octmom
08-05-2004, 03:49 PM
I am finally calm enough to type, so here I am in the bitching forum. I decided a few months ago that hiring someone to come in and clean every other week would be a smart thing to do. DH and I both work FT and we want to spend our time not at work with DS, not just cleaning the house. I still think this is a good idea, just not with the person I hired to do this.
I keep in touch with 6 other moms from my childbirth prep class. It's a great group-- we'd meet for lunch almost once a week while we were on maternity leave (all the babies were born within a few weeks of each other) and we e-mail all the time, plus we try to get together when everyone's crazy schedules permit. One of the other moms had a cleaning lady and said that the woman had an opening in her schedule. Another mom jumped on it and hired the woman. Mom #2 told me that the cleaning lady lectured her up and down about clutter, but that she did a good job cleaning. She was thorough and, this may sound silly, but because she (cleaning lady) is Mennonite, we thought she would be very trustworthy, so neither of us was uncomfortable about her being in our homes while we were not there. I never talked with mom #1 about her experiences with the cleaning lady, but mom #2 told me that the woman lectured her and made her feel guilty, but she was satisfied with her cleaning.
Fast forward a couple of months—cleaning lady has another opening in her schedule and we decide to try it out. Cleaning lady comes over and to meet with DH and me, looks at our house and gives me the lecture about clutter (though we had hidden away almost anything that could be considered clutter before she arrived), and tells me that she is very particular. You want a cleaning person to be particular, right? She comes to clean for the first time a week later while we are on vacation. We were compulsive about cleaning the house (picking up clutter and also actually cleaning things) before we left. I think we were both feeling like we wanted to make a good impression. (Why, I don't know.) We come back from vacation and the house is clean. Not sparkling like I had never seen it before, but quite clean. In hindsight, it wasn't that much cleaner than it was when we left since we had done so much prep. She had taken all of our underbed storage boxes and placed them on to of the beds, so that she could clean under the beds. I was impressed that she cleaned under the beds. She also placed some baskets of toys on the sofa, presumably when she vacuumed.
Two weeks later, she was due to come again. DH and I spent the two evenings prior to her visit cleaning—picking up everything (stashing junk in closets at times) and doing some actual cleaning. Before we left the house on the morning she was scheduled to come in, we placed the underbed storage boxes on top of the beds, to make it easier for her. The house was clean when we left for work. All was fine. Again, the house looks clean when I return home, but I am not blown away by how sparkly it is.
This morning—cleaning lady’s third visit to our house. We pick up everything-- toys placed in baskets, baskets place on sofa (as she had done), moved underbed boxes to tops of beds, made sure all counters were clear, sink was empty, etc. DH did some of this (underbed boxes) after I left the house with DS for daycare/ work. Around 10:00 a.m., cleaning lady leaves me a voicemail message at work. I call back (her cell phone number), thinking that she is either canceling on me because she is sick or maybe DH forgot to leave the key out. No, that’s not the reason for her call. She is calling to yell at me about my house not being clean enough for her to clean!!! At first, I am embarrassed and apologize. I try to explain that we moved things to the tops of the beds, etc., because we thought that was what she wanted us to do to make it easier for her to clean under the beds. She doesn’t relent.
Then I start thinking about how clean my house is (pretty darn clean) and I start to get annoyed that this woman is lecturing me in a very loud voice and passing judgment on me. We went round and round with her telling me in a very loud voice that she thought she had made her expectations clear, etc., etc., until I finally tried to be nice and told her that I didn’t think this arrangement was working out. She just kept on badgering me and that she worked hard and took pride in her work. I finally reached my breaking point and I told her that I also worked hard to earn money that was using to pay her to clean my house, not to yell at me about the way I live. I told her that I thought I understood that she was very particular and that was a good quality to look for when you wanted someone to clean, but that I didn’t understand that she was actually talking about being compulsive. That word set her off and she yelled something at me again and then HUNG UP ON ME!
I was furious and she was in my house (about 15 minutes from my office and DH”s office). I called DH and filled him in and told him that he needed to go home and deal with her because I would end up really letting her have it. He called her cell phone (I gave him the number) while he drove home and she tried to give him the same garbage she gave to me. He said that he was coming home to pay her for the work she had done already. She went on and on to him about finishing the job, etc. Finally he told her to take the check ($80) and leave. When he got home, she was gone and the key was there for us. She called the house a short while later (she didn’t expect anyone to be there and thought she’d leave a message, but DH answered), and told him that maybe she WAS compulsive and that she was asking for my forgiveness and for the Dear Lord’s forgiveness. He told her that we wished her the best and he regretted that this did not work out.
DH walked around the house and said that as far as he can tell, the only thing she had done was pull the dining room chairs out from the table to vacuum. Everything else was as we had left it. He was so mad by this point that he took digital photos of several rooms just to prove that we had not left a disaster for her to clean. He e-mailed them to me when he got back to the office andI finally got to laugh about how insane this whole experience has been. I guess it’s good that I can laugh about this now, but I was NOT laughing a few hours ago!!!
I’ve already forewarned mom #2 from my childbirth prep group that she will probably get an earful from the cleaning lady about me and she and I had a good laugh about it. I e-mailed the house photos to her and she agrees that it was NOT messy. Mom #1 has moved out-of-state now, so I guess she won’t hear the dirt (ha!) on me from the cleaning lady, but I definitely won’t recommend this woman to anyone else!
Jerilyn
DS, Sean 10/03
http://lilypie.com/baby1/041029/3/3/3/-5/.png
"Baby makes days shorter, nights longer, home happier, and love stronger."
I keep in touch with 6 other moms from my childbirth prep class. It's a great group-- we'd meet for lunch almost once a week while we were on maternity leave (all the babies were born within a few weeks of each other) and we e-mail all the time, plus we try to get together when everyone's crazy schedules permit. One of the other moms had a cleaning lady and said that the woman had an opening in her schedule. Another mom jumped on it and hired the woman. Mom #2 told me that the cleaning lady lectured her up and down about clutter, but that she did a good job cleaning. She was thorough and, this may sound silly, but because she (cleaning lady) is Mennonite, we thought she would be very trustworthy, so neither of us was uncomfortable about her being in our homes while we were not there. I never talked with mom #1 about her experiences with the cleaning lady, but mom #2 told me that the woman lectured her and made her feel guilty, but she was satisfied with her cleaning.
Fast forward a couple of months—cleaning lady has another opening in her schedule and we decide to try it out. Cleaning lady comes over and to meet with DH and me, looks at our house and gives me the lecture about clutter (though we had hidden away almost anything that could be considered clutter before she arrived), and tells me that she is very particular. You want a cleaning person to be particular, right? She comes to clean for the first time a week later while we are on vacation. We were compulsive about cleaning the house (picking up clutter and also actually cleaning things) before we left. I think we were both feeling like we wanted to make a good impression. (Why, I don't know.) We come back from vacation and the house is clean. Not sparkling like I had never seen it before, but quite clean. In hindsight, it wasn't that much cleaner than it was when we left since we had done so much prep. She had taken all of our underbed storage boxes and placed them on to of the beds, so that she could clean under the beds. I was impressed that she cleaned under the beds. She also placed some baskets of toys on the sofa, presumably when she vacuumed.
Two weeks later, she was due to come again. DH and I spent the two evenings prior to her visit cleaning—picking up everything (stashing junk in closets at times) and doing some actual cleaning. Before we left the house on the morning she was scheduled to come in, we placed the underbed storage boxes on top of the beds, to make it easier for her. The house was clean when we left for work. All was fine. Again, the house looks clean when I return home, but I am not blown away by how sparkly it is.
This morning—cleaning lady’s third visit to our house. We pick up everything-- toys placed in baskets, baskets place on sofa (as she had done), moved underbed boxes to tops of beds, made sure all counters were clear, sink was empty, etc. DH did some of this (underbed boxes) after I left the house with DS for daycare/ work. Around 10:00 a.m., cleaning lady leaves me a voicemail message at work. I call back (her cell phone number), thinking that she is either canceling on me because she is sick or maybe DH forgot to leave the key out. No, that’s not the reason for her call. She is calling to yell at me about my house not being clean enough for her to clean!!! At first, I am embarrassed and apologize. I try to explain that we moved things to the tops of the beds, etc., because we thought that was what she wanted us to do to make it easier for her to clean under the beds. She doesn’t relent.
Then I start thinking about how clean my house is (pretty darn clean) and I start to get annoyed that this woman is lecturing me in a very loud voice and passing judgment on me. We went round and round with her telling me in a very loud voice that she thought she had made her expectations clear, etc., etc., until I finally tried to be nice and told her that I didn’t think this arrangement was working out. She just kept on badgering me and that she worked hard and took pride in her work. I finally reached my breaking point and I told her that I also worked hard to earn money that was using to pay her to clean my house, not to yell at me about the way I live. I told her that I thought I understood that she was very particular and that was a good quality to look for when you wanted someone to clean, but that I didn’t understand that she was actually talking about being compulsive. That word set her off and she yelled something at me again and then HUNG UP ON ME!
I was furious and she was in my house (about 15 minutes from my office and DH”s office). I called DH and filled him in and told him that he needed to go home and deal with her because I would end up really letting her have it. He called her cell phone (I gave him the number) while he drove home and she tried to give him the same garbage she gave to me. He said that he was coming home to pay her for the work she had done already. She went on and on to him about finishing the job, etc. Finally he told her to take the check ($80) and leave. When he got home, she was gone and the key was there for us. She called the house a short while later (she didn’t expect anyone to be there and thought she’d leave a message, but DH answered), and told him that maybe she WAS compulsive and that she was asking for my forgiveness and for the Dear Lord’s forgiveness. He told her that we wished her the best and he regretted that this did not work out.
DH walked around the house and said that as far as he can tell, the only thing she had done was pull the dining room chairs out from the table to vacuum. Everything else was as we had left it. He was so mad by this point that he took digital photos of several rooms just to prove that we had not left a disaster for her to clean. He e-mailed them to me when he got back to the office andI finally got to laugh about how insane this whole experience has been. I guess it’s good that I can laugh about this now, but I was NOT laughing a few hours ago!!!
I’ve already forewarned mom #2 from my childbirth prep group that she will probably get an earful from the cleaning lady about me and she and I had a good laugh about it. I e-mailed the house photos to her and she agrees that it was NOT messy. Mom #1 has moved out-of-state now, so I guess she won’t hear the dirt (ha!) on me from the cleaning lady, but I definitely won’t recommend this woman to anyone else!
Jerilyn
DS, Sean 10/03
http://lilypie.com/baby1/041029/3/3/3/-5/.png
"Baby makes days shorter, nights longer, home happier, and love stronger."