A rose by any other name?
Posted 09-10-09 at 07:19 by Mrs Kay
One day I will look like a Hollywood heroine when I cry, and not like a ribena berry. Today is not that day.
Yesterday I have mostly been bawling my eyes out. True, proper, honest to goodness blubbing. Bordering on hysteria at one point.
Why? You might well ask.
For the last couple of years or so we've had the most brilliant cleaning lady. Let's call her Jane. Jane has looked after our little cat when we've gone away, mowed the lawn when it looked a bit long, weeded the garden etc. Generally been a good egg.
She and her husband have a business in the village which could do with a bit of a boost so I introduced her to the idea of networking, and took her along with me to show her the ropes.
They also decided to exhibit at the local county show. I did this last year and I was knackered at the end of it - it's blimmin hard work! I made them Boeuf Bourgignone ready for when they got home after the first day and gave them a bottle of wine to go with it.
I also lent them a cool box, ice blocks and bottles of water telling them they would need to keep hydrated from all that talking to punters.
She didn't show up for work yesterday morning, so I rang to see if she was ok. Imagine my surprise when I received a torrent of abuse from her.
"I'm NEVER coming back, NEVER"
What in god's name had I done to upset her?
Well, apparently, because I refer to her as Jane, my cleaner, she has taken umbrage. "I've never been called a c-leaner, and I don't need to take this shit from you, or from anyone else!"
She had discussed this with her husband who had pronounced "FFFFFFuck her, we don't need her business!"
She had also spoken with one of her other clients who had decided that I must have quite a problem if I needed to "big" myself up about having a cleaner.
See, here's the thing.
I advertised for a cleaner.
I pay her to clean.
She cleans my house.
Is she not a cleaner?
She carried on with her rant.
I pay my own national insurance and tax [not sure how this is relevant, but then I'm blonde; you can forgive me for that]
I'm SO much more than a c-leaner. I'm thorough and conscientious and I do a very good job.
You never miss an opportunity to tell people that I'm a c-leaner. [she didn't mention that I never miss an opportunity to tell people how brilliant she is]
And on and on and on.
By now I was making a fool of myself trying to tell her how sorry I was to have upset her, but she was having none of it. She hung up on me.
I was struggling to breathe at this point and I had a client in less than an hour.
I rang my friend Jan who was over like a shot.
I went to the local florist and bought Jane a large, fragrant bouquet of flowers to salve my conscience a tad.
I saw my client (a little old lady who I picked up and drove home afterwards), and then blubbed all over Jan.
She listened, took in what I had to say, and then stated:
"This is nothing to do with you, lynne, this is Jane's problem. She clearly has a problem with being a cleaner, and something else has gone on in her life and you've copped for it."
And that seemed to be the tone of people's opinion on the situation.
But still I am mortified.
I wonder what she would have liked me to call her? My dentist? Gynaecologist? Clairvoyant?
In two years she has never mentioned that she is offended by the moniker "cleaner", and despite my many futile attempts I'm crap at mind reading.
I hate the thought that she's out there, furious with me, swearing about me, hating me.
Yesterday I have mostly been bawling my eyes out. True, proper, honest to goodness blubbing. Bordering on hysteria at one point.
Why? You might well ask.
For the last couple of years or so we've had the most brilliant cleaning lady. Let's call her Jane. Jane has looked after our little cat when we've gone away, mowed the lawn when it looked a bit long, weeded the garden etc. Generally been a good egg.
She and her husband have a business in the village which could do with a bit of a boost so I introduced her to the idea of networking, and took her along with me to show her the ropes.
They also decided to exhibit at the local county show. I did this last year and I was knackered at the end of it - it's blimmin hard work! I made them Boeuf Bourgignone ready for when they got home after the first day and gave them a bottle of wine to go with it.
I also lent them a cool box, ice blocks and bottles of water telling them they would need to keep hydrated from all that talking to punters.
She didn't show up for work yesterday morning, so I rang to see if she was ok. Imagine my surprise when I received a torrent of abuse from her.
"I'm NEVER coming back, NEVER"
What in god's name had I done to upset her?
Well, apparently, because I refer to her as Jane, my cleaner, she has taken umbrage. "I've never been called a c-leaner, and I don't need to take this shit from you, or from anyone else!"
She had discussed this with her husband who had pronounced "FFFFFFuck her, we don't need her business!"
She had also spoken with one of her other clients who had decided that I must have quite a problem if I needed to "big" myself up about having a cleaner.
See, here's the thing.
I advertised for a cleaner.
I pay her to clean.
She cleans my house.
Is she not a cleaner?
She carried on with her rant.
I pay my own national insurance and tax [not sure how this is relevant, but then I'm blonde; you can forgive me for that]
I'm SO much more than a c-leaner. I'm thorough and conscientious and I do a very good job.
You never miss an opportunity to tell people that I'm a c-leaner. [she didn't mention that I never miss an opportunity to tell people how brilliant she is]
And on and on and on.
By now I was making a fool of myself trying to tell her how sorry I was to have upset her, but she was having none of it. She hung up on me.
I was struggling to breathe at this point and I had a client in less than an hour.
I rang my friend Jan who was over like a shot.
I went to the local florist and bought Jane a large, fragrant bouquet of flowers to salve my conscience a tad.
I saw my client (a little old lady who I picked up and drove home afterwards), and then blubbed all over Jan.
She listened, took in what I had to say, and then stated:
"This is nothing to do with you, lynne, this is Jane's problem. She clearly has a problem with being a cleaner, and something else has gone on in her life and you've copped for it."
And that seemed to be the tone of people's opinion on the situation.
But still I am mortified.
I wonder what she would have liked me to call her? My dentist? Gynaecologist? Clairvoyant?
In two years she has never mentioned that she is offended by the moniker "cleaner", and despite my many futile attempts I'm crap at mind reading.
I hate the thought that she's out there, furious with me, swearing about me, hating me.
Total Comments 3
Comments
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Sorry to hear you are upset.
May I ask what the business is with her and her husband? Is it a cleaning business or something else? Maybe she preferred the term "domestic help"? Maybe after two years of being in your service she would hope you didn't refer to her as "Jane, your cleaner" to everyone? If the business is something else and the cleaning just a bit extra on the side, maybe she'd rather be known as that. Or maybe it's a cleaning business and she's technically the boss, so she's the "owner of a cleaning business" rather than "just a cleaner".
Am afraid titles often mean things to people, and some, no matter whether you care about what job you do or not, make you sound like you are doing a lesser job than you are.
I'm guessing you wouldn't like to have a regular client of yours introduce you everytime (after two years) as "Lynne who tends my bush/does my nails/spray tans me".
Chin up, chick, she'll calm down. xPosted 14-10-09 at 11:50 by Fallen Angel
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Her husband is an artist and they have a little gallery in the village. She's a self employed cleaner and gardener. She has no staff; it's just her. The only times I introduced her were when there were clients about and I would say "this is Jane, my fabulous cleaning lady"
It doesn't bother me when people say this is lynne who waxes my legs because that's what I do!
She hasn't even had the common courtesy to thank me for the flowers, which I find most odd and upsetting.Posted 14-10-09 at 15:58 by Mrs Kay 
- Well it's impolite of her not to even acknowledge with thanks the flowers, but she just may not want to be introduced as "Jane, my (albeit) fabulous cleaning lady" - maybe she just wanted to be introduced as Jane?
As I said, it's more her problem than yours - don't let it get to you hun xPosted 14-10-09 at 16:18 by Fallen Angel
