Archives for March, 2009
23 Mar
This question has been asked in the Finance/Credit category also. I just want to get a few more answers. Thanks again!
After being friends for about a year and a half, the place that I had been working at was going out of business. Laura knew that I wanted some kind of part time job so she asked me if I wanted to clean for her elderly parents. I had never met them nor had I been to their home at this point in time. The state pays for someone to come in and clean for a few hours a week. Since Laura and I were such good friends, I decided to take the job. Not only was I doing them a favor, but they were doing me a favor. Now I **** cleaning and wouldn’t choose this kind of job ever again. But I thought that since we were friends that it would be a better atmosphere, I guess.
Now Laura lives with her parents because after finishing college she thought it would be best if she moved back in to help with the finances of the house etc.
Anyhow, I have been cleaning their house for 2 years now, but I am really thinking about quitting. While I still consider Laura my friend and have come to think of her mother as a friend of sorts too, I am just to stressed out about cleaning their home. For starters, they have 2 big dogs that are a year old. Because Laura is at work for most of the day, her parents are in charge of taking care of the dogs. Her father uses a walker to walk and moves really slow. Her mother is a very overweight woman (at last 400 pounds). Neither of them can get the dogs out to the bathroom in time so the dogs will **** and *** in the house at times on piddle pads. Because they also have a few cats, the house smells of animal urine every single day. It’s permanently in the floorboards or something. So I need to literally hold my breath when I am there. When I come home, my husband has to hold his breath because I smell like the house. I shower right away, of course. Not only does their house smell, but they have a ton of clutter. I am paid to technically clean after Laura’s dad, however, her mother makes the list and I usually just follow them. I clean the kitchen and bathrooms, then I vacuum and dust. Typical cleaning things. The thing is, I really don’t think anyone else cleans besides me. When I am there, Laura is just coming home from work. She sits down on the couch or plays with her dogs. The most I’ve seen her do is clean up dog poo, make dinner or garden for her mother. If you saw Laura’s bedroom, you’d die. You can not see the floor. She has piles upon piles of clothing and stuff everywhere. There are cobwebs on her shelves and things on the wall. Her mother and I tried cleaning her room for her while she was away one time, but it went back to how it was before within the year. The spare room is a place to throw misc. things. Their front room has xmas gifts still in it. They haven’t found a home for them apparently. Laura has a dog crate along with 2 of those plastic dresser type things (that can be found at Walmart) full of dog stuff in the kitchen.
I’ve been asked by Laura if I could get a cobweb that she noticed or pick up this or that from the floor. I feel that if she noticed a cobweb then why didn’t she knock it down or if she needs something off the floor then why doesn’t she pick it up. I have come to the conclusion that the entire family is lazy and doesn’t want to clean a darn thing. It really frustrates me because I am supposed to be there to help an elderly person clean house. I am not there to clean the entire house while everyone else sits around and watches TV. It has come to the point where if they need something done they just ask me instead of having Laura do it. That’s how I feel at least.
Because of everything I have put up in the past 2 years, Laura and I barely hang out anymore or chit chat on the phone even. I would like our friendship to be like it was before, but the only way that can happen is if I quit this job. However, when I do quit, what should I say my reason is. I don’t want to go into this with her parents. I would rather wait until I have quit and then sit down and talk to Laura about how I feel. What do you think? If you need more info on anything, lmk.
Thank you all for your comments. Should I tell Laura eventually how I truly felt working for them (i.e. how she never does anything around the house herself and how if she had her own place she’d have to) or should I not bother?
I should also mention that the past few times I had stayed at least 10 minutes over my time limit. This means in those 10 minutes I did not get paid. The last time I was there I said I was leaving on time that day. So her mom asks me if I could clean the entire front hall. I said I had time to only mop the floor quickly where the puddle pads normally go (because I wasn’t staying later than what I got paid). She says can’t I do it out of the goodness of my heart. Ok I just gave them like 20 minutes of free cleaning last week. Plus they never tell me that I can leave early or when I’m sick to collect pay anyhow so why should I clean for free. They have Laura to do it, if they need something done, but everyone acts like Laura is soooooo busy with other things (work, church stuff, her dogs, running around doing errands). Isn’t that what adults do?
Oh and her mom will always say that we shouldn’t chit chat so I can get everything done, but then she’ll talk to me. Or she’ll give me way more things to do than the time I have to do it in.
