With Christmas right around the corner, I get a lot of questions about Christmas presents and clients, giving and receiving. Fellow cleaning people just starting out want to know if they should give their clients presents. And the lay people, if you will, want to know if they should get their cleaning people something. Yes and yes is the short answer. Now for the long answer so I can justify devoting a whole blog post to this question.
I get every one of my clients Christmas presents. Like I’ve said before, I’ve had some of my clients for 15 years and they have developed into family of sorts. Sure, some are the kind of family that you pray not to be seated next to at the dinner table for fear they are going to blow chunks all over your award-winning ugly Christmas sweater, but family non-the-less. And I always know the perfect gift for each one. Who better to know that Midge needs a new decanter because I just cleaned up the broken one on the floor. Or that I should probably get the Bachelor some more Speedos because man, those skid marks just aren’t coming out.
That being said, if you can’t afford to buy your clients a gift, make them something. Like cookies. I’m not a fan of doing extras around the house for free, because once you open that Pandora’s box, it’s hard to close it again.
Then there are clients of the cleaning people who ask if they should get their cleaning person something, and if so, what? A resounding yes for the former, and for the latter, money. Just money. Don’t try to get fancy and think you know what they need. I guarantee you’ve never been to their house before, and if you did, you would probably question their cleaning abilities. After a 10 hour day of cleaning other people’s houses, the last thing on our mind is cleaning our own. Hey, maybe hiring us a cleaning lady would be nice.
But really, money is what all of my clients give me and what I really need. Most of us certainly are not paid enough for what we do. We have to be superhuman on a daily basis even if we were up all night with a sick toddler or the Midol hasn’t kicked in yet. If I got paid for what I’m worth, I’d be cramming my mop and broom into a Mercedes and cleaning for two hours every other day. But alas, this is not the case.
So if you are lucky enough to have a cleaning person, give them a bonus. Big or small, it all helps out in the end.
About The Cleaning Lady
I’m a professional house cleaner with 20 years of experience cleaning houses under my belt, and I’ve learned a lot about cleaning, organizing and how people react to these tasks. I’ve worked with hoarders, people will mental disorders and the young and old. What I’ve learned is everyone has different levels of “clean” and most people hate to clean. I give you cleaning and organization tips that are easy to use and don’t take all your time. And I am a fan of gadgets that will help you clean. My motto is “Clean smarter, not harder!”