Just let my house cleaner go...now I feel guilty

Marie5656

Marie5656

SF VIP
Location
Batavia, NY
Here is my situation. I have had someone coming twice a month to help me with deep cleaning that I am no longer able to do. Floor, mopping vacuming bathroom and such. Bottom line, I was looking for a reason to let her go as I was not always happy with her work. I had to tell her often to do routine stuff...that she did almost every time. Like clean stove hood, fingerprints on fridge and many other things. Plus she talked...A LOT and would often stop in the middle of a task to watch TV if I had it on. Not a quick glance....but sitting down and focusing on show.
She often expressed her disapproval of gays....even though she KNOWS Julie is in a committed relationship with her partner, Michelle. I would write a book...but will not dump it on you. I did cop out and turn off my phone after messaging her. SIGH
 

I have found that housekeepers have a fixed usefulness period. For me anyway. About two years is typical, first a few months of really trying to impress, followed by a leveling off, and then decline. Not sure why this is, but it often seems to happen. There have been a few exceptions, but those left me, again after a couple of years.

Don't feel bad, if you are not happy with the work and are not able to change that its the right thing to do. Being kind about it always helps, both of you.

We use a housekeeper about the way you do, deep cleaning every couple of weeks.
 

Had a neighbor in Florida, a real ornery lady in her 90s, but I liked her.

She had money, more than me anyway, she paid her housekeepers very well, but fired them about once a month. Seems they were always "stealing" from her. Sometimes things of value, but one got fired for stealing an empty plastic milk bottle... Her house was a hoarder's paradise, I never understood how she knew the housekeepers were stealing from her. After she died when her sons cleaned out the house they found everything of any value that had been "stolen". One of the housekeepers was a man, who the lady believed was gay, she accused him of stealing her "braziers", something she said gay men did all the time... None were actually missing, and I have no idea if he was actually gay or not.

Being a housekeeper is hard work, and not always in a friendly environment. Us employers of them need to keep that in mind.
 
I had one of those happy maid services. I don't have a huge place, but vacuuming kills me, and I can't dust high places. At first, there were three women, who showed up, then two, and finally one. I was paying $100/visit, but she was in and out in about 15 minutes. No way were they cleaning 5 rooms in 15 min. Then they upped the fee to $125. Like Marie5656, I had to end the service. It seemed like they ran out of employees, and were just showing up to get paid.
 
Marie5656 said:
Here is my situation. I have had someone coming twice a month to help me with deep cleaning that I am no longer able to do. Floor, mopping vacuming bathroom and such. Bottom line, I was looking for a reason to let her go as I was not always happy with her work. I had to tell her often to do routine stuff...that she did almost every time. Like clean stove hood, fingerprints on fridge and many other things. Plus she talked...A LOT and would often stop in the middle of a task to watch TV if I had it on. Not a quick glance....but sitting down and focusing on show.
She often expressed her disapproval of gays....even though she KNOWS Julie is in a committed relationship with her partner, Michelle. I would write a book...but will not dump it on you. I did cop out and turn off my phone after messaging her. SIGH
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Marie, please don't feel guilty, you did the right thing. You should not be paying someone who doesn't take her job seriously and have your best interest in mind. The fact that you even know her negative opinion of gay people is a bad sign, I would not want someone like that in my home.

She was a slacker, she was taking advantage of you and she was causing you stress. Nobody who we invite into our homes to help us out should make us feel stress, uncomfortable or sad. You deserve better and you acted appropriately. Kudos my friend, don't ever change....hugs.
 
Marie5656 said:
FYI I just got a text back. She actually wanted to know WHO I hired. Yea, I will get right on that.
I have a question for all of you. She only has my cell number...not my landline and not friends on FB. Should I block her on phone and FB???? Just in case??
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None of her business who you hired, very cocky of her to even ask. Good she doesn't have your landline number. If it were me, I would block her on the phone and on facebook. She is just looking for trouble and is bad news, you shouldn't subject yourself to such nonsense.....life is too short my friend. She'll get over it, this is probably old hat to her type.
 
This is like the @alligatorrob story. Years ago a former neighbour reported two different cleaners for thefts. Then one day he was frantic because he almost caught a guy who was stealing from the garage deep freeze. Within a few months we all realized he had dementia.
 
I had to let a cleaning lady go because we could not communicate. I am old and have a voice disorder; she was from Guatemala and could not speak English or understand me. She was very nice, punctual and I liked her. Her young daughter came with her the first few months and would interpret, also helped with work. Daughter faded away, and Rosie brought other family members to help clean. They spoke only Spanish. I kept her about 2 years, but was very frustrated because I often needed to communicate. I felt so bad about it, but finally decided I wasn't going to continue. I told her and she seemed to understand, but they continued to call for a while. I have another woman from Guatemala, but she speaks & understands English - hooray! I hope Rosie found someone else to clean for!
 
Dee Jay said:
I had to let a cleaning lady go because we could not communicate. I am old and have a voice disorder; she was from Guatemala and could not speak English or understand me. She was very nice, punctual and I liked her. Her young daughter came with her the first few months and would interpret, also helped with work. Daughter faded away, and Rosie brought other family members to help clean. They spoke only Spanish. I kept her about 2 years, but was very frustrated because I often needed to communicate. I felt so bad about it, but finally decided I wasn't going to continue. I told her and she seemed to understand, but they continued to call for a while. I have another woman from Guatemala, but she speaks & understands English - hooray! I hope Rosie found someone else to clean for!
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I had problems speaking with one person here (Hispanic my charity case) so got a voice translator. Even though he had "Ghetto" words/phrasing, we understood each other.

Just a future suggestion
 
Don't feel guilty about letting her go or blocking her from your phone. It is a nightmare hiring these aides/housekeepers. I have gone through about six so far and most of them just didn't show up for work. I had to clean after they left because they do a sloppy job. I think they are under the impression that us old people can't see or hear so they can not do a good job.
 
Thanks for your support. I think she works for one or two other people in this building. Plus her sister IN LAW lives here. Going to chat with them tomorrow or over weekend. To assure they do not discuss this with her. I only mention this because she often would talk to me about her other clients. I had to tall her several times NOT to talk with me about them..or discuss me with them. She still would.
I know I will be fine..but my anxiety is on overdrive
 

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