Authority and hypocrisy

[smokingboot]

I am feeling very uncomfortable.

My brother recently came back to the UK, and hung out at the house of course. He just sent me an email to say he thinks our cleaner's no good. As it's his house and he's paying half towards her employ, I am paying attention. His ideas of cleanliness are based on national caricatures; 6 years on the continent he is Belgian in attitude (it must be spotless) and English in application (it must be someone else's job)

It must be conceded, her work's gone downhill. She turns up late, whips around the house smartish and then goes home long before her hours are up. She turned up yesterday, one eye swollen and puffy, convinced we had arranged for her to work that day. We hadn't. She arrived today, and I gave her her money straight away. I told her that she could use our landline if she needed to make an appointment. Her doctor said she could be seen pretty much immediately, so why she couldn't have made the appoimtment before I don't understand but never mind; I let her go to the doctors, and she has come back with antibiotics for the inflammation. She has asked me if she could come back and do some of the housework next week, I have said she can do the upstairs, the study and the conservatory some other timetm. She will do the downstairs and the bathrom now, and then go home.

Why have I paid her so much this morning before she even started a job she is currently doing badly?

Because we are probably going to stop using her services and I feel guilty as hell.

Comments

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Our arrangement is that we pay her a tenner an hour, but the minimum she expects from us is £40 for 4 hours per fortnight. It used to be per week but we honestly don't have enough work for that - even now, she doesn't do 4 hours work, it's more like 2 and a half, three at the most. It's a nuisance for me because we don't leave the keys, someone needs to be in, and inevitably because I work shifts, that person is me. Traps me in the house a bit...irritating when she is late to start.

We found her via an advert in Tescos, and now we are finding out about a different cleaner via our neighbour. Fiding a decent cleaner seems to be very pot luck!