Cleaning woman issue - need advice

[Anonymous]

I have a cleaner that comes to my house bi-weekly and does a real cleaning. The problem is that when she isnt there, things tend to get very messy (not dirty, but messy). 2 kids under 2, 2 f/t working parents, DH and I are not neat people and we just cant keep up with the laundry, dishes, etc. And then cleaner cant clean bc she's picking everything up.

So I hired a friend of my friend's nanny to come do some "light housekeeping" - basically what my nanny used to do before we put the kids in daycare. I had several loads of laundry on the couch, asked her to fold it or hang it up and put it away, do the dishes, and just straighten up. I didnt even show her where the cleaning supplies were - just a broom. Before I left, I said "we'd like to pay $15 an hour - how many hours do you thnk this will take? 2? 3?" She said she didnt know and I could just pay her next week. She aid she would call me when she left. I checked in at 12:30 (she arrived at 7:30) and said she was still working. I asked what she was doing and she said she was putting away the clothes. She finally called me at 2:30 - 7 hrs later!! - and said she was done.

When I got home, the house looked nice - not super clean (which she wasnt supposed to do) but I couldnt figure out what took 7 hrs. Then I looked in the drawers and realized she had taken every single item out of every drawer in the house and folded it. every pair of underwear, every onesie, every sock, everything. Not at all what I asked her to do!

I feel really bad bc I am sure she thought she was working hard but I didnt ask/ant her to do this and I dont want to pay her for hours of work I didnt want. I probably will pay her but am I obligated to?

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a complete misunderstanding so I'm not sure if you are obligated to pay her for the extra time. That said, I'd chalk it up to experience and pay her. Maybe next time you could say that if a max number of hours is reached, the person needs to call you to report on his/her progress and get your approval in order to continue.

[Anonymous]

Yes, you are obligated to pay her. It's up to you to make sure she understands your instructions if you're going to leave her unsupervised.

[Anonymous]

on come on.. you were not clear and she just kept going.
next time leave a check list.
your fault.
the poor women spent 7 hours of her life helping you and now you want to be cheap about it? if you really want to be cheap next time leave her a list of stuff to do.

[Anonymous]

The work is done, the message was not clear. Pay it this time and make it a learning experience.
Next time tell her exactly what you want and what time you need her to be done.

[Anonymous]

How many loads of laundry did she do? For me to do a complete load is at least 1.5hrs.

Personally, I'd pay a flat rate with an agreed upon checklist. If there house were extra messy, I'd kick in some extra.

For instance, our cleaner came today and I got my days mixed up and was not expecting her. Normally I straighen the house before she comes so she can focus on the deep clean. Well today, she had a MOUNTAIN of 3 days dishes, my dirty underware in the bathroom, pee in my son's potty from last night, Cheerios on the counter, and crushed all of over the kitchen floor, and clothes EVERYWERE because we were out of town last weekend and never unpacked, but just flung stuff out of bags onto the floor. I'm also 9 mos pregnant, work FT and my DH is out of town, so the house was a disaster that I would NEVER allow anyone to view. I just put a check in the mail for her for double the amount of today's normal cleaning rate.

[Anonymous]

OP here -

I said I would probably pay her but I was wondering if I am really obligated to.

As for the person who said she spent 7 hrs helping me - she really didnt. It is of no help to me to have a drawer full of folded underwear that will become unfolded in a matter of minutes. As soon as I got home, DD1 started opening the drawers and throwing clothes on the floor. So while it was very nice of her, it wasnt necessary or helpful.

I did all the laundry, she just had to fold it. There were probably 4-5 loads there from a small washing machine.

I was pretty sure I was very specific today, but I will definitely be more specific next time, assuming there is a next time. Its just incredibly annoying. If I knew I was paying for $100+, I would have rather her cleaned the house - not just folded everything.

[Anonymous]

OP, for this type of work, I think you need to tell someone, I'd like you to fold 4 loads of laundry and put them away, and do the dishes that are on the kitchen counter. I will pay $30 for those tasks to get done.

She can take as long as she needs to get them done, but if she wants to spend her time folding your clothes in your drawers, she doesn't gte paid extra.

I think you have to pay her.

[Anonymous]

Yes, OP, I think you are obligated because you did not agree on hours before hand. You asked, she said she doesn't know and she'll call you and you left it at that. If you have agreed with her, I'll pay you 30$ for 2 hours and that's it, then it would have been a different story (but still probably i would have paid her). So, agree with you and other PPs, pay her, and next time, make sure you tell her that she has only 2 hours or whatever hours you think she needs and leave her a list.

[Anonymous]

I think you have to pay her this time but I would not use her again. I think she took advantage of you and that's not honest. I wouldn't want a dishonest person in my home.

[Anonymous]

You said you were probably going to pay her. Are you asking if you are obligated to do so because you want to be convinced that you shouldn't?

[Anonymous]

I'd disagree with the "poor woman" comments.

I DO think it's your fault for not being super clear, especially since it's pretty obvious english is not a language she has much skill with. But really, I find it hard to believe that any sane person would find light housekeeping to be taking out every article of clothing already put away in the house and redoing it. I think if you'd told her you'd pay a set rate for the tasks you would have gotten the work done you actually want done. So to an extent I think she may have been playing you, but she wouldn't have been able to if you made it very clear.

I'd be annoyed, but I'd pay her this time. Making sure you tell her that's really not what you asked for but will pay this one time anyway.

Honestly, I wouldn't use her again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here -

I said I would probably pay her but I was wondering if I am really obligated to.

As for the person who said she spent 7 hrs helping me - she really didnt. It is of no help to me to have a drawer full of folded underwear that will become unfolded in a matter of minutes. As soon as I got home, DD1 started opening the drawers and throwing clothes on the floor. So while it was very nice of her, it wasnt necessary or helpful.

I did all the laundry, she just had to fold it. There were probably 4-5 loads there from a small washing machine.

I was pretty sure I was very specific today, but I will definitely be more specific next time, assuming there is a next time. Its just incredibly annoying. If I knew I was paying for $100+, I would have rather her cleaned the house - not just folded everything.

She probably did feel it was necessary given the state of your drawers. How would she know where to put everything, or if it would all fit, if it was such a mess in there. She did you a favor, now it's up to you to keep the kids from distroying it.

[Anonymous]

I can only imagine how this poor girl felt after doing such a great job folding it all and trying to find where to put it and watching the chaos inside the drawers.
I would've done the exact same thing.
Now I ask myself.. what's the point asking her to fold and put away if it's all messed up inside the drawers already?
I would never come back to work for a mother that acts like this. By the way, I've declined to come back to such houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can only imagine how this poor girl felt after doing such a great job folding it all and trying to find where to put it and watching the chaos inside the drawers.
I would've done the exact same thing.
Now I ask myself.. what's the point asking her to fold and put away if it's all messed up inside the drawers already?
I would never come back to work for a mother that acts like this. By the way, I've declined to come back to such houses.

Most of the clothes in the drawers were folded - not my underwear bc I think its uneceesary - but most of the other clothes, they just werent arranged in perfectly straight rows bc I have better things to do with my time. And who cares how she felt about putting folded clothes into a drawer that had unfolded clothes? Why does that make someone feel bad?

Act like what? What exactly have I done?