Have you ever ordered a cleaning service to your home? I’ve never had the opportunity.
Why not?
Not only did I not want someone else to touch my things. I was afraid of rearranging my order, after which I would never find my items again because anything that changes its place disappears from my field of vision. I was also afraid that someone would throw away some valuable keepsake, crumpled note, or read the password to my bank. They would find my underwear and sell it on the black market (ha ha). I was also worried about the cleaning agents used during the cleaning process – not everyone uses a regular cloth and a gentle sink cleaner. There are those who can use corrosive agents, after which the dirt disappears, but along with it, the protective layer of the unit, which makes it get dirty much faster afterwards. They would also photograph my house and secretly show the pictures to all our common friends. Or sell them in the future to some gossip magazines, in case I would accidentally win a lottery or if I would for any reason become famous… Or maybe… the dirt in my house is what would make me famous.
Do I really overthink it? I have no problem hitchhiking and traveling hundreds of miles with a stranger, but I have an issue with letting that stranger into my home and allowing them to rummage through my cabinets, zoom in on the dirt in my bathtub, or do my laundry.
Cleaning Conundrum
However, I realise how much time I waste cleaning. I run up and down fetching various bowls, cleaning agents, and cloths. Then I establish the order of cleaning so that in the end, the dirty cloth doesn’t touch surfaces that will come into contact with the skin. Would a hired cleaning person think about this to such an extent? Probably not. It may be that I should hire myself as a cleaner for people with OCD, who would pay extra for such precision and thoughtfulness.
I definitely don’t have an obsession with cleanliness because I can easily become clutter&dirt-blind, but somehow I break down every aspect of cleaning into its components. Until it becomes a humungous task and takes a lot of time.
So recently I thought that maybe I should try to ask someone to help me. Definitely they will do much more than me in 2-3h time. It would also spare me the exhaustion after this enormous task. And sickness, since I developed the dust allergy – and if I forget to take the antihistamine, cleaning usually makes me feel worst.
Opportunity to help
And all sudden I noticed on one of the websites that a colleague of mine is looking for a job as a cleaner or gardener. This is one of not too many people I actually trust.
The only challenge is that I’m not quite sure how to initiate the conversation. I’ve been wanting to connect with this colleague because I’ve sensed that something might be amiss. Although we’ve never had a one-on-one hangout before, I had a strange feeling last week that I should reach out and suggest meeting up. And it turns out, as usual, my intuition didn’t let me down.
But…
I just still feel weird thinking about asking this person? And what, if I will not like the effects? I have two opposite tendencies after someone did a bad job. I can ignore it or point it out. The first one usually means that we never meet again and I do not order this service anymore. The second might improve the service and strengthen my loyalty as a client. But what here? How I will tell this person in the future that now somebody else is cleaning my house? It feels like it might bring some unnecessary tension. I am also afraid that this person will become the one knowing my “all dirty secrets”, ha ha. At the same time, I would love to help this person offering them a job.
I still struggle to pay anybody to do the tasks which I could do myself. But I think tasks delegation is something what everyone should learn to do? So maybe that’s the “sign” to try it out.
Learn the lesson, Anna!
And what are your thoughts? How do you deal with that?
PS.
I tried using new technology to generate an image for this post. What AI generated really scared me, but also made me start laughing hysterically. Just look at this picture. It is a top-notch gem. Nothing looks suspicious, right?
I am sorry but… ha ha ha ha ha (…) ha ha ha! 🤣 I can’t stop starring at it and finding all creepy details.