Feature Image: Credit to mobile.cafemom.com[/caption]

Within the industry, we come across some rather hilarious happenings where cleaners have had to deal with the absurd, bizarre and down-right crazy. None of these stories are about our personal clients, but they tickled us and we thought we would share them to brighten your day!

Jack: ‘When cleaning a hotel, one customer informed us rather sheepishly that he had accidentally broken the toilet by ‘falling on it’ after a night out. When the cleaning team went up to inspect it, we found that it had somehow been split entirely in half! Literally, sheered! How is that even possible? It’s porcelain!’

Nick: ‘When I go round to clean one lady’s home, she always, without fail takes a shower. She’s asked me to carry on cleaning the bathroom, but her shower doesn’t even have frosted glass!’

Jimmy: ‘We once had a lady stay at our hotel who had just that day split from a long term relationship. She arrived crying and I felt sorry for her, so gave her one of our nicest rooms. After she had left, my cleaning team went up for find an assortment of bottles, including a bottle of Lambrini that had been spilt and stained the bath bright pink. They also discovered cold fish, chips and mushy peas in the covers of the bed. It was simply disgusting and took hours to clean.’

Charlotte: ‘I once had to clean someone’s room and they had lipstick on the picture-rail. I’m not sure how it got up there, but I could take a guess!’

Ray: ‘I was once asked to clean a hairdressing salon and was given a simply hand-held vacuum cleaner! I did my best, but the device burnt-out on me. In the end, I quickly nipped home and brought my own. I had to get the job done and it seemed like the only feasible way of doing it.’

Ash: ‘I once washed all of my client’s dishes when they went out shopping. I was cleaning and spotted them giving their dirty plates to the dogs to lick clean before putting them back in the cupboards. It made me feel physically sick.’

Vicky: ‘I have a big fear of spiders. I spotted a huge one crawling across the floor and freaked out. I grabbed the client’s slipper and squished it. The client ran up to the bedroom as she heard a load of screaming. I had to explain to her why her slippers were covered in squished spider. Luckily she found the whole thing very entertaining and just wiped it off with a tissue.’

Rick: I used to work in a B&B, and part of my job as the cleaning team was to check that clients hadn’t left anything in their wardrobes or drawers. At check-out time, most guests would retire to the lounge area and leave their doors open for us to start cleaning their rooms. This was all bar one lady, who was in her 70s. She thought it was hilarious to sneak into the rooms before myself and hide in the wardrobes. Although she did it each time she visited, I was somehow never prepared for it and it used to scare me rotten!

Paul: I won’t tell you too much as I don’t want to make your toes curl. I used to clean a pub during the world cup season – there I saw some real sights. Let’s just say it put nappies down the u-bend of toilets into perspective!

Nicholas: I once had a lady who was that meticulous with her cleaning that she used to supervise me whilst cleaning. I’ve always taken pride in my work, so I didn’t mind so much at first, as she could see I was doing a good job. However, after a few weeks, when she was still following me, I felt that if she couldn’t trust me and leave me to get on with my job, then I couldn’t continue working there. I cancelled the contract and haven’t looked back.

Jackie: I know that some people like to use talc when drying after the bath, but one elderly couple’s bathroom was so covered in talk, you left footprints on the floor when you walked in. It was in the shower, over their bathroom chair, mirror – even the walls! I can’t even imagine what that must be doing to their lungs on a regular basis.

Most cleaners will agree that cleaning as a profession makes for quite a rewarding career. You can see visual results of your work and take pride; however, there are days in which even the most seasoned cleaner is surprised when they walk through the door of a new contract.