There is a runaway railway carriage heading straight towards all the people you have ever known and loved, tied up on the tracks and unable to move. You are standing in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the carriage will switch to a different set of tracks where, coincidentally, your cleaner is tied up and unable to move. You have two options:
- Do nothing and allow the trolley to plough into everyone you have ever known and loved.
- Pull the lever, diverting the trolley towards your cleaner.
What would you do? Well if you work in hospitality you are going to think very hard before pulling that lever. She or he is the most important person in your life right now.
We have had a few cleaners at Dale Farm; some OK, some good, some awful, some odd and two really excellent (cleaners and human beings), you know who you are. A proper hospitality cleaner is not only incredibly hardworking, full of common sense, totally dedicated and a logistical genius, she is also a skilled person…don’t make the mistake of thinking anyone can clean. They know things we don’t. They use Henrys and proper mops, they tie bin liners in special ways. They don’t judge, they’ve seen it all, they just get on with it.
If you have a good cleaner look after her. Pay her what she asks (they are not greedy people), have proper conversations, be flexible, make sure she has a day off and a holiday, pay her a nice Christmas bonus. Because if she leaves you, you will be heartbroken.
