Reasons to do your own cleaning

[redbird]

I ran into one of my neighbors on my way upstairs this evening.

He told me he'd been in the hospital for a bit (he has a chronic medical problem), and that, while he was hospitalized, someone had cleaned his apartment. They hadn't settled for scrubbing the floors and cleaning out the refrigerator. They hadn't even settled for rearranging his pots and pans, or alphabetizing his spice rack.

They'd moved his papers around, and he couldn't find anything. One of those things was his father's death certificate.

I expressed sympathy.

He then told me that they hadn't just rearranged things, they'd thrown out papers. Now, I have papers I don't need. There might even be people I would trust to correctly judge which of the pieces of paper in this apartment those are.

Whoever was in his apartment had judgment poor enough that they hadn't just thrown away documentation for equipment (he didn't specify which owner's manual): one of the things missing is the title to his car.

Little as I like housework, I think that, if I ever hire someone to clean, I will be here while they do it, so they can ask me questions where necessary (for example, "is there a reason you have three different containers of vanilla extract?" and "Do you want all these old magazines?") and avoid doing stupid things.

Theft would, by comparison, be forgiveable.

Comments

[brithistorian.livejournal.com]

That is horrifying! I don't know if that would be my worst nightmare, but it would certainly be in the top ten. I don't even trust my wife to go through my papers (and vice versa).

Re: Reasons to do your own cleaning

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

i'd talk with the person who did the cleaning -- neither a title nor an owner's manual nor a death certificate look remotely like garbage, so my guess would be the cleaner put them somewhere "safe".

but yes, i consider it unconscionable to mess with people's papers without precise instructions.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

Osn't imnotandrei; that was me, forgetting whose computer I was on (and who was logged in to LJ).

Let's try that again:

When we had professional cleaners, we instructed them explicitly to ignore all piles, don't even straighten them, don't touch them. And they didn't. They just cleaned around.

We also put certain rooms (e.g. the bedroom; here it would be the office) off-limits.

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

I have people come in twice a month to do floors, dusting, kitchen, bathrooms. I usually tell them to stay out of Jordin's office and they do. Sometimes I just ask them to do the floors in there. Of course, I'm paying them to do exactly what I tell them, so... I find it hard to believe a volunteer cleaner would throw away papers, or for that matter anything not already in the trashcans.

MKK

[acrobatty.livejournal.com]

ACK! Nightmare scenario!

Let's hope they did put them somewhere safe. Yeep. What did they do, subcontract to a ten-year-old?

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

Lord, that would make me furious.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I think coming home to a dirty apartment would have been highly preferable.

However, it's not as bad as what happened to Marilee -- she posted about it on usenet -- when she was in hospital and her father went through her things.

[rainliver.livejournal.com]

Did the cleaner admit to throwing these things out? I think your neighbour should speak (politely) to the cleaning person to find out where things are. If he didn't specify what not to touch, the cleaner would not be doing her job if she left papers lying about - clutter tidy-up is part of cleaning.

I imagine everything is well organised somewhere safe. No sense in him getting his temper in a flutter if he doesn't know the situation. Of course it is possible that she stole these things or threw them out. But I think your neighbour shouldn't be so harsh to judge and give the lady the benefit of the doubt. And if she did goof up, take it as a lesson in life about leaving important papers lying around when asking someone to clean and expecting perfection from human beings.

My 2 cents.

[feonixrift.livejournal.com]

.. this would be among the many reasons why I refuse to live in a 'cleaned' room every again. I do my own cleaning, like doing my own cleaning, and likely always will. The only time I lived in a room where cleaning staff came was in college, and I always spent the whole time glowering at them to make sure they wouldn't come even remotely near any of my stuff. (yes, those three scraps of leather and the pile of metal filings in the tic tac box really are important, why does noone ever stop to ask?)

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

That would make me spitting angry.

There is no way this house would ever be used for a magazine on how to live (gods no), but... but... aaargh! They _threw out papers_!

And I have three containers of vanilla extract (the fake stuff for when it doesn't really matter, the Good Stuff and the Really Good Stuff), so yeah, I know where you're coming from.

[carbonel]

And I have three containers of vanilla extract (the fake stuff for when it doesn't really matter, the Good Stuff and the Really Good Stuff)...

When, oh when, does it not really matter about vanilla extract? I could see having the Good Stuff and the Really Good Stuff, but the fake stuff is never going to darken my door. I'd rather leave it out altogether.

[ailbhe]

This sounds to me like a volunteer - a friend or relative - which makes it difficult. Our hired cleaners didn't do *any* tidying - all they did was cleaning the cleared surfaces. It was up to us to clear sufficiently that they could clean.