Spinoff: cleaning lady breaking things

Ema of 5

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 1:51 pm

I was reading through that thread, and I saw more than one the idea that it is inevitable that a cleaning lady will break things. Is it any more inevitable than you or I breaking something in our homes? My son just broke a plate on shabbos. Friday night my husband broke a glass. Last week when emptying the dishwasher I broke a very expensive crystal bowl which can’t be replaced becasue it was a present. It happens. It makes me sad to see how some women here see their cleaning help.

octopus

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 1:56 pm

How about breaking a glass shelf in a refrigerator? a fin off a fan? stuffing a sink drain and having to call the plumber who has to drill and basically do a bypass on a pipe?
Everyone is human. And things break. But someone who chronically breaks things is not going to be hired as staff in my home. I need someone who is more careful.

Ema of 5

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 2:20 pm

octopus wrote:

I didn’t say you should hire someone who is not careful. What I said is that the attitude of “a cleaning lady is inevitably going to break things” makes me sad.

Ema of 5

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 2:25 pm

studying_torah wrote:

Eema of 3, I was the op of that thread and please knock of your judgement about how I treat my help.
You know zero about how I treat them, or my finances if I can afford to replace broken items or not, or any other issues going on here.
Tyvm.

I said nothing about you or anyone else specifically. I was very careful to say SOME people (or maybe it was SOME women? I don’t remember) I actually wasn’t talking about you at all.

amother

Royalblue

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 2:25 pm

eema of 3 wrote:

I didn’t say you should hire someone who is not careful. What I said is that the attitude of “a cleaning lady is inevitably going to break things” makes me sad.

It's true though. I find them extremley not careful. Even the good one, I think they dont' realize the value of our items.
My cleaning lady would constanly keep banging the broom into my italian dining room chairs and I felt bad saying anything, now the bottoms are chipped. And shes supposedly very good but I would think most people had sense not to keep banging a broom into fancy chairs.

watergirl

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 2:28 pm

octopus wrote:

My husband has done every one of those things at least once. Just sayin.

Ema of 5

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 2:29 pm

amother wrote:

But do you know every cleaning lady out there, that you can make a general statement? Maybe some are clumsier than others, as with the rest of the population.

InnerMe

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 2:33 pm

eema of 3 wrote:

You are trying to say that it's sad that some people think of their cleaning women as "people who break things?"

I think you were misreading because I got no such impression on that thread. One poster said that it comes along with the territory and it seems to me you are agreeing that it's a normal part of daily living, cleaning etc. that stuff will break.

amother

Royalblue

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 2:36 pm

eema of 3 wrote:

But do you know every cleaning lady out there, that you can make a general statement? Maybe some are clumsier than others, as with the rest of the population.

No, I've seen it with many cleaning ladies over the year. It's a general carelessness that many have. Obviously not all. I believe its them not understadning the value of expensive items. Fine dinnerware, china etc need to be treated more gently ..

Ema of 5

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 2:50 pm

InnerMe wrote:

More than one person said or agreed with the sentiment that a cleaning lady breaking things is inevitable, as if we ourselves breaking things is not. THAT was what made me sad.
Cleaning ladies will inevitably steal
Cleaning ladies will inevitably break things
Cleaning ladies will inevitably become lazy

I have seen and heard all of the above, these gross (as in huge, not as in mast, although I think they are that too) generalizations. THAT makes me sad.
Yes, people break thing. Yes, some people are more clumsy than others. Yes, some people have more common sense than others. My issue though, is that these are not true of ALL cleaning ladies, and especially not to the exclusion of others. I mean, one person wrote in this thread, that her husband has done all of the things that someone else listed as things her cleaning ladies have done. I’m not saying hire and maintain someone who is clumsy, I’m just saying it’s not cleaning ladies in general.

amother

Khaki

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 2:56 pm

amother wrote:

Maybe if cleaning ladies were treated with more respect, they might treat your property with more respect.

Feel grateful that you can afford fine dinnerware. I am sure your cleaning ladies can’t.

If you have so much disdain for cleaning ladies and their abilities, do your own cleaning.

octopus

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 3:33 pm

eema of 3 wrote:

I felt from the start that you were targeting my posts in this thread and in the other. I've had my cleaning help for years. She doesn't break things and I treat her with incredible respect. You are making generalizations about people too. The person that said that her husband has done all three things- I would be very mad if my dh did that. Don't be so rough with the furniture! And what is your angle, exactly? If you think more $$$ makes people more careful with the property of others, I have a bridge to sell you. People who are respectful of others' property will be respectful no matter what, and the careless people will be careless no matter what. Money doesn't solve the ills (and bad middos) of the world. People don't keep on careless office workers. The same goes for careless house staff.

doodlesmom

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 3:38 pm

Interesting, I think cleaning ladies typically break things as much as I would if I would be doing the cleaning they do.
Mine just broke the glass table protector when cleaning the chandelier and the crystal ball fell onto it.
I did the same thing a while back and told her as much- and not to worry.
I did tell her that in the future we should both put a towel beneath the chandelier before cleaning it.

zaq

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 3:40 pm

Well, yes, a cleaner, being human, if s/he works for you long enough, will inevitably break or ruin something, just as you, your spouse and kids will do. That should be considered a normal occupational hazard of having hired help and you, the employer, assume the cost. Deliberate sabotage such as flushing your dc teddy bear down the toilet is a different story.

Ema of 5

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 4:06 pm

octopus wrote:

I am not targeting anyone, I don’t even know who said what!! I did not call anyone out by name, I commented on something that was said.
I have no angle, I said nothing about Mindy, that was someone else.
Again, I didn’t say anything about hiring or maintaining careless cleaning help!! My post wasn’t about that. My post was about a specific sentiment. That’s all.