Has anyone ever "fired" their cleaning woman?

[Hillbeans]

Just curious if anyone has any stories or similar situations. I'm sort of debating it right now...i'd rather just do it myself now since I find I do a much better job, even though I don't really have the time for it anymore.

 

[phorsenuf]

Yes, I had to let mine go. He (yes, it was a guy) started out ok, but every time I came home after he had been there I was always dissapointed. He was supposed to be here for 3 hours, but I don't think he spent more than an hour here. I had talked to him about what bothered me, but the next week when I came home there was so much water on the floors from mopping I couldn't believe it! Plus there was always pet hair "washed" into the corners. I know that pets shed, but it was his job to vacuum it all up, but since he didn't do a good job at that in the first place.....
Anyways, I wrote him a letter and basically said thank you for services, but at this time I feel between me and the children we can handle what needs to be done.
Of course now I am looking for a new housekeeper

 

[Maleficent13]

Well, I have never had a cleaning lady, but my mom did. Until one day she noticed the scotch in the liquor cabinet was slowly disappearing. After grilling my brother and I, she came to no satisfactory answer.

Then, the next day that the cleaning lady came, Mom found her passed out in the master bedroom walk-in closet. The cleaning lady didn't really question the firing.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Originally posted by Maleficent13
Well, I have never had a cleaning lady, but my mom did. Until one day she noticed the scotch in the liquor cabinet was slowly disappearing. After grilling my brother and I, she came to no satisfactory answer.

Then, the next day that the cleaning lady came, Mom found her passed out in the master bedroom walk-in closet. The cleaning lady didn't really question the firing.

Similar thing happened to us (minus the passed out housekeeper).

 

[castlegazer]

The big NO MORE day came when I came home one day a few days after the cleaners had been there and I needed to vacuum so I got out my vacuum tried to plug it in and couldn't figure it out at first what was going on. IT WAS MISSING THE METAL plug thingy on one side of the plug. Well now my next thought was well, where is it? IT WAS STICKING OUT OF A PLUG NEXT TO MY SON'S TOY BOX! Not two minutes later I was on the phone with what I politley referred to as my maid's pimp (this woman employs these women who don't speak english who work for her - she drives a Mercedes) and in no unclear terms I fired her on the spot!

I haven't had a cleaning service since and I am going nutty but it is one less expense per month.

 

[Hillbeans]

Originally posted by Maleficent13


Then, the next day that the cleaning lady came, Mom found her passed out in the master bedroom walk-in closet. The cleaning lady didn't really question the firing.

LOL - that's funny.

It's not as if the woman who does mine is bad, it's just not worth $65 for her to just clean the surface and pour bleach in the tub and swiffer the floor. I really expect a mopped floor and dusted furniture. I also feel that i'd rather just get a new one then reprimand, or else i'll worry that something of mine grows legs.

 

[LindaR]

I don't have one.........but my boss does. I have hired/fired housekeepers in the 7 years I've worked here.

What I ended up doing was typing an extensive list of EXACTLY what needed to be done every week and what types of cleaning materials to use and not to use.

Example: Saltillo tile flooring will be completely swept and then mopped with solution of 1/2 hot water and 1/2 white vinegar weekly.

The more specific you get, the less chance for "mis-interpretation".

 

[robsmom]

yup, fired them twice. once i fired two women because they either were smoking in my house or smoked so much that they brought it in. either way, i would come home and my clean house spelled like smoke. Yuck. Later I had molly maids which is a service. they did a really superficial job and it just wasn't worth it. Now I have a women and her team. they are very expensive but very very good.

 

[monkeyboy]

Never had one to fire...but if I do a pretty good job of cleaning up after myself

 

[HollyJoy]

Can I fire myself?

 

[mrsv98]

Well, mine sort of fired herself!

I had one for a few years, started when I was pg and on restricted activity. Kept her on thru DD being born and moving to the new house. She was great in the beginning and loved DD to pieces. Well, the last year, she really started going downhill, she had a legitimate medical concern and I always accounted for that. In fact, more than once, I sent her home when she was looking wiped out. But she started to take advantage of that and was doing a really superficial job.

Then she said she was going to Nevada with a friend to see where her DS had been killed a few years before. He had been in a terrible car accident after graduating HS and he and a friend were killed. No problem, I understand that she needed to feel some closure. She was going to be gone a week, then it was two. Finally 6 weeks later she called me!

Well, excuse me, but you just can't disappear for that length of time and just expect to have your job back. I told her we were cutting expenses and I was sorry I couldn't use her anymore. I really miss having the house clean all at once, but since I am a SAHM now, it is hard to justify the expense, even if we can afford it. So last night I was vacuuming and mopping at 11:30pm! It is the only time I can do it all at once!

 

[Mskanga]

I don't know what your case is but I will tell you that some of these agencies that have cleaning maids, put a limit of houses that this people must clean a day, sometimes it's impossible to do. If it's someone private, that's another story.
My friend and I clean three houses , two of them bi-weekly and the other one weekly. We are very lucky, we do it as a side job , not for a living. The people that we clean for , are very happy because we can do a much better job than one person alone. It takes us an average of 1.5 hours to clean each house, and only one of the houses occupied during the week, the other two are summer and weekends homes.
We are very lucky and we know it, but the people that we clean for are also very grateful that we do not steal, geez, we have the keys for both of them and the one has a baby grand piano in the livingroom and a Harley Davidson in the garage.
The other one leaves his credit cards laying around!!

 

[Hillbeans]

And that's the thing also...this woman does not steal and I leave the key out for her on the day she comes. At first, I used to be around or in the yard somwehere.

I like the idea of leaving a list, that may work. I'd like to save the $130 a month i'm paying, but i'd also like a clean house. I can justify the money if I truly don't have to dust or scrub before and after she comes.

 

[browneyes]

I tried to fire myself, but I kept showing up to clean.

 

[stinkerbelle]

Originally posted by browneyes
I tried to fire myself, but I kept showing up to clean.

yeah - the dust bunnies and dog-hair-tumble weeds rolling around make a stricking arguement for me to get off my butt and clean.

I ENJOY cleaning though...I'm odd...but I like being able to sit down after a LONG cleaning and admire my shiney clean home.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Originally posted by stinkerbelle

I ENJOY cleaning though...I'm odd...but I like being able to sit down after a LONG cleaning and admire my shiney clean home.

Wanna do ours? You can even sit and admire the clean, shiny home when you're done (at least until DW gets home and wonders who the strange woman in our house is )

 

[Hillbeans]

Robsmom, you described my situation well....that they do a "superficial" job. Things behind the door or under the table is obviously untouched.

Unfortunately this is one of the perks we afford ourselves since we both work FT jobs. I just find that it's not really worth the money anymore since I have to clean most everything before she comes anyway.

Thanks for the advice (and laughs).

 

[marymrg]

My first cleaning lady was fast, very thorough and very reasonable. Since she was an acquaintance, I even let her bring along her little boy who just watched TV while MOM was cleaning. She moved out of the area so then I didn't have one for a long time. Then a few years ago, I hired two ladies but like some of the other posters, I couldn't justify the expense for the superficial job they did. (like mopping around throw rugs instead of picking them up and vacuuming under them then mopping)

So, now it's just me and I really stink at it!! But, lately, my teenage daughter has needed some extra money so I've hired her.

I'd love to have a professional again. I just need to hire someone who is recommended by someone else and is happy with them.

 

[lindajo]

I did. She did an OK job, but I would find one or two obvious things left undone, like not emptying a wastebasket. We have a lot to clean, fairly large area with a lot of doghair, so I would let little things slide. Then one day (the day after they were here) I noticed that the $100 bill that was in my sons' large bank was missing. I just happened to look in for it , and it was gone. No one else had been in our house, so I had DH call her, because I was so upset. He very diplomatically explained the situation and she said (very nicely) that she didn't understand, the person that cleaned that day had been with her for years. She would check into it. The next day, she called and said that her SON (20 years old-yeah, I guess he has been with her awhile!) admitted to it, and they would be here to return it tonight. He apologised, of course, and since she handled it so well, I said that she could keep the job. (am I a sucker, or what?) A few weeks later she told me that she would have to raise her fee, which I thought was quite nervey of her, so I let her go. Now, I either do it myself, or it doesn't get done. We are constantly covered in doghair.....

 

[lindajo]