Pay cleaning lady for one session I'm canceling?

amother

Jade

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 11:40 am

I have a cleaning lady 3 hours a week. I just started with her around 3 months ago. I will be away next week and don't know if I should pay her for that time even though she's not going to be working. What's the proper thing to do in this case?

naturalmom5

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 11:47 am

Depends where you live. In Lakewood, if you don't pay her, in this situation.

Don't expect her to return in 2 weeks... Ten other desperate women will chap her

Tzutzie

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 11:49 am

Or you can ask her if she would want to go to someone else for those 3 hours. That's how it works where I live.

monkeys

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 11:52 am

I live in LA and pay half when I’m away. This is an agreement we made up together.
If you like her and want to keep her you need to keep her happy.

ra_mom

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 12:01 pm

Pay her. Being loyal to her will help her be loyal to you. She relies on your steady payment.

amother

Lavender

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 1:10 pm

ra_mom wrote:

Pay her. Being loyal to her will help her be loyal to you. She relies on your steady payment.

No matter how loyal I was to my cleaning help, they were never reliable

33055

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 1:13 pm

Pay her when you get back if she shows up. Tell her that's what you will do in advance.

She has an incentive to return to you.

amother

Jade

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 1:16 pm

I told her I'll pay her more than half. I don't think she expected it and I think it's fair (considering she works so few hours and hasn't been by me for so long).

Chayalle

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 1:22 pm

I don't pay her if I cancel on her. She cancels on me all the time (mostly by not showing up when I was counting on her, sometimes with no response and if I'm lucky, responding to a text an hour or so after a no-show). It's a pay by the hour arrangement, so if I need to cancel I do so, just like she does so if it's her need.

ra_mom

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 2:07 pm

amother wrote:

No matter how loyal I was to my cleaning help, they were never reliable

So you penalize all future employees because previous employees have let you down? You don't even want to try to establish loyalty in new relationships? Smile

SixOfWands

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 2:16 pm

amother wrote:

Why not have her come in and do some pre-Pesach cleaning?

If not, pay her anyway. These are hours that you expect her to hold open and to be available to work for you, so you should pay her for them, whether or not you use them.

33055

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 2:53 pm

ra_mom wrote:

So you penalize all future employees because previous employees have let you down? You don't even want to try to establish loyalty in new relationships? Smile

It depends if that's the group norm of the class. I have lost cleaning ladies before Pesach because other ladies offer them more. The ladies usually drop them after Pesach. I wouldn't be secure with a cleaning lady I hired shortly before Pesach.

I have my house cleaned usually before Purim because of the cleaning ladies are undependable.

SixOfWands

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 2:58 pm

Squishy wrote:

We use a cleaning service -- they bring in 2 or 3 people, and do a deep clean of the kitchen, dining room and living room. (We don't have small kids, so no need to deep clean other areas. YMMV.)

Our cleaning person has been with us for 10 years, but heavy Pesach cleaning is too much for her at this point, so we bring in the big guns.

Ridethewaves

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 3:05 pm

Do you trust her alone in the house? Why don’t you have a neighbor let her in/pay her and have her do something extra like polish silver, closets etc

amother

Jade

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 3:09 pm

Ridethewaves wrote:

Do you trust her alone in the house? Why don’t you have a neighbor let her in/pay her and have her do something extra like polish silver, closets etc

I won't have anything to give her because I'm leaving a clean house. I don't have a combination lock or neighbors to let her in. I would have trusted her alone if I needed it...

momsrus

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 3:15 pm

It’s a pay by hour job.

Usually loyalty is only one sided.

You’ll pay her, she will let you down anyway.

SixOfWands

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 3:22 pm

momsrus wrote:

It’s a pay by hour job.

Usually loyalty is only one sided.

You’ll pay her, she will let you down anyway.

Well, that seems to go both ways.

You can't expect a cleaning person to save a particular slot for you if she can't expect you to pay her for that slot.

My experience is very different from yours.

My parents had the same cleaning help for close to 40 years.

I haven't been that lucky. I had a series of cleaning women for about a year each, after which I usually let them go. Then I had one cleaning woman for abut 4 years, and now another for more than a decade.

Ridethewaves

Thu, Feb 14 2019, 3:25 pm

amother wrote:

I won't have anything to give her because I'm leaving a clean house. I don't have a combination lock or neighbors to let her in. I would have trusted her alone if I needed it...

I wish my house was this perfect! I feel like I always have something I wish done! Car cleaned, linen closet, kitchen cabinets.