Rusty and I have discussed the possibility of hiring someone to professionally clean our apartment once every two weeks or so. Given our busy schedules, it makes practical sense. And I’ve had the contact information of a cleaner for about two weeks now, on recommendation of a friend - but so far I haven’t actually contacted her.
I feel weird about this. I guess the word to describe what I feel is guilt - but I’m not sure that’s the whole picture.
For one thing, at a very deep level I just balk at the thought of me hiring a cleaner. It seems absurd. That’s something rich people do.
Also, I don’t want to be contributing to, well, exploitation. It goes without saying that I would be respectful toward any cleaner we might hire, and tip well. And yet, again on a very deep level, I feel bad about it, kind of like, how dare I pay someone to do this?
But when I think about it, that second reaction isn’t exactly fair, is it? It’s along the same lines as the reaction many people have to sex workers, for example. Obviously they must be downtrodden hard-luck types who would rather be in a different line of work, but as it is they’re poor exploited victims with no choice, and no voice. And we all know how I feel about generalizations like that.
And it’s really arbitrary, when I think about it even further, because I don’t have a similar reaction to, say, yard workers. Maybe that’s because when I was growing up we hired people to do yard work sometimes? (Even though, for the most part, they were my parents’ friends.)
So, upon (over-)analysis, it seems like the first part of my guilt-like reaction is coming from a place of being low(er) class myself, and the second part might be coming from a place of relative privilege. Maybe. Does that make sense?
Thoughts, anyone?
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16 Responses to "The politics of cleaning my apartment!"
I think your concerns are completely valid and something my wife and I debated before hiring someone to clean our house last year.
In the end, we went with a ministry/faith-based company because they seemed the most sincere about treating their employees with respect and paying them a decent, livable wage.
Here’s the URL if you’re so inclined (and I realize you have someone else in mind): https://wagerevolution.net/
The BF and I have discussed having someone coming every two weeks, but I, like you, think it’s ridiculous. Are we really too busy to clean our toilets & sweep every two weeks? Really? My parents never hired a cleaner, they both worked, and I just think.. they did it with kids, why can’t we?
I don’t think that it’s so outrageous to want to hire a cleaner. Nor is the job inherently degrading. My grandmother cleaned people’s houses for over 40 years and she was proud of the work she did.
It’s not like you’re thinking about buying a slave. You’re going to hire someone to do a job for a fair wage. There’s no shame in that–on any side.
First, I would probably have the same feelings you’re having, were I in your situation.
Second, I think they’re totally ludicrous. :-)
(What did guilt ever accomplish, anyway?)
I see a few different angles here…It sounds as though the person you’re considering hiring is an individual, meaning they’re self-employed. What possible shame is there in supporting a local small business? More power to you for supporting your community. Particularly if it’s a minority-owned business. Rock on.
Regardless of if you’re looking at an individual or a large corporation, the stigma we attach to various professions is every bit as absurd as the stigma we attach to, say, pole dancing. :-) (As you, essentially, note.)
What you’re looking for is a service, just like the service you would get in a restaurant, at a hotel, on an airplane, etc. You’re not exploiting your server when you order your dinner; he/she is doing their job. Could you fix your own dinner? Sure. Do you have to every night just because you can? What a sad life that would be.
I think there is dignity in employment, regardless of what someone’s profession is. Perhaps this stems from having a father who “retired” at 45 and refused to take any sort of job that was “beneath” him, while my mom worked 14 hour days to eek out enough to pay the bills.
In my previous life, I worked with so many people in the service industry - cleaning companies, handymen, hotel staff, van drivers - and the majority of them were people who truly took pride in their work. True, some people treated them like second class citizens, including some of my former co-workers. Oddly, they had crappy working relationships with people, while I got some truly amazing service…just because I appreciated the work that people did.
It’s bullshit to think that some professions are “less” than others (and I’m not saying that YOU do, I’m saying that we do as a society). Brilliant and capable as I am, I would SUCK at cleaning houses because those are not the kinds of details I notice. Spot on the rug? What spot on the rug?
I’m gonna stop babbling cuz I feel a little incoherent, but… Throw the guilt out the window. And then pay someone to clean that window. Support your local economy. And feel good about it.
Yeah, what they said. Cleaning up after other people is a profession that you already support indirectly with almost every transaction you make. Nearly everything you buy came from a store that has workers dedicated to cleaning up after customers and employees alike. (And nearly all of them are paid less than you’ll pay a housekeeper, that’s for damn sure.)
In addition, part of the value you bring to your employer goes toward paying a staff to clean up after you at your office. And again, they probably make a lot less than the people you’d hire at home.
What jt said about professions being “less” or whatever. Discussions like this warm the capitalist cockles of my heart, because that’s what the system is all about. I don’t know how to make a pencil, but neither does anyone else. Still, people become good at something that is valuable to others, and the people on both sides of the equation profit.
That’s not necessarily the equation as I understand it. I’m not too busy to iron my shirts, but at $1.25 each to have them professionally pressed, it’s just not worth my time to do it. So I send my clothes away and I never have to iron. It’s all about trading for something of value, and I guess 3-4 bucks a day for a maid is worth more to us than having to constantly keep things clean.
I felt pretty at first weird about hiring a cleaner too. I said the same thing… That’s what other people do, not me. But in the end, it gives us an extra few hours every month to do whatever the hell we want, and our quality of life while we’re at home is improved even during the time we wouldn’t be cleaning.
Oooo. This leads right back to the “value” discussion. Heh.
Hell, y’know, I used to pay one of my roommates to do my laundry. Laundry is the bane of my existence and, by contrast, she gets a sense of accomplishment from such a simple task. I had peace of mind and she got five bucks a load. Best deal I ever made.
Let me put this as succinctly as I can. Hire the damn cleaner. Don’t feel guilty about it. Act ethically, and there’s no reason to sweat it.
I was raised solidly middle class. My mom teaches public school. I have had a cleaner all my life. First, cleaning is a job. It is not demeaning, and it need not be done at slave wages. The cleaner my parents employed until her death when I was in high school wasn’t miserable or exploited. She was poorly educated, but that’s about it.
Second, we’re all good at things, and we all can choose to spend our time doing those things that we enjoy and are good at. Cleaning is neither for me, and I don’t do it well enough to maintain the standard that I’d like to keep. Therefore I generally don’t do it other than daily activities to keep the edge off — I figure my time is better and more productively spent at other things. And I really do suck at it — it makes me unhappy and no one can tell I’ve done it, anyway.
Third, and this is a side issue, the reason I’ve had a cleaner all my life is ’cause my ‘rents believe in equality. And housework falls disproportionately on women. Not necessarily because the men are lazy (though my father was your standard busy executive when I was a kid), but because the expectations associated with cleaning fall much harder on women, as does the expectation of yielding some portion of your economic self-sufficiency to your nurturing/home-maintaining needs. So…you’re both busy, you want to maintain a certain standard, and goddammit you’re equals. Hire a cleaner.
As to your identity issues…all I can say is paragraph 1.
Thoughts, anyone?
You’re over thinking this issue.
You’re contracting for a service. It is no different from having an accountant do your taxes or a mechanic repair your car.
And think of it this way - you’re creating wealth by having the job hired out.
Also, you are going to use the same cleaner that I use and she is really good and nice and responsible, and I like to see people like that, especially those running a small business, rewarded with more business.
But this tipping thing? You’re going to tip every time? I give an extra at Christmas and if I feel like I am leaving her an especially dirty situation I usually add a fair amount into the check. But I’ve never heard of tipping on every check, am I doing something wrong?
Now you have me worried!
Amber- as someone who used to clean houses, I don’t believe you would be exploiting them unless you didn’t pay them what they were worth. I cleaned rich folks houses, and didn’t mind, because they treated me with respect and paid me well. If they didn’t I quit, and it was their loss because I had no shortage of clients. One woman even fixed me lunch so I’d sit down and talk with her. It’s all about respect. By feeling guilty for using their services, you are implying that those services are somehow demeaning. Any job well done, whether it’s cleaning houses, waiting tables, or working in a cotton mill, is a worthy job, and the person doing it will feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. No matter what the media tells us. By hiring someone to clean your apartment, you are giving them an opportunity to earn an income, rather than take a handout. That is a very good thing.
As for tipping- holidays and birthday, and if you ask them to do something out of the ordinary. Any more than that and it becomes something they have to claim on their taxes.
Thanks for the input, everyone.
Your thought struggle makes total sense; in fact, it shows your character is strong to have such a conflict. Many would not even think about the issues of class, and the struggles related to it.
I say get the cleaner. Just make sure you don’t pay too much for it, and don’t get lazy because you have one coming. I have a friend that spends about $400 a month on a cleaner because they have 3 kids; and she said it is worth every penny.
I think James and I are going to hire one sometime in the near future as well; as my doctor said, it is a small amount of money that can truly save a relationship.
Well yeah, we are not going to turn into total slobs just because we have a cleaner coming twice a month! (I think it would be impossible for me to become a slob, actually.) We’ll still do the daily “clean as you go” type stuff. I see hiring a cleaner as more of a help with tasks that don’t need to be done every day, such as cleaning the bathroom, mopping, that kind of thing.
Hire the cleaner. It’s good that you’re concerned about exploitation, but this isn’t it, if you pay fairly. Just like in the sex work example, removing a work opportunity is putting words into someone’s mouth that aren’t there. It’s very unfortunate that many wind up cleaning houses who’d rather do something else. But if these opportunities didn’t exist, that would be one less way for them to support their families. The proactive approach to concern about these issues is to donate time or $ to charities emphasizing access to educational opportunities for lower income populations. Until that situation improves, the cleaning jobs are appreciated. But not to preach — I know you know all this.
I have someone every 2 weeks, pay $100 each time and $200 on X-mas.
It’s a common dilemma for most conscientious middle-class people who just don’t have a lot of time, and I can certainly empathise very deeply with the perception that it’s an overly smug, aristocratic thing to do. And if you read about some of the experiences of professional cleaners and similar low-wage service personnel as in Nickel and Dimed the perception becomes even more acute.
I don’t have a lot of answers to offer, sadly (maybe not sadly, who knows if my answers are held in esteem). Prima facie, I cannot altogether affirm some of the robustly capitalistic perspectives on it produced above; on the other hand, how different is it, really, from say, hiring roofers or someone to build your deck? Apart from the perceived difference in required expertise and specialisation, not too much.
A friend of mine went to a load of trouble to hire a cleaner that was self-employed, uses organic/natural cleaners, and that didn’t give her feelings of ick the way you’re describing. If for whatever reason you’re not comfy with the cleaner you’ve currently found, then drop me a line and I will give you the info.
I need a cleaner. It is important to my mental health to have a clean house, and it’s bad for my mental health to feel creeped out about my own floors. I will probably continue to be too cheap. C’est la vie.
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