Reply to My cleaning lady stole my engagement ring (and other jewelry)

Forum Index » Off-Topic

Reply to "My cleaning lady stole my engagement ring (and other jewelry) - what to do?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]One day I asked. MY cleaning lady if she had seen a carved wooden elephant. No monetary value and very little sentimental value. She looked like crazy for it, said her assistant was instructed never to move things, was very apologetic, offered to buy me a new elephant, etc etc. I kept telling her not to worry, it wasn't a big deal, that I thought it was in the house somewhere etc etc.  
a couple of weeks go by.  She keeps fretting over the elephant.  I think she thought I was accusing her which I absolutely was not. 
Eventually I found the elephant, in a place that I thought I had already looked but obviously had not. 
Moral of story for me: I put that elephant away when we were getting ready for some housepainters, forgot I had even moved it. So, keep looking a while longer. [/quote]

NP here.  I agree that cleaners have far more to lose than gain from petty theft.

I once had a pair of ceramic candlesticks on my mantle.  They had been a housewarming gift from a friend.  Black ceramic, taper candlesticks with a hexagonal base, maybe $10-15 for the pair at HomeGoods or similar.   My housecleaner broke one while cleaning once.  She was so upset.  I told her it didn't matter as they were not valuable.  She promised to replace them.  The next month, she came back and told me that she had tried so hard to find replacements just like them, but they were hard to find.  She gave me a pair that were the same shape, but these were crystal and probably cost $25-30 or so each at a department store. I  tried to give them back to her asking her to return them, but she was so mortified that I would blame her and fire her and she refused to accept them.  Fortunately it was in the fall and I added $50 to her Christmas tip.

Most of the good housekeepers I know value their customers and almost all of the ones that I use get their primary business and new customers from word of mouth referrals.  Not only is a housekeeper likely to lose a position if she steals, but she will lose future business.

As for the loss, I'm of the opposite camp.  I think losing an entire jewelry box is much more likely to be owner carelessness than theft.  An owner can't help but suspect theft when an entire jewelry box goes missing and a housecleaner, especially one that has been with the family for 3 years is unlikely to be so stupid as to not realize that she would be the first suspect.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics