My first client was a single Dad with 2 teenage children. Their home was situated in a small country hamlet just outside our town. It wasn't a big house in the least - small 1300 sq. foot decently decorated split level home. Easy place to do, you would think. This gentleman contacted me a few days after my friend and I had our combined cleaning/professional organizing businesses featured in our local paper. I couldn't believe how soon after the article ran that we'd hear from anyone. Well, this desperate gentleman was so happy to hear we had space for him in our schedule.
I remember meeting with him and figured he's a nice guy who really needs domestic help - with two teenage kids, who wouldn't? . Anyway, he introduced himself, his two dogs, He showed me around the house, not big, "do-able", I decided.
He then proceeded to show me the note left by his previous cleaning ladies. Strange, I wondered why anyone would leave him a "nasty" note as he referred to it. I read it, printed in red pen and CAPs: M, we've decided that we no longer can clean your house, we feel we're being taken advantage of and therefore won't be coming back. After many attempts to express how we feel and being ignored, we don't want to clean for you anymore." No signature, just the note. He says to me, "Can you believe this?" and me not really thinking, replied, "that's too bad, and yeah that's not very nice what they wrote" He looks at me with a look like, "yeah thanks for empathizing.". Never giving rise to a thought as to WHAT he must have done to deserve a note like this, I continued to learn more about his cleaning needs. Surely, I thought, "they really must be nit-picky cleaning people" - his house at the time didn't appear to be in disarray. Well, you'd think, and I have to admit I am not the "sharpest tool in the shed" - this is a bit of truth here, wish it were different for me, but because of my "people pleasing" personality, I seem to block out anything that may alert me to the fact that some people deserve what they have coming to them, that just maybe, they are "reaping what they've sown" -
So at this moment, I am feeling bad for this single Dad with 2 teenage kids and a couple of cute dogs who has now been abandoned by his cleaning help. Most normal people would have pondered that note seriously, again most normal people with a SHRED of common sense and not a bleeding heart would have politely empathized with him but internally would have been completely re-assessing the situation they were entering into. They would have actually re-considered working for this guy. No, NOT ME, newbie on the block, fresh out of the gate, green in the world of cleaning, bleeding heart(have to repeat this because it is so true!) needing the work, I think, "how bad could his house be that that these two ditched him and his cute puppies?"
So I told him what I wanted for my rates and let him know that Mondays were free for me. I'd be there at 9:30 and I could give him 5 hours as I wanted to be home for my kids after school - his home was 10min. ride from mine. He mentioned that I could let the dogs out and not to worry if they get under the fence and go away for a while, they'd come back. Do you think I remembered what he had told me that first meeting? Of course not!
First day I come to clean for him:
I arrive to find a sink full of messy dishes, clothes all over his and his kids bedroom, the dogs had peed in places, the place in general was quite the untidy mess. Good thing its a small bungalow - a bungalow that should have normally only needed a 3 hour or less clean,would definitely need the 5 hours allotted. He knew he would need it! Me, again, so green and yes, to be honest, I needed the money - 5 hours at 20 dollars an hours was great money for me at that time. That was more than anyone was making at the bank or retail - so heck yes, I didn't mind 5 hours at his place. Then, realizing the dogs need to be let out as they pined to be released, I let them out. A period of time goes by and I figure the dogs need to come in, Ontario winters are not pet friendly. They were short haired breeds so I figured they would want to be let in. I go to the back door, call for them. I call, but cannot see a single movement in the yard. I step out, there are no dogs to be seen. Great, my first clean and I lose the owner's pets, this is truly just great! I get my boots and coat on and head out the front door - calling, walking up and down the street, the dogs are simply no where to be seen, no sign, no sound and I am feeling just sick to death. I return empty handed, no pets, not sure what to say to M, but I know I need to let him know, 30 minutes of my time has passed - I am thinking I can't charge the man for this, I have lost his dogs! I find my client's cell number - thank God he's left hat for me. I call him, and I am so upset - "Hi, M, everything is fine --er, well everything was going just fine and then I let the dogs out...um, B and R are missing - I let them out and they're gone, I am ...Amanda, I hear him say, "Remember our at our first meeting? Remember what I told you?
"Oh," details now coming back - slowly, yes, now I remembered.
"Remember how I told you, they are escape artists? No worries, they'll be back. Carry on, don't worry about it." Wow, what a relief, I say, to him, "ok, thanks, I'll carry on." Details are fuzzy, I think they showed up at the door before I left or I just left and hoped they would be waiting for him when he go home. This initial "clean" was a true indicator of what was in store for me over the next year while I worked therer - really, the note should have sent off alarm bells and me being me, completely ignored them.
In the year that I worked for this single Dad and his 2 kids, I cleaned up dog feces, cleaned out his fridge regularly, pulled apart his entire kitchen, chucked out old food and cleaned tons of dirty dishes, did the laundry, took down his Christmas tree, taped up wholes under the sink so that the mice couldn't get back in, yes, you heard that right. I vacuumed up mice poo too! By now your'e thinking, I am not only NOT the sharpest tool in the shed, I must be "dullest". Seriously, back then I wasn't familiar with Google - and blogging, I wish that I had been because I would have typed in keyword search: What is expected from professional cleaning agencies?" I didn't do any kind of research as to what the general expectations were - I did work for local private cleaning lady for about 6 months before forging out on my own - when I took on this man, I did the things I was expected to do with her company and that was fine, but most of the houses we cleaned were nowhere near this type of "messy".
I stayed with this client for about a year and a half - I was exhausted after cleaning his place and by the end I had had enough. Leaving broken beer bottles on the basement floor was truly a lack of respect - you'd think the dog poo and the pee would have been the deal breaker for me, but it was the broken glass that truly "did it". I liked the dogs, I had a cat so I wasn't too grossed out, but the glass? He couldn't really control the dogs behaviour they did stuff when he wasn't home, but he definitely could have had the courtesy to clean up the glass. If I had been smarter and less kind, I would have left this stuff for him to do - its hard because you're not sure what you're expected to cover and I needed the money too - I didn't want an unhappy client. I have since researched cleaning websites with information on how much to do, what not to do and what you can tolerate and how to deal with client's in general.
I would suggest that anyone cleaning houses go into any meeting with a client with a clear view of what you are able to offer and where you draw the line with some tasks. Some things are simply the owner's responsibility, not yours. Since working for him, I leave the poo, I don't do laundry, and I don't deal with dead animals or mice droppings. Handling things like that are unsanitary. Unless you are deemed disaster relief, these things are in that category - hasmat suits, N95 mask, face guards are the type of equipment to deal with that sort of thing. I have had client's who have poorly cleaned up after a sick child and some that don't bat an eye when it comes to people puke - personally, I don't think its your job to clean up after people when they are sick - it too is unsanitary - truthfully, if the client really cares for you, they would never let you cover that kind of material. However, messy toilets, well that's part of the job.
Just filling you in on my first experience with a client that required alot of time and care and certainly hadn't an ounce of respect for the people that kept his home. The nasty note from his former house cleaners - now I understood why they dropped him. I felt they did the right thing by saying good bye - at least they respected themselves and knew when to quit. Can't say that for me - but in some ways, it was a good eye-opener and I stayed because I felt his daughter would benefit by company when she got home after school every Monday. (That's another story) When she left for postsecondary, that was when I said good-bye. Today, if I had a similar client, he/she wouldn't last past the first visit....just saying:)
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