A professional cleaner has shared a surprising gripe that often leaves her clients gobsmacked.
Emily, hailing from North Yorkshire, boasts over 15 years of experience in sprucing up homes. Throughout her career, she’s encountered several annoyances when visiting clients’ abodes.
Yet, there’s one particular peeve that tends to elicit laughter when she mentions it: Emily dislikes entering a home that is “too clean”.
Speaking to the i, she said: “I really enjoy my job and when a client cleans up before I come, it takes all the fun out of it! I’m just wiping clean surfaces.
“I mumble to myself about how ridiculous I am for being annoyed at them for wasting money when they do it themselves anyway.”
Another fact that surprises Emily’s clients is learning her hourly rates.
Emily says she supplies her own cleaning materials, covers petrol expenses, and pays herself a living wage currently around £12 per hour.
Moreover, she points out that cleaners also handle tasks such as accounting, marketing, invoicing, and staying abreast of industry trends.
She explained: “Anything I earn, I have to pay tax and National Insurance from that. Some clients may be shocked when I give them a quote of £18 an hour, but I am insured, bring all my own equipment, have glowing references and have undergone a criminal records check.”
Emily disclosed she has a strict no-animals policy when it comes to her work environment, even going as far as to include it in her contracts with clients.
She explained this rule is due to previous incidents where dogs have attacked her vacuum cleaner and cats have tried to claw her.
She shared her gripes following a YouGov report that showed 17 percent of UK households employed the services of a cleaner in 2023, despite the rising cost of living. The cleaning sector reportedly contributes approximately £8bn to the British economy.
Despite the rise of “cleanfluencers” who have amassed fortunes, many standard cleaners are still battling financial hardships. According to the Low Pay Commission, an estimated 54 percent of jobs in the cleaning industry pay at or just above the minimum wage.
