Advice on employing a cleaner
- Thread starter Hollis
- Start date
bluestreak
HomosexualityIsStalin’sAtomBombtoDestroyAmerica
Hollis said:Whats the diffference.. d'you make all your own clothes/make your own bread... Sorry bluestreak but you appear to be virtually trapped in pre-industrial modes of thinking.
i don't pay anyone to do anything that i can easily do for myself. if i could make my own clothes or bake my own bread i probably would, except that the end results would be pretty disasterous. but i can run a damn duster around without employing a skivvy to do it for me.
(of course, anyone who's seen my room knows that i don't in fact run a damn duster around, but goddam it it's my dust and i ain't paying no fucker to remove it)
bluestreak said:
Yep, but having a cleaner is handy if you don't have the time to do it yourself... Since I'm self-employed running a website most evenings a cleaner is an easy justification to make.... That and its seen as an added service & investment when renting out accomodation.
Though I expect that "when the revolution comes" I'll be "first against the wall" since I'm exploitative landlord & employer...
bluestreak
HomosexualityIsStalin’sAtomBombtoDestroyAmerica
when the revolution comes you'll be building the walls that more deserving cases are shot against.
then you'll be shot.
love,
the peoples revolutionary justice committee (lambeth branch, AMICUS aff.)
then you'll be shot.
love,
the peoples revolutionary justice committee (lambeth branch, AMICUS aff.)
It would be better to do 1/2 hours a week rather than 3/4 hours in one go once a month. Bear in mind it may take an hour just to do the bathroom or kitchen, if they are particularly mingin.
Speak to them, or leave a note indicating your list of priorities and be aware that if the place hasn't been cleaned properly in ages they won't get to everything on the list - make sure you tell them to just do as much as they can manage in the time. If they are cleaning all day it isn't fair to expect them to work at lightning speed - they have to pace themselves a bit in what is a very tiring job.
Don't worry about the master/servant relationship love, I'm sure they'll let you know who's boss.
Speak to them, or leave a note indicating your list of priorities and be aware that if the place hasn't been cleaned properly in ages they won't get to everything on the list - make sure you tell them to just do as much as they can manage in the time. If they are cleaning all day it isn't fair to expect them to work at lightning speed - they have to pace themselves a bit in what is a very tiring job.
Don't worry about the master/servant relationship love, I'm sure they'll let you know who's boss.
I know this is going to sound obvious but please remember to pay them. I've worked for people who have 'forgotten' several weeks on the trot. Not good enough. (And cash, not cheques).
bluestreak
HomosexualityIsStalin’sAtomBombtoDestroyAmerica
hmm, you're right, maybe i'm being a bit harsh. perhaps i'll have a word with social services for him, see if we can get him a place in supported housing. 
I had a cleaner a few years ago - it was in the contract with my landlady.
Cost me a bleeding fortune. She did 4 hours a week, and I never noticed the difference. Sometimes I made a mess on purpose so she had something to do.
I stayed in my bedroom one day while she came in to clean and noticed she was in and out in 30 minutes.
Then I noticed a massive phone bill - all international calls to Ireland. None of which I made.
I got her to pay me the money and forced the landlady to accept her hours going down to about 2 a fortnight. Saved me a fortune.
Cost me a bleeding fortune. She did 4 hours a week, and I never noticed the difference. Sometimes I made a mess on purpose so she had something to do.
I stayed in my bedroom one day while she came in to clean and noticed she was in and out in 30 minutes.
Then I noticed a massive phone bill - all international calls to Ireland. None of which I made.
I got her to pay me the money and forced the landlady to accept her hours going down to about 2 a fortnight. Saved me a fortune.
spanglechick
High Empress of Dressing Up
hollis - what leaps to mind is that you're going to have to tidy up before they come or there's no point.
A cleaner will pick up and tidy, but you don't want them to be spending their time doing that. What they won't do is hoover around piles of stuff or dust around bits and pieces that haven't been put away.
A cleaner will pick up and tidy, but you don't want them to be spending their time doing that. What they won't do is hoover around piles of stuff or dust around bits and pieces that haven't been put away.
Guineveretoo
Mostly bewildered
trashpony said:
I used to quite like it, too. I even had some music that my daughter knew of as "dusting music" because I played it really loud.
But that was before I not only worked ridiculously long hours, and have a commute of at least an hour each way to add on to it (a lot more when there is "over running engineering works" causing delays like this morning), but also have arthritic knees and a bad back!
I want a cleaner!
I will pay the going rate, and I don't accept that it is the fact of employing a cleaner which turns that person into a skivvy - it's how they are treated and I would treat this person with respect, because that is the sort of person I am!
Guineveretoo
Mostly bewildered
spanglechick said:
Oh, well that's me buggered then!
butterfly child
Well-Known Member
My husband insists he didn't get rid of the cleaner because he thought I would do it... but he doesn't do it... I reckon he thinks fairies come in the night and do it... that's what I've accused him of, at least.
This whole cleaner this is always a touchy subject on here, I have no idea why. As long as you treat someone with respect, and don't leave really nasty jobs for them to do, does it matter if you're paying someone to do something so you don't have to?
Bluestreak, it sounds like you think back to your time as a cleaner, and assume everyone who pays for a cleaner privately treats theirs the same as you were treated. It's not the case. Our cleaner was with us for years, if she hadn't been happy with the situation, she'd have upped sticks and fucked off.
This whole cleaner this is always a touchy subject on here, I have no idea why. As long as you treat someone with respect, and don't leave really nasty jobs for them to do, does it matter if you're paying someone to do something so you don't have to?
Bluestreak, it sounds like you think back to your time as a cleaner, and assume everyone who pays for a cleaner privately treats theirs the same as you were treated. It's not the case. Our cleaner was with us for years, if she hadn't been happy with the situation, she'd have upped sticks and fucked off.
Ms T
Honey-coloured ramparts
angelofthenorth said:
This is my golden rule. On the rare occasions I've forgotten, my cleaner has been fine with it because it doesn't happen very often.
The other thing I would never ask a cleaner to do is pick up my dirty clothes. My cleaner sacked one of her customers because they were always leaving their dirty underwear (and once even a used condom!) on the bedroom floor. That's not only disgusting, it's disrespectful, imho.
dessiato
4 years and I still cry sometimes
they should come twice a week, clean thoroughly, and be given strict instructions of what is expected of them, also listen to what they say. It would, for example, be unreasonable to expect them to clean up after a messy party without some extra consideration. They should be given keys only when they have shown themselves to be trustworthy, but if they come recommended they might be given a key straight away. Your role is the same as with anyone you employ, being 'domestic' doesn't change the relationship, nor your responsibiliy to staff.Hollis said:One of my mates has offered me the services of a cleaner. Does anybody have any helpful advice on the relationship of homeowner to domestic servant.
i.e. how often should they clean the house? should they be given keys? should you specify what they should clean, or should they just get on with it?
etc. etc.
many thanks.
Orang Utan
Maybe I like the misery
Blimey - how Urban has changed - this would have turned into a nasty bunfight not so long ago.
KeyboardJockey
Clowns to the Left of me
I'd quite like a naked rugby player cleaner -- mmmmmmm 
girasol
Addicted to handstands!
butterfly child said:
I wholeheartedly agree, it's a job like any other job. As long as there's a decent relationship between the parties involved I really don't see the issue.
It was one of my favorite jobs too, miles ahead of waitressing, working in a delicatessen and giving away magazines.
and certainly much better than working at MacDonald's (although I've never done that)
KeyboardJockey
Clowns to the Left of me
Ms T said:
I could do that! Giz a job! Mind you I wouldn't need a pinny to cover my bits - a teabag would do
butterfly child
Well-Known Member
I just asked my husband if he used to pay ours upfront or after she'd finished.. he said "both". Very helpful!
Once I'd moved in, I would quite often be here when she turned up, so would pay her before she left. There must have been times when I wasn't here, and I can't remember what we did then. But she had a lot of cleaning jobs, and we saw her all the time, so I daresay there were times when we'd pop rond and pay her later.
Once I'd moved in, I would quite often be here when she turned up, so would pay her before she left. There must have been times when I wasn't here, and I can't remember what we did then. But she had a lot of cleaning jobs, and we saw her all the time, so I daresay there were times when we'd pop rond and pay her later.
We have a 'domestic assistant' who is wonderful!
She works 2 hours a day and even goes shopping for me. My windows are cleaned, the place is vacuumed and mopped, dusted, childrens beds are changed and so on............
At the moment she is taking ironing home with her as our ironing lady is in New York!
She gets £7 an hour and is worth every penny (especially since social services pay her wages
)
She works 2 hours a day and even goes shopping for me. My windows are cleaned, the place is vacuumed and mopped, dusted, childrens beds are changed and so on............
At the moment she is taking ironing home with her as our ironing lady is in New York!
She gets £7 an hour and is worth every penny (especially since social services pay her wages
)
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