Already Clean – Why Did You Hire Me?

The Ask a House Cleaner Show and Podcast with Angela Brown

Already clean! So why did you hire me? It's perplexing when you arrive to clean and there is no dust, no cobwebs, and no clutter. Everything is already clean. Now what? Today on #AskaHouseCleaner we look at why did they hire you? Your house cleaning training says wipe everything down. (And other tips for cleaning already clean homes.) Still, Angela Brown, The House Cleaning Guru says maid service is more about the service than just being a maid. Sometimes being a savvy cleaner is about caring for a slob. Sometimes is hanging out when customers are lonely. Or just want to brag they have a cleaning service.

Already clean! So why did you hire me? It’s perplexing when you arrive to clean and there is no dust, no cobwebs, and no clutter. Everything is already clean. Now what?

Today on Ask a House Cleaner we look at why did they hire you? Your house cleaning training says wipe everything down. (And other tips for cleaning already clean homes.)

Still, Angela Brown, The House Cleaning Guru says maid service is more about the service than just being a maid.

Sometimes being a savvy cleaner is about caring for a slob. Sometimes is hanging out when customers are lonely. Or just want to brag they have a cleaning service.

Listen: Already Clean – Why Did You Hire Me?

Watch: Already Clean – Why Did You Hire Me?

Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer.

Question: Already Clean – Why Did You Hire Me?

Today’s question comes from a woman who wants to know “What do I do when I get to a customer’s house and the house is immaculate? There is nothing for me to clean.”

Answer: Already Clean – Why Did You Hire Me?

I love that question because you know what? There are houses that you’re going to go clean, and when you get there they’re already clean.

The person that lives there has been cleaning all week. So, why did they hire you?

Bragging Rights

A lot of times they hired you because they want to tell people that they have a house cleaner. Yes, it’s a little bit odd, because they will do all the work for you. But they love to brag to their friends “Oh yeah, my cleaning lady’s coming…” And they make a big deal about it. Like having a maid is a badge of honor.

So why are you there? Are you there to actually clean? Just ask them.

“Hey, everything looks clean. I just did an inspection of your home and everything is tidy. Do you want me to run over it again and wipe everything down? Or is there something specific you would like me to do?”

What’s The Real Reason They Hired You?

There was one woman whose house was amazing it never needed anything when I got there. But one day she said “You know I’m really embarrassed I have this hot pocket of clutter.

I can’t bring myself to clean it because it’s, well, it’s sad.”

And the sad part of it was her husband had passed away about 14 years before and he was a slob. She had just closed the door of this one room of her house and everything was exactly as it had been.

And though the rest of her entire house was immaculate she had just closed this door and had never gone in that room.

There were cobwebs. And there was dust. And there were clothes like he had just taken the clothes off and left them on the floor.

There were clothes on the floor, there were shoes, I mean it just looked like a teenage kid lived there.

Take The Reasons Seriously – Your Clients Do

And there was paper and gum wrappers and just garbage.
And I was like “Wow. This room does not belong in this house.” It was it was a weird disconnect.

She hired me under the guise of telling her neighbors she had a housekeeper. Although, she did all the work herself.

And she was hoping somehow, I would discover this room. Hoping at some point, we would have a conversation about how to go about dealing with that stuff.

And so, what you have to realize is when you run into a home that has a hot pocket, you have to deal with it on an emotional level.

All this lady’s memories of her husband and the way that he lived, and his behavior, were wrapped up in this room, that she had been avoiding. She did she did not want to deal with this room.

How Can You Serve Your Client?

So why are you there? Do your best to find out. I’ve had customers over the years that just wanted company. They wanted my car to sit out on the street so that all the neighbors knew they had a house cleaning lady. But inside we were drinking tea and just visiting.

One customer had nothing for me to do. She didn’t want me to clean when I came.
So there are customers like that. And if people are lonely, and you’re paid by the hour…

Just make sure it’s ethical, and it’s legitimate, and there’s nothing weird going on. Don’t put yourself in a compromising situation.

Then there are other customers whose house is already clean. Except they don’t clean toilets.

Some Clients Are Just Trying To Help You Out

And we had one customer that just hired us to come in and clean the toilets. I’m not kidding. “Come in and clean the toilets.” And she paid us for 4-hours’ worth of time.

So, we would look for things. Can we defrost the freezers? How about we clean out the pantry? Can we organize cupboards? Can we anything – to keep busy?

Just so that we could keep coming back. Because she was a regular paying customer. And she was amazing. Paying and paying tips and she appreciated us and made our job fun. But we were looking for things to do.

Not All Customers Are Like That

There are some customers that you’re going to go in and you’re going to go “Oh, my goodness. Just tidy up before I get here please.” But there are some customers that yeah when you get there it’s going to be immaculate.

So just be upfront. Just be upfront with the customer and say “Man, you did an amazing job. It looks awesome. What did you want me to do?”

Okay, so that’s my tip for today.

Until I see you again, leave the world a cleaner place than you found it.

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