Missing pants | Imamother

amother

Mon, May 04 2009, 7:47 am

I hired a new cleaning lady less than 3 months ago. She came recommended from my sisters cleaning lady. She seems sweet but more interested in being a babysitter than a cleaning lady but I hired her for both. I am not so satisfied with her cleaning abilities. She shrunk a dress of mine and she washed our shams which are dry clean only. She dragged my vaccum across my wood floor and scratched it. She has to be told to clean the glass doors in my house....

Anyway, after Pesach, my DH unpacked and put 2 pairs of pants in the laundry. They are cotton and dont need dry clean, but they aren't so cheap.....and they have not been seen since. We searched all over. I asked my cleaning lady and she looked in DH's closet but told me she doesnt remember seeing them. She got a little defensive when I was asking her and I had to assure her I wasn't accusing her of anything and she said she wants them to turn up too. They have not.

What do I do? DH really needs those pants.

Chocoholic

Mon, May 04 2009, 9:16 am

You can never trust anyone. One lady once stole a new top from me, well, only she and my DH had the key from the room.... it should become a public thing. Let her know you don't accept her messing around.

amother

Mon, May 04 2009, 9:19 am

Ugh....I just want DH's pants. My theory is that she screwed up and did something to them when she washed them so she threw them out. DH wears a size 31 waist and not too many ppl are that thin so I dont know she would have use for them....

greenfire

Mon, May 04 2009, 9:27 am

or could he have left them in a bag and they looked like garbage ...

chocoholic - ¿por qué piensas que cada señora de la limpieza habla español???

if you don't like the cleaning lady - let her go ... much nicer than being at odds with her every time she comes ...

louche

Mon, May 04 2009, 11:18 am

If you're unhappy with her work, get rid of her, but's not right to assume right away she stole or ruined things that are missing. If things keep disappearing, that's a different story. I once assumed a babysitter stole some items that disappeared from our room. I kept her on, and then years later when we moved I found the items under our wall unit. The space under the unit was only about 1/2 inch, so anything that slipped underneath was gone forever--or at least, until the next move.

But first ask yourself, which is your priority--how she takes care of your house or how she takes care of your kids? If your kids are your priority, and you're happy with how she takes care of them, think long and hard about whether your glass doors and your wood floors are worth getting rid of her. Good childcare is hard to find.

amother

Tue, May 05 2009, 5:07 pm

we figured it out....my dh had put ALL his laundry from the trip in our laundry room in a black garbage bag. ALLL that stuff is missing - SHE THREW OUT HIS CLOTHES!!!!!!!!!
He's been missing undershirts, underwear, socks, polo shirts and these pants.
I am beyond upset bc we dont have extra money and I have to replace this stuff now.

ss321

Tue, May 05 2009, 5:31 pm

wow. thats really really horrible!!!
honestly, its not like she STOLE it, so its not like she did it out of malice. but she shoudl probably still re-imburse you for it. if my housekeeper breaks something, or ruins something while washing it, she always offers to pay for it. (I rarely if ever take her up on it...b'h a plate here and a vase there...not breaking the bank). I think in a nice kind of way (as nice as you can be) she should be asked to reimburse at least part of the cost. sounds like shes not that wonderful of a cleaning layd, regardless of how well recommended she was. each person has different needs, what might have been good for your sis, isnt that great for you. from the vacuuming to the washing, etc, from the way you make it sound, shes not doin ga great job. you have two choices. you can eitehr be on top of her all day, trying to teach her how YOU like things, and hopefully that will work, or you fire her and find someone new. ifyou live in ny, you can start with luach.com for babysitter/cleaning ladies.

Chocoholic

Tue, May 05 2009, 5:35 pm

greenfire wrote:

Por razones obvias porque la mayoria de ellas no habla ingles ni tiene educacion (la mayoria de los imigrantes son gente de bajo estrato social) y eso es trabajo facil, ilegal y se lo consigue facilmente.... y paga bn.... pues por eso.........

Tue, May 05 2009, 6:11 pm

I dont really think she should be held responsible for this. Your DH put it in a black garbage bag! Garbage bags belong in the GARBAGE.
When you have someone come in and clean your home you need to be much more careful with your stuff. If its not what it looks like you need to label it. You cannot expect her to know that this garbage isnt really garbage. Other things to be careful about are expensive things left in crumpled napkins or jewelry left by a sink or toilet, if you or your family member leaves it in a spot where it could get lost or damaged then the fault lies with the person who left it lying around carelessly.

amother

Tue, May 05 2009, 6:45 pm

It was a garbage bag full of clothes, after a 2 week vacation, sitting in a laundry room. ANYONE with half a brain would lift the bag and know it wasn't garbage. The bag was not sealed.....you could see the clothes.

I wont ask her to reimburse but I think I may let her go. I need her till next week but after next Monday I think I am going to fire her. I plan to tell her we figured out that she threw it away though. I don't know how she will react. I am sure she has no idea that she did this I wonder what she will say when I tell her.

ss321

Tue, May 05 2009, 7:06 pm

amother just a word of advice: make sure you have someone else lined up before you fire her. no cleaning lady might be worse than a bad one. (and you said she is also your babysitter!)

louche

Thu, May 07 2009, 8:39 pm

amother wrote:

except that rich Americans throw out black plastic garbage bags full of clothes all the time. I live in an apt. building--not a rich area by any means--and people are always leaving bags full of clothes in the basement next to the trash. To your cleaning lady, you're THE MAN, and you're rich, and it makes perfect sense that you'd throw out clothes in a garbage bag. Even more so if it was dirty laundry, all crumpled up.

Consider it a kapparah and go on with your life. This is not a good reason to deprive someone of her livelihood. besides, do you want her going back to her friends saying "I'll never work for a Jew again--they fire you for making an honest mistake"?