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Can I Fire the Maid by Text? Or Do I Need to Call?

[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1542063966245{margin: 60px !important;}”][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Can you fire the maid by text? Yes, you can. But why? Doesn’t he/she deserve a heart to heart chat? A conversation with vocal inflection and eye contact?Fire the Maid by Text mature woman sending text

Angela Brown, The House Cleaning Guru says you can fire the maid by text but something gets lost in translation.

If you’re planning to downsize or lay off the house cleaner be a grown-up. Don’t fire the maid by text. Not cool.

Today’s #AskaHouseCleaner sponsors are Savvy Cleaner (House Cleaner and Maid training.) And HouseCleaning360 (a place for house cleaners to get more leads.)

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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. You can find this and 400 other answered questions in this series on our YouTube channel.

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Question: Can I Fire the Maid by Text?

Can I fire my maid by text or do I need to do it face-to-face? That’s a great question, and we’re going to talk about that today. 

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Answer: Can I Fire the Maid by Text?

Fire the Maid by Text upset guy looking at phoneNow, today’s question is brought to us by HouseCleaning360.com. If you are about to fire your maid, you’re going to need another one. You can find another maid on HouseCleaning360.com. There are a whole bunch of resources that have people that come service the home. Whether it’s a professional organizer or somebody to help you clean out your garage. You’ll find help like this on HouseCleaning360.com

If you have not listed your business, run on over there and list your business. There are free and paid listings. It will alert people that your services are for hire.

Can I Fire the Maid by Text?

Fire the Maid by Text two women arguingOkay, well my question to you is why do you want to fire your maid? is it because something happened that you don’t want to address?
When you don’t want to meet somebody face-to-face, there’s something going on.

Now, granted there was a walkthrough at some point. They came and they did a fabulous job or they didn’t, but something happened.
And now you want to get rid of them without seeing them in person.
It’s hard to know if they insulted you or you them, either way, something is causing the angst.

You Can Fire the Maid by Text – But Why?

When you hire a maid they work in your home with you, your pets and your family. I would give them the courtesy of a face-to-face conversation.
You don’t need a step-by-step guide to fire someone. A simple “Hey, this isn’t working out, and I want to give you the reasons why” is all you need to start the conversation.

If everything was on the up and up, I would meet them face-to-face. If you just don’t like confrontation and nothing happened, you can text them. But they’re going to be scratching their heads going, “I thought we got along fine.” I don’t understand why they fired me.”

A text leaves a lot of stuff out, and I’m not a fan of texts for this reason.

Fire the Maid by Text – and the Translation Gets Skewed

Fire the Maid by Text man listening isolated sound conceptSure, they’re convenient, but you don’t get the sound of someone’s voice. If I’m joking and I say something sarcastic at you and you can see my face, you know, “Oh, she’s joking. She’s full of it,” right? But if I say the exact same words in a text, then you think, “Oh, my goodness. What did I do wrong?”
You don’t know what my face says. You don’t know the sound of my voice. Was there an inflection of like, “Hey, I’m just kidding you.” In a text, you can’t tell.

You’re Cutting Off Someone’s Income

Fire the Maid by Text woman shopping in grocery storeIf you’re firing someone, and that’s a pretty serious thing. You’re saying, “Hey, I’m cutting off your income,” and you don’t know what they used that income for. It could be that that was their car payment money to get them to the next job.
Maybe that was the grocery money that helps them pay for their kids’ food. I don’t know. But because you’re cutting off their payment, that’s a serious thing.

Don’t they deserve the real reasons why so they don’t make the same mistakes again in the future?

Do You Want to Fire the Maid by Text Because You’re Scared?

Fire the Maid by Text shy girl hiding her face isolatedIs this a personal issue with you, or are you shy or antisocial? Maybe you just don’t like confrontation, and you’re scared? Are you afraid that they may take it the wrong way or that they may cry and then you don’t know how to handle that? If yes, those are your issues, not theirs. What I recommend is something that a high school teacher recommended for me years ago.

I was shy and timid and antisocial. And I did not want to look people in the eye.
I was scared of what they were going to think of me which is human.
I’ve been this height and this weight (5 ft, 8 inches 125lbs) since I was 13. so as a teen, all my friends were tiny, and I was like this big, giant, gawky teenager.

A Worthy Challenge I’ll Pass Along

Fire the Maid by Text teacher talking to unhappy student in officeWell, what happened was there was a high school teacher that took me aside and she said, “Look. I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m going to give you a challenge. I want you to meet one new person every day. You have to go out and say hi to one new person every day. I don’t care what you say, but you need to look them in the eyes and you need to say hello and have a conversation every single day for the rest of your life.
If there are days where you don’t get to do that for whatever reason, you’re homesick, then you’ve got to make it up. One day you’ve got to meet two new people.”

I was like, “Oh, wow. Why do I have to do this?” She said, “I promise you, it will change your life.” She was right, it changed my life.

It Will Change Your Life Too

Fire the Maid by Text shy girl hiding her face isolatedThe way that I interact with people changed. I realized that people are not scary.
We are all the same and we all have the same fears and the same insecurities, and we all want acceptance by other people.
We all hate confrontation. Most people don’t like picking fights and making other people sad.
But the more you have conversations with people, and the more people you meet, the better you become at it. And the better you become, the easier it is to do.

If this is your hang-up, I’m going to ask you this. Be bold, be daring, and go to your house cleaner face-to-face.
Have a real conversation.

I Don’t Want to Let You Go But…

Fire the Maid by Text serious woman explaining somethingSay, “Listen. I don’t want to let you go, but there are some things that are just not living up to my standard of excellence. I’m sorry. I want to let you know in person. This is for future reference so it doesn’t happen again on another job.”
Give them the courtesy, a face-to-face courtesy, of telling them why you’re letting them go. It will help you both.
You will find it’s easier to do next time. And it will make it easier for you when you hire the next house cleaner or maid. You will communicate what your expectations are.

But if you don’t articulate why you’re letting them go, they’ll never know. You have not helped either one of you.

Can You Fire the Maid by Text?

Can you text? Yeah, you can. You’re a free agent. It’s your God-given right to send someone a text, but I’m going to encourage you to have the conversation. It’s not going to kill you, and it’s not going to kill your house cleaner. Although they may have hurt feelings, it’s the grown-up thing to do.

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Resources For This Episode

How to Fire an Employee: The Right Way to Terminate Someone – https://amzn.to/2MZeKN0

101 Sample Write-Ups for Documenting Employee Performance Problems: A Guide to Progressive Discipline and Termination – https://amzn.to/2Mpdyq0

Dealing with People You Can’t Stand, Revised and Expanded Third Edition: How to Bring Out the Best in People at Their Worst – https://amzn.to/2OPi1il

Motivate Like a CEO: Communicate Your Strategic Vision and Inspire People to Act!: Communicate Your Strategic Vision and Inspire People to Act! – https://amzn.to/2N5hwA4

Principles: Life and Work – https://amzn.to/2nQorSZ

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