Monday, October 01, 2007

Cleaning Lady Blues


Cleaning Lady (Day 11)
Originally uploaded by stephcarter.
I have had a cleaning lady for a couple of years. Mark and I work so much we decided we actually wanted to spend time with each other on the weekends, rather than vaccuuming. I had a perfectly lovely cleaning lady who worked for us for 3 years. In 3 years I never had one problem with her. I referred her to everyone. I, thought, I was easy to please. Now she has moved on and I found a new lady. One who charges me almost twice as much as the old one. Needless to say, with her rates I naturally feel I should expect a clean house, nothing missed, and no problems. I have a cleaning lady to solve some of my hassles not create them. So far she has been to the house 4 times, and each time there has been an issue.

The first time she came she locked the cats in the closet and shut the door to their litter room. Of course, we let the cats out, but when we left to go to Medicine Hat later that day it never occured to us to check the door to the litter room. As you can imagine when we got home they had gone all over the place. This happened the second time she came as well. This was after I spoke to her partner after the last incident. Luckily, Mark had stopped home after lunch to pick something up and let the cats out and opened the door to the litter box. When I am having to clean up after the cleaning lady, this is a problem. But hey, I thought, she's new.

So the next time she came I asked her to do the basement as I had family coming into town. I pay extra for the basement. After everyone left I went to the spare room to find clumps of cat hair everywhere. It was obvious the room had not been cleaned, which horrified me because I had guest staying it all weekend. So the next time I specifically left a note asking for the basement to be cleaned. When I went in to put a cover back on the bed the clumps of cat hair were still there. I called to discuss the problem. Three days later she called me back. At this point I decided, this is not working out. Right now I have payed to clean up cat piss, be embarrassed in front of friends, and to be ignored. I suddenly realized I had become my cleaning lady's bitch. It would be cheaper and clearner to just put a drop tarp on the floor and fold it and toss it weekly. At least then I wouldn't feel like I had been totally ripped off.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Poor Heidi!! I can't help you though, I have enough trouble cleaning my own house!

Anonymous said...

your cleaning lady woes are my nanny woes......