As I have posted previously I recently hired a cleaner. And the cleaner has been great, it has been wonderful knowing that the house is clean and the dust is being attended to.
(I am sure you know by now there is a but coming... )
BUT.....
Today I came home to find my FAVORITE TOWELS have bleach marks on them.
I am devastated! I know that seems like a severe response to some towels being ruined but there is a story behind why they are my favorite towels.
Towel Story: When Tom and I were dating (many years ago now) I gave Tom a very expensive blue Country Road towel as a present. Thinking back that seems like a odd gift for a guy...but moving right along.... The following year he gave me the same towel as a present. I actually thought that he had just given me exactly the same towel back but he hadn't. Tom had bought another of the towels so that we each had one. It was so that one day we would have a set. And when we got married and started living together they became a set. So you can see why they are precious to me.
Now, I hope, you can better understand my angst at finding them destroyed. I actually feel a little bit sick about it - I am a hopeless romantic after all.
The worst part is that I don't really know what to do about it.
Should I fire the cleaner? NB This is currently my preferred option.
Should I call him and tell him what happened as ask him to be more careful in future? The cleaner did ask us to tell him if there were any issues but what is he going to do about it? the towels are destroyed now and do I really want to keep a cleaner who has to be told not to bleach my things? Surely that goes without saying.
Also three shirts of mine which were in the washing basket in the bathroom got bleach on them a few weeks ago. I thought that Tom or I must have done it but now I suspect that it was more likely the cleaner.
Any tips on firing hired help?
6 comments:
ooh it's a tough call, but basically you have just paid someone to ruin your favourite towels! I think he might have to go.... just tell them that unfortunately a cleaner is not in the budget anymore, or something like that so you don't hurt their feelings too much :)
I used to work as a cleaner and I once accidentally dripped domestos on a bathmat. I left a note to apologise and assured them I would replace it (which I did the next week). If it's happened more than once and he hasn't even noticed I think it might be time for him to go. As for HOW to do that... I have no clue because I am a coward when it comes to that kind of thing. My instinct would be to move to another town. (Not helpful?)
By the way, it's nice to see you blogging more these days. :)
Who uses bleach except on things that need bleach?
I'm not a cleaner, and even I know to keep that bleach in the bottle unless you're certain it needs to be used, and then go ALL OUT to prevent the bleach from touching anything that doesn't need bleaching.
(When you said "Towel Incident" and started talking about your cleaner, I wa worried that the cleaner had accidentally walked in on one of you in a towel. Or worse, out of one. You'd have to fire anyone who'd seen you naked.)
I have absolutely nothing useful to say as far as how to proceed with your uber-careless cleaning guy - I just wanted to come by and say hello since I just discovered your comment to my post Mission Impossible: Romance. Thanks for commenting!
So sorry about the towels - it's maddening to get bleach on something inadvertently, but to have something with such sentimental value ruined with bleach is awful!
Personally, I'd look on the bright side - the towels were going to get ruined one day anyway, and this way it's neither yours or Tom's fault.
I personally think it sounds like the cleaner doesn't know their bleach is splashing things - I would let them know it's happened, ask them not to use bleach and then if it happened again consider firing them.
That's sad. Well, the towels will still work, and now they have another story attached to them...
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