Saturday, June 21, 2008

Try, try again
I'm back to looking for another house cleaner. I don't understand why I can't find a reliable person. I mean, really! How hard is it to be courteous of other people's time? A simple phone call is all it takes.

I was training our house cleaner on Wednesday mornings at 6:00. After her session she stayed to clean from 7-10:00. I thought it was a great schedule & everything would work out well. Her references checked out great, with them telling me that she would probably need a detailed check-list to work with & the only problem was that she does not have reliable transportation. OK, got it. I can be flexible with that.

She came the first week & the house looked good after she left. She did a great job & I was so happy to have some help. The second week she cancels because she needed to have some dental work done in the morning. OK, fine - dental appointments are hard to come by, especially when they are for emergencies. Well, the third week I wake up at 5:00 to get ready for our 6:00 session. 20 minutes later, I'm still waiting in the kitchen drinking my coffee. It's now too late to actually train her in a decent session, so I write a note to stick on the front door. Hi "House Cleaner", I waited for a little over 20 minutes & decided that I was going to get ready for the day since I haven't heard from you. Please don't ring the doorbell since everyone else is still asleep. Thanks! Kristin

I jump in the shower & get ready. Logan woke up at 7:00 & I change his diaper & begin to get him dressed. Then I hear a car engine in our driveway & as I'm walking downstairs, I see the house cleaner drive away. So, she shows up an hour late, no phone call & doesn't even bother to knock on the door. I don't hear from her, so I call her later that afternoon. "Hi House Cleaner. I'm just calling about our missed session & cleaning appointment this morning. I can train you on Friday morning if that works out for you. Call me back & let me know if this trade is still going to work out for us. Thanks."

She never called me back.

So now I'm back to square one, putting out an ad again & conducting interviews for next week. The good thing is that I have three interviews scheduled. So, it could be a whole lot worse. I just wish she would have called me to let me know she was running late (Hey! I understand! I have a toddler & I'm rarely on time anywhere!) or even given me the courtesy of call back (or even an email) to let me know this wouldn't work out for her. No calls, no shows are just plain rude!

2 comments:

COURTNEY said...

I had a housekeeper one time who started out great and then each time did less and less until finally I think she just started showing up and spraying some cleaner in the air to make the house smell clean then taking off with the check I would leave each time. The final straw came when I came home while she was supposed to be cleaning and I found three women I didn't know "cleaning" the house and the gal I hired nowhere to be found.

Joanna said...

That sucks! I am sorry to hear about the mess you are having with trying to find a house cleaner. Good help is hard to come by these days! Good luck!