. WHat a cheeky monkey for £8per hour as well.

FWIW, I've never found a cleaner that expected to have to tidy up - that is, unless we were paying them the extra time to. To do a good job, I need to allow an agency cleaner least 6 hours just to clean, not tidy, a three bed house.

When we had our housekeeper she did 2 hours four days a week to keep everything under control and four hours on the fifth day to do a clean through.

She only did DD's washing as she was housekeeper slash childminder, but did all of the ironing.

I can see how the note would get up your nose becuase of the way it was presented. What the cleaner really needed to do was leave a note to say, "I don't think I can get everything done in the time allotted to me. Can we have a chat?" I guess she might have been miffed at having to spend 3.5 hours instead of 2. Maybe she had somewhere to be?

If your family don't tidy anything up then I can also see how it would take 40 mins to pick up after you all before starting the cleaning. It often takes me 20 mins when I come home from work and that's every day and we're out all day!

Looking again at the note again, I think she started off incandescent/defensive and calmed down the longer it went on, and by the 'I can even come over' she was actually verging on conciliatory.

I'm warming to her, myself. That note is the note of someone who does give a sh*t.

I do think you're asking her to do a lot in the time allowed. Either you need to give her more time, and explain that she is expected to tidy as well as clean, or try at least to tidy a bit before she comes.
I would take 3.5 hours to tidy and clean my house, no problem - more if it's a deep clean.

Your first sentence says it all bluebear, absolutely, it's supposed to make our lives easier not more stressful!

The first cleaner I had here kept not turning up, about 5 times in a row, and then when I asked her (nicely) was she sure she wanted the job as she was hardly ever here and she agreed that she did and then STILL didn't turn up I got rid of her. I THEN had her husband turn up on ny doorstep wearing just shorts and no shirt (ewww) to have a go at me for firing her! After 15 minutes of my explaining tnat turning up was a basic requirement he more or less agreed that his wife was a bit crap and buggered off. so hard, having staff (that#s a joke).

Have been thinking about this whilst cleaning my bathroom (!) and I have to say, I think you're all being pretty harsh. If there was a thread started by your cleaner saying "I left my employer a note saying could we talk about things and now she's sacked me", people would be up in arms. "Just" because she's a cleaner, doesn't mean she doesn't deserve the same respect as anyone else in the workplace to state her problems and be listened to. Completely agree with bakedpotato re the tone of the note.

I think she sounds liek she takes a lot of pride in her work and wants to do a good job for you.

I don't think her note is that rude, remember that e-mails etc can be easily taken in the wrong context.

I wouldn't expect my cleaner to tidy for me, as I would prefer her to spend the whole time cleaning. I always spend the night before tidying so can understand it taking 40 mins.

It sounds like you need to agree on what each of you expect. She maybe thinks you expect more of her than you actually do in the 2 hours.

definitely don't sack her, good cleaners are like goldust!!

If I had a cleaner I would expect her to clean, not tidy up my old mugs and dirty clothes. Surely the role of a cleaner is to dust, hoover, clean the bathrooms/kitchens etc.

To be honest I think they are paid to clean....not tidy.
One of the reasons we keep putting off having a cleaner is that we are not tidy enough. Wouldn't expect a cleaner to tidy then clean.

I would sack someone just for the use of the word "disappointed" as it reminds me of teachers/parents and brings out my latent stroppy teenager.

Btw, when I was younger I was a cleaner, for quite a while, then started my own domestic agency (back in the mists of time) because I got offered loads of work I couldn't do (Houseproud it was called, oh the irony!). I did a 40 hour week as a cleaner and did whatever someone wanted me to do in the time available and certainly didn't mind tidying.

lol at her growing on you! I must say I have calmed down, I was furious when I first got in and got the note (have the week off work this week).

Bran, I think it was that use of the word that made me feel so told off.