We can agree that last week’s Monday was hell on ice. There were a lot of people unable to turn up to their jobs while central London tried to manage the biggest weather crisis for a long time.
But, at http://www.amycleaning.co.uk we were more than lucky! Despite the snow and cold we manage to get on our door some brave applicants trying to apply for a domestic cleaning job!
We didn’t take them on board due to their cleaning skills, and they melted down as the days went by…
On the first part of these articles regarding Non Verbal Communication we spoke about the first impression when you meet your domestic cleaner for the first time. On this article, let us explain you what happen when you are interviewing your potential cleaner.
There has been a unanimous agreement between different psychologists regarding the perception of a person’s message. Basically, professionals consider that 55% of what we perceive when someone is talking to us is visual (that is body language), 38% is vocal (that is how the person sounds) and 7% is verbal (that is what the speaker is actually saying).
Everyone can do the maths on this matter: what someone is saying is not as important as how they say it. Do you remember that situation when you asked a friend that was crying if everything was ok and they just said “fine”? You didn’t believe them, did you? So keep reading and you will find some very useful tips on how to listen to your domestic cleaner and how much you can believe what she says!
There are some basic aspects of body language that you will need to check when interviewing your potential domestic cleaner:
· Eye contact: Maintaining good eye contact shows respect and interest. If your future cleaner is looking at you without a blink or not at all, then you have something to worry about.
· Arms: Extrovert people tend to use their arms very often, contrary to shy people. That is fine; the only thing you will need to check is if the potential cleaner has her arms crossed on her chest or has her hands on her hips as it is a very defensive and aggressive posture.
· Legs: We know that we tend to move our legs a lot when nervous, and most probably your new domestic cleaner will be like a jelly on her first day, so be kind on this one. Anyway, if she is sitting with her legs crossed or her foot is kicking slightly, in general terms it will mean that she is bored.
· Hands: They can say a lot, but again, there are many different gestures and culture differences may change meanings drastically. Generally, someone with their palms up is seen as open, friendly and sincere. Someone tapping their fingers will most probably be impatient. And someone biting their nails will imply insecurity or nervousness.
· Distance from others: Too close to you and you will see your cleaner as pushy; too far and you will consider her not to be interested. As with the hand gestures culture difference play a big part on this. Generally Latin cleaners will tend to get closer to you and Asian cleaners will tend to maintain a larger space between you.
Other gestures that you may have seen:
· If your potential cleaner puts her hand on the cheek, most probably she will be evaluating something or thinking about something.
· If she touches or rubs her nose, the meaning is clear: rejection, doubt or lying.
· Is she fondling her hair? It usually is a lack of self-confidence or insecurity.
· If she quickly tilts her head that means interest in what you are saying.
There are thousands of different gestures that will tell you a lot about your domestic cleaner. You will not be an expert on the field on your first interview, but do not give up and keep trying!
It has been said by some professionals that it usually takes about two minutes to create an opinion on someone. Others rebate this by saying 30 seconds. Actually, there are others saying that you only need 2 seconds to get an opinion on someone! You know now that, what it takes you to open your front door to meet your new cleaner would be more than enough to decide if you really like her or not.
As psychologists say, we humans are confronted on a daily basis with complicated situations, or maybe we are forced to decode important information quite quickly. On these cases, without even knowing it, we tend to our beliefs, values and attitudes to make a decision or create an opinion on the matter.
It is part of our nature. I suppose it is our animal instinct; we need to protect ourselves. But this natural reaction can have big implications on the way we communicate or relate to others. Imagine your first meeting: You open the door to your new long waited domestic cleaner and… you don’t like her, you just don’t like her! But still you need to give her a chance, let her in, do the interview and hopefully change your mind about her. There is only one problem: it is extremely difficult to change your feelings once you already made up your mind about your domestic cleaner.
These unconscious judgments that we make can be very tricky. On one hand, this “ability” (let’s call it this way) can bring on us our worst prejudices which will stop us from interviewing our prospective domestic cleaner appropriately. On the other hand, it can save our lives.
Now that you have this information, use it to your advantage! We know that there will be situations where our most hidden part of our minds will work by itself to create a general idea of our new cleaner when we meet her for the first time. At http://www.amycleaning.co.uk we consider important to try and force yourself not to react instinctively by creating a structured interview, writing down your possible questions in advance. It will help you a lot to get a better idea about the experience, skills and attitude of the domestic cleaner.
Which chemicals can you use when having pets at home? Is there any household chemical that can cause damage to your pet?
We surely know of a lot of people that have cats or dogs or other pets at home. Maybe even you have one! We always need to be worried about the chemicals that we purchased to minimize the danger around our house when having our loving pets around.
It is true that any chemical that you may have in your household could be extremely toxic, not only to animals but to us as well. But it all depends on how we make use of them.
Let us see some chemicals that could be a potential danger for your pets:
1-Pine oil based products: It is well known that cats are very sensitive to phenol based products. So before buying any disinfectant double check the label to make sure there will be no harm.
2-Pest sprays: It takes only a mouse to touch the still wet spray and your cat to catch the mouse to have a serious accident. Make sure that when you use this sprays, you wait until it is dry to let your cat into the room.
3-Chlorine bleach based toilet cleaner: We know that a strong chemical will be great to clean the lime scale on the toilet. But if your dog is used to drink on the toilet bowl from time to time, this kind of chemicals can caused him really strong stomach-aches and diarrhea. The same will happen if you use toilet cleaning tablets.
4-Carpet deodorizer: It is fine to use it, as long as you keep your pet away from the room until it gets dry.
5-Febreeze: There have been a lot of rumors about this product. A lot of people will agree that this chemical can cause serious illnesses to our pets, from liver problems to even death. But nothing has been proofed yet, and still there are many veterinaries that do not consider Febreeze stronger than any other household chemicals. On this one, I leave the decision with you. I do not consider myself a “green” person but I always thought that opening the windows is better than using chemicals to hide unwanted odors…
You can see from this small list that it could be very easy to put the health of our pets in danger without even being aware of it. How can we change this? Well, the key to success in this matter is to read and follow the labels for proper use. Every chemical is a potential danger if we do not follow instructions of use.
– I cannot think of cleaning the bathroom when I wake up on a Saturday morning.
-I do not know the difference between a polisher and a hair spray.
-My job and work projects are “eating” most of my time away.
-I have spare time to go shopping, to do some sports, to walk the dog… but not to clean the house!
-My back is aching so much that I have no strength to hold the hoover properly (I call it health problems!).
-I can consider myself a great professional… but, honestly, a really bad cleaner.
-I stand in front of the dirty oven and there are voices inside my head telling me to run away as quickly as possible.
-I spent the whole weekend doing an “after-party cleaning” while taking paracetamol every two hours to stop my hang-over getting worst.
-I realize that the dust in the sofa is not part of a new trendy decoration.
-I cannot see the difference between a white tile and a black tile.
-after 6 months and 17569 sneezes I convinced myself that I do not have flu but dust allergy.
We have finished with our Christmas season and we are back to normal life. It is now when we realize that having a 10kg turkey and roasted vegetables and pudding and ice cream… has paid off, not only on us but on our kitchen also!
Do not worry! Doing a deep clean of the kitchen after your Christmas fun it is not at all difficult.
First of all, make sure you have everything that you need, chemicals, cloths and so on. Have them ready on top of the table, so you do not waste time looking for the oven cleaner when you are half way through the cleaning process.
Secondly, make a list of what you have to do. This way you can make sure that you tick all the boxes when you finish your job.
When you think about doing a deep clean it is important that you think “top to bottom” and “left to right”. This means that you will need to start, for example, dusting the ceiling and will need to finish moping the floor. If you follow a structured work, it will be easier and quicker to finish with the cleaning.
Here is a check list to help you with your deep cleaning:
This list can be longer if your kitchen needs it. Be flexible with it and feel free to add new tasks, such as deep clean of the fan, if you feel strong enough!
The last advice we can give you: Get your music up! Listening to your favorite songs while you clean will put you in the mood and the time will pass by.
Here you can find some advise on the necessary chemicals and utensils to have in your house for the weekly cleaning. Whether it is your domestic cleaner or yourself doing the house work, there are always some essential tools to get the best results.
We can make a difference between “the essentials” and “the advance option”, depending on your preferences. If you are not a cleaning maniac and consider other parts of your life more important than having your silver cleaned every week, then the “essentials list” would be enough for you. If, on the other hand, you take care of your house as if it was a golden chamber, then it would be better to add some extra chemicals/tools that will add up sparkle to your cleaning life.
Let’s go with the “essentials list” first:
What about the “Deluxe” list? Apart from the chemicals and utensils listed above you will need to add this ones:
Every house is different and people’s preferences change with time, so do not take this lists as a must have. It is always advisable to share the list with your domestic cleaner and see if she is comfortable with the list.
Here are some excellent tips on what to do if you are having problems with your cleaner
“The house does not look clean when I return home; I think my cleaner is not doing her job properly”.
If you are in this situation, first speak to the cleaner to raise your concerns, try to understand and get an explanation from her of why she is not able to do a professional job.
Normally your cleaner will give you great information and the problem is easily solved. However if not, speak to your agency, for example http://www.amycleaning.co.uk have a group of professionals able to re-train or coach your domestic cleaner to improve her job.
“My domestic cleaner does not pay attention to detail; she always forgets to hover underneath the bed and sofa”
Before you rush to blame your domestic cleaner for the state of your house when you return from work, ask yourself some questions:
Sometimes your domestic cleaner can struggle with the hours and the amount of work that she has in your house. All cleaners, even the best ones, will find it difficult to finish on time and do a good cleaning on the first visit.
Very often we find that the cleaner is spending a lot of their time doing something that is not important to that specific customer. This is often something that one of their other customers wants, but you do not feel is important. Once they do this task less often, then they have time to do what you actually want.
For example your cleaner may be deep cleaning your oven on every visit, when actually you only want it done once per month. this change means they now have lots of time to iron all your shirts.
If this “soft” approach does not work, call the agency to explain them the situation.
“She keeps re-organising my stuff!”
You will need to do some preventive work on this one. Speak with your domestic cleaner on the first visit to establish some rules: “if you find something underneath the bed, put it on top”; “if there is any paper/documents on the desk, leave them on the same place”; “dust the shelves in the bathroom but leave bottles on the same place”;…
Each customer will have different requirements on this issue and without communication the cleaner has to guess which one you like, sadly the odds are never high on guessing what you like.
“The watch has disappear from my room”
There is never an excuse for theft. If you use a good agency that has vetted your cleaner then this is not something that happens. This usually happens when someone has hired a house cleaner from an ad in a newsagent window and has not taken the time to vet them properly.
This is a concerning issue though and an event like this is very distressful.
If you are thinking of hiring a domestic cleaner then it is always right to minimize temptations. It is not nice for the cleaner if there is money, expensive jewellery and other things about.
Do not leave your valuables on sight. It is not about not trusting your cleaner, but trying to avoid temptation.
If you already have a domestic cleaner and suspect that she has taken something, make a list of everything that have gone missing and contact the domestic cleaning agency in case you hired the cleaner through them.
However do always be careful to check things out first, as most accusations are later followed by the client finding the item in an unexpected place.
“It is impossible to speak with my cleaner, she does not speak English and she does not understand me!”
It will not take too much time until your domestic cleaner starts having good level of English. Meanwhile, just make sure that you leave a note for her with the tasks that you require for the day; always write short sentences that would be easier to understand.
It is far easier for a cleaner to read and write things as they can do this at their own speed. This is because with verbal communication the cleaner has to keep up with the speed of hearing what is being said and giving a prompt verbal response.
Generally domestic cleaners with not a lot of English knowledge tend to have strong domestic cleaning skills; they know they need to give their best on their job as they have no possibility of finding work on any other sector where English is required.
“I have lost so many days off work! My domestic cleaner is never on time!”
Prevention is essential on these situations. When you first meet your domestic cleaner make it clear that time keeping is essential for you, that you will not tolerate any unexcused absence.
If there are any issues, it is always best not to ‘tell your cleaner off’, just express that regrettably you are not able to work with them if this issue happens again. There is no need for conflict, it is simply that you are not able to wait around as you have other things to do.
If your domestic cleaner is still arriving late to the appointments, you may need to think about changing the cleaner if you hired her directly. If you use a domestic cleaner through a house cleaning agency, it is even easier to change your current cleaner for a more reliable one.
After a lot of hard work we can announce the launch of the Online Cancellation service on http://www.amycleaning.co.uk, effective from today.
Amy Cleaning website has been updated with new and useful services to make your life easier. No more paper work needed!; the cancellation process will be available from the website with easy to follow steps, so your cancellation notice can reach us promptly and we will be able to deal with your requests on a more efficient manner.
We know that customers’ feedback is essential to improve our service. We hope that the changes made to the cancellation service will benefit them well.
“The first cleaning went great, my cleaner managed to do the laundry, iron, dust, hover, mop, tidy up, and do the washing up in just 2 hours! Two weeks later she is missing things to do, she is just a lazy girl that speaks no English and doesn’t understand me!”. How many times we have heard of situations like this one! It is very easy for someone to go from a positive feedback to a negative feedback, sometimes without thinking why the cleaners have changed their behaviour (if they have at all!).
Having a cleaner is a choice. Most people would be able to do the house cores if they needed to. The problem comes when, after making the choice, customers seem not to like the arrangement very much. Why that happens?
On one hand we have customers keeping their cleaners for years, constantly praising their job. On the other hand we have people who seem to be upset with their domestic cleaners; they criticize their job and would get rid of them as quickly as possible.
These latter employers find it difficult to communicate with their domestic cleaners and therefore they are not able to maintain a positive and professional relationship with them.
We cannot say that communication is easy, especially when we talk about a stranger going into your house to clean your pants on a weekly basis. We know that it could be an uncomfortable situation. At the end of the day, your domestic cleaner knows exactly where your personal valuables are kept, who leaves the dirty socks on the living room floor or whether anyone in the house ever cleans the toilet. So we can say that the domestic cleaner can reach a level of intimacy with your house that not even your best friend (or mother) can achieve. But, knowing every single detail about your house does not mean that the intimacy is at the same level with the members of the family. It is not at all. Your cleaner will know for how long you keep the milk on the fridge but will know almost nothing about you.
If you want to have a productive relationship with your domestic cleaner it is important to acknowledge the importance of open communication. Of course, you will not need to sit down with her over a cup of tea to talk about family and life in general; you will just need to be open and understandable. Let us see some tips:
1. Explain your domestic cleaner what is expected from her; what you consider more important; what you are looking for in her. It is the only way for your domestic cleaner to know if she is doing the right thing. This will boost her confidence and most probably her cleaning standards as a consequence.
2. Write everything down. If you want your cleaner to concentrate one day on the windows instead of the mopping, write it on a piece of paper with clear hand writing. Even if she does not understand a word she will check it on her dictionary or call the domestic cleaning agency to ask for help.
3. Do not shout. You do not need to raise your voice to make yourself understood. Speaking basic English does not mean that your domestic cleaner is deaf.
4. Use simple sentences. Most of the domestic cleaners are not native English speakers; but although they have good level of English they may not understand specific comments or made up phrases, or even a joke (remember that language is more about culture than grammar).
5. Praise her job. If she has done a great job or an extra task that was not expected, let her know.
6. Raise your concerns. If there is anything that she needs to improve or you are not happy with, speak with her. If your domestic cleaner does not receive any complain she will assume that her cleaning is up to standards.
7. Listen to your domestic cleaner. It is true that some people may have been on a situation where their cleaner has tried to get advantage of the situation and she has asked for extra time or more money. But most of the domestic cleaners are honest people who try to earn their living. If your cleaner thinks that the deep clean of the oven will take longer than usual, the chances are that this may be true.
8. Be polite at all times. She may be doing a job that you do not want to do but any domestic cleaner will be glad to hear a “thank you” or “please” from her customers. The same as you usually do with your friend or boss.
At http://www.amycleaning.co.uk we receive a lot of feedback from our customers. The tendency is that, although it is important for the domestic cleaner to be a good cleaner, customers tend to consider on a higher level qualities such as trustworthiness, reliability and politeness. This could explain why some customers decide to change their cleaner just because they do not feel comfortable with her as a person.
If we manage to listen and understand our domestic cleaner as well as appreciate the job that they do on our houses we will have given the first step towards a more effective relationship with her.
