home cleaning services?

Yes, I was called by my bank to come in to the local branch. Someone had made 3 with drawls in 15 minutes from my savings account amounting to $4,000. They drove to 3 different branches. This was in 1990. I think control in banks is tighter now. My bank slips and statements and my signature had been in the house. So, the bank replaced the money. I had to sign papers stating that I would prosecute if apprehended. The cleaning people were the only people in the house. The service I had rotated a variety of characters in to clean. Imagine that? Now I am very careful about who comes in my house and when and why.

I AM a cleaning service!

We did get rid of my elderly mother's last cleaner because she was neglectful in dusting and more important, some of my mother's prescription sleep medication was missing the day after she cleaned. We knew a few were missing because my sister, who gets the prescriptions filled, had just counted them to see when it would need to be refilled.

To be 110% certain it wasn't our mistake we said nothing but replaced the sleeping pills with similar-looking pills to see what might happen. Again,next time, 4 were missing. Good-bye cleaner.

My mother's current cleaner is reliable, honest, and good. She misses some things I would do myself but nobody's perfect. We are pleased.

When I go to meet with a potential new client they sometimes tell me what was wrong with the last one if there was one. The difficulty several have had was a language barrier. Clients often leave notes regarding changes in what needs to be done, special priorities for the week, questions about scheduling... Sometimes the notes include very important information that cannot be ignored concerning plumbing problems, faulty switches and so on.

One client, who is multilingual, thought she solved the communication problem by leaving notes in the cleaner's language. That is until she discovered the cleaner could not read.

I have never given a client a horrible experience but I have had a few who gave me one. I have "fired" several clients. Even though I need the money sometimes the annoyance or plain disgust isn't worth it. Last "see-ya" client was one who repeatedly had diarrhea all over her bedroom and bathroom and not only expected I should deal with it but didn't even apologize. I'd have needed bio-hazard gear for that one.

Another was an elderly woman who kept asking strange questions in an accusatory fashion such as if I had removed and switched the places of pictures on the walls (er, nooo...?) and didn't want me to get anything wet such as the kitchen and bathroom floors. And she kept trying to give me rotten fruits and vegetables as tips, "maybe you can use these".

Sorry if you've had bad experiences. That would not have been me!