I love that I most recently found it on a Jewish parenting blog. Even more awkward! What is going on?
So, I am at my sweetheart's place and he had to go to work. His cleaning lady is here. Frankly, I may have preferred that she come next week. Or maybe I could have just left for a while. I am feeling a snare awkies. To be honest, I feel like she might be ripping him off.
From what I have noticed in the past, she basically just does the floors and wipes down surfaces in the kitchen. The stairs look like they have never been swept, nor the bedroom furniture dusted. I know that one time, I arrived when she was cleaning and we left. When we returned there was dust on the shelves that the glasses and dishes are stored on. Considering that there is no other furniture besides the TV stand and couch, I think that it is not too much to expect the "bookcase" that holds the glassware to be dusted.
Window sills - dusty. Floorboards - dusty. I seriously do not get it. Granted, the place is always pretty clean - but we also pick up after ourselves. It's not like anything is really dirty anyway.
I mean, I can come here every two weeks and sweeps the floors for crying out loud.
Oh man, have I got some PMS for you.
I know that my place gets really dusty very quickly. Like the same day that I clean. I also live in a 100 year old building, in a major city, on a really busy street.
I am trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe things just get dusty by my next visit. Somehow I doubt it.
Do not think for a minute that I am not doing a white glove inspection when she leaves. Yeah, I'm an asshole like that.
I will not have someone take advantage of my boyfriend. Not when I know that he pays her what a hotel housekeeper would make in 4 hours. And those guestrooms are pretty clean. I say this from my experience in the industry and can only speak as to the cleanliness of hotels I've worked at.
In 4 hours this place would be spotless. He is not cluttery at all. It's easy to clean. In fact the only things that are out are mine.
I had one of the housekeepers come help me once. I gave her $60 and she protested that it was too much, when she had worked her ass off for like 3 hours and my place had been a pit. It was spotless. She moved the furniture, dusted everything. I did do my bedroom myself and dusted the living room, but she did mostly everything. And honestly - it was a fucking sty. I had been working non-stop for weeks and was a basket case. I organized crap while she cleaned. Seriously, she washed everything, like even the bar glasses that I keep on the counter. That stuff gets dirty if you do not periodically clean them.
Hence my concern for my honey's place. I mean, that kind of thing piles up, and soon all your surfaces can be icky.
I am guessing that she will do a better job today though.
Though I cannot figure out why the laundry is running. I was tossing my dirties directly into the machine all week. I was going to add more to it to do a load. There are like two shirts and 5 pair of nundies in there - why the hell would you run that? Not necessary.
Ugh, I am cranky. And poor Mac - I am always complaining about the dust. Honestly, his place is cleaner that mine usually is. I just feel like she is being paid more that what she is doing. Maybe that is just my expectations though. And really, I am glad that the bathroom fixtures and such get cleaned. It's just those little things that end up piling up and then become a huge chore...that yours truly does not want to have to end up eventually doing.
I also don't know how people look normal when they clean. I am a grubby, nasty looking beast of a woman when I do chores. No question about it. I am wearing crap and feeling like it too.
I call shenanigans on this. This here is the myth:
This right here is the reality of the situation:
And she doesn't even look that bad. Whatever. Marketing nonsense.
Hmmm...maybe I should dress cuter when I clean. I think then I would not want to get down to the nitty gritty though. My problem is that I do not really maintain well. I let things go a bit and then have to work really hard to clean it all. At least I used to be like that. I have gotten much better over the last year or so. But I still look like crap when I am doing it.
Hey, I can't always look glorious.
I understand what you mean about cleaning people. However, if Mac is happy, you may have to tip toe around this one.
ReplyDeleteI expect that knick knacks be moved (and dusted), shelves be dusted, some polished, everything vacuumed, pillows straightened, kitchen floor washed, counters, fixtures, etc polished, behind the toilet cleaned, all exposed pipes cleaned and so on. But, I'm a pain in the patoot. Ideally, at each visit one room should be taken apart and thoroughly cleaned from floor to ceiling.
So much for expectations. Apparently for $75 one cannot expect such a thing. I've just hired a cleaning service that will take everything out of the cabinets, shampoo the rugs, empty the china closet, wash all doodads, polish everything, move furniture, wash woodwork and dust ceilings, ceiling fans and walls and wash the first floor windows. It will cost $500.
Seems outrageous to me, but it needs to be done and there's much of it I can't do due to physical limitations, so there goes my meager inheritance.
Doesn't seem like PMS to me, seems like reasonable expectations.
Oh, and I look like crap when I'm cleaning. I hold off on the laundry 'til I'm finished, then take off everything and toss it in the washer and take a shower!
I've been using the same cleaning lady for the past few years. She usually does a decent job, although she does tend to miss some of the dusting. To be honest, I'm sure I don't always notice when she does, due to my blindness. I can see when the counters are dirty, and I notice the condition of the floors. Those little nooks and crannies are another story, though. I often don't catch them until they're really dirty.
ReplyDeleteFinding a good cleaning person was pretty difficult. I went through three before settling on the current one. Part of the problem is that I'm not ready to pay $300 per visit. The professional cleaning services I looked at would charge at least triple what I'm paying, perhaps more.
The first cleaning person I hired was on meth or something. I'd come home after she'd been there, and my tea kettle would be polished to a high luster, and the hall would not be vacuumed. It was weird. Two other people I hired, would not show up to do the work. One had a new excuse every time (stollen purse, sick relative, etc.). The other just didn't come, and didn't call. The woman I use now is reliable.
I do have kind of an internal debate about the cleaning service. Sometimes I think I should just buckle down and spend a few hours cleaning every week. I'm sure I could do as good a job as the cleaning service, if I made the effort. I've become spoiled, so I'm not sure how realistic this scenario is.
Another solution might be to leave a note for each cleaning visit. It could have a short list of items that need special attention this week. I've used this approach before on a limited basis, and had some success with it. Sometimes, people need a reminder to focus on important details.
It's another first world problem, to be sure.
Arty, you do always look glorious.
I'm totally with you on the cleaning ladies. Sure they do what they can in the time allotted for the price but it's really only a surface cleanup that a person could do for themselves and save the cost. At least your cleaning lady moved the furniture..so few I've ever seen do that. I work in various peoples homes doing projects and when their cleaner shows up it's really hard to see what they did do other than vacuum and mop abit how long would that take a person to do for themselves...30 minutes a week ?? I actually worked with a guy who had one comes twice a month and his wife would insist on them cleaning before she showed up..totally confusing lol
ReplyDeleteI don't think my cleaning lady takes advantage of me intentionally. I have never given her much direction. I pretty much just leave her fee on the kitchen island, and let the rest take care of itself. I'm a simple guy with an aversion to hassles. I'm thinking that if I buy her a new swiffer, and make it clear in a note that I would prefer she spend more time dusting, and leave the laundry alone, we might see a marked improvement. I may also start asking her to take on a special project each time, such as carefully cleaning the stairs, or cleaning the baseboards thoroughly.
ReplyDeleteI had such a difficult time finding a cleaning lady in the first place. The first one I tried would polish the tea kettle, but fail to vacuum whole rooms. She would also call in with a myriad of excuses for why she couldn't come on her scheduled day. I found it such an odd coincidence that her grandmother died, she lost her keys, her purse was stolen, and her roommate moved out with no notice, all on days she was scheduled to clean my home. The second person I hired just didn't show up, and didn't call to reschedule. Of course I could've hired a company to do the work, but the price would be at least double what I pay now.
Sometimes I do think about just biting the bullet, and going back to doing this work for myself. It would save me money, and I could do a better job, blindness and all. I may resort to that drastic step, if we can't resolve the dusting issue satisfactorily.
I keep a bunch of old IT trade show shirts around, for when I have to do dirty jobs around the house. I suppose they make me look like even more of a dork than usual.
Arty, you always look glorious.
Chris - I have heard of people doing that. Picking up things, I get; totally cleaning is a mystery. The lady I had come help me that one time was awesome. That's my point though, there are some details that my sweety doesn't always see (he does have visual disabilities), so I feel that the cleaning lady should take better care of him.
ReplyDeleteMac - Glorious to you perhaps! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI am just being protective. I know that it helps greatly to have her come in. She did a better job last time.
For some reason, my posts are not getting approved. Am I banned?
ReplyDeleteAlicia - absolutely not! Though this one did go to my spam folder. You had posted some before that disappeared. I have no idea what happened. Maybe your email was compromised? I heard that gmail was having security issues lately.
ReplyDelete