Housecleaners are intimidating!!

Throughout the last 15 years, I have run into many different house cleaners from many different countries and I have to say that I have had a different experience with each one!  We have scared each other not knowing that the other was going to be there.  I hate to startle anyone and I usually try to just avoid them when I know that they are there, however sometimes due to the timing of visits, contact is unavoidable.

Many of them are from another country and either very sweet and apologetic or they are militant and angry that I am in their way. There is one lady (I think she is Polish) who cleans a few houses that I work for and she does an amazing job.  Although she has a sweet side, she is all business and very stern.  My last interaction with her was during our last snowstorm.  I walked in the door and we locked eyes.  She had just mopped the floors and glared at my dirty boots.  I quickly took them off and proceeded to do my "cat duties."    She called me upstairs to yell at me for the cats "going" on the bed in the master bedroom.  She just kept yelling, "Look!  Cat's go here! Ugh!  All over! You need to close door!" I told her that the cat just had a hairball on the bed, the cat did not go to the bathroom.  She did not believe me, so I showed her and smelled it.  Told her (with the universal sign for throwing up) that is wasn't urine.

I cleaned what I could, but washing bedspreads/sheets is not in my job description.  Especially for a hairball. Also, I leave the house as I find it.  If doors are closed, I leave them closed.  I don't take it upon myself to close doors that are normally open just because the cleaning lady told me to (even is she scares me a little)

Then there are the cleaning ladies that LOVE to chat.  They ask overly personal questions about my life and job and seem to lack every boundary known to man.  Are you married? How much do you make? How did you decide to do this? Is it good money? ( etc....)  Sometimes my client will warm me ahead of time and tell me to avoid their house between certain hours because their cleaning person is chatty.

After dealing with one of the chatty ones recently, I was annoyed and exhausted and ended up bumping into another one at a different apartment.  She was shocked to see me, asked if the owner was away and I said yes and told her how long I should be there.  She stopped, looked at me dead in the eye, and with a very serious voice (with a heavy accent) she said, "Your job.  Is none of my business."     Well it's about time!!!  I so appreciated that!  I feel the same way about hers! You do your thing, I do mine, and we are like 2 ships passing in the house.

Just another tidbit of the various obstacles I have to deal with doing what I do.

Lost a dog this week :(

One of my long time clients was put to sleep this week.  She was having GI problems for a bit and was rushed to the ER a few nights ago.  As it turns out she had a cancerous mass and was put to sleep.  She was a love - and I knew her well because I did many overnights with her. She would wake me up at 6 am with a freezing cold wet nose on my elbow to get me to let her out.  We would watch TV, we would collect shoes (she was a shoe hoarder), and once we went to the ER because she found a bag of baking chocolate and ate it all.  I tried to induce vomiting at home and she seemed to stomach the peroxide quite well. We had good times and she was nothing but a gentle sweetheart who just wanted love. The cat stole her bed on a regular basis and instead of fighting she just slept elsewhere. She will be greatly missed.  R.I.P. Bella