Tuesday, April 7, 2015

The Day the Cleaning Lady Came 2/14/2015



I saw a Groupon for a cleaning service from Wildwood or within thirty miles from Wildwood, it was $69.98 for three hours of cleaning, they said it was a $300.00 value. A Groupon is a discount coupon. I had never had a cleaning service before. Since my stroke and heart attack and worsening diabetes, I don’t see that well, and my house and bathroom are not as clean as they should be. I also wanted them to clean my ceiling fans because I don’t balance that well on step stools.

I called to schedule the appointment, give my address and suggest they MapQuest the directions, my house is difficult to find. The owner with a foreign accent assures me they know where I live. I had 19 days left until expiration.

The lady I spoke to told me she would be sending two women for one and a half hours each. She asks me to make a list of things to do with my priorities. I said fine and franticly started straightening up before my appointment in two days. I have a lot of stuff. Some I took out on the porch until trash day. Christmas stuff I took upstairs to the attic. But mostly I moved stuff into my two bedrooms.

I asked that they not clean the bedrooms because now I could barely close the doors. I have too much. I looked around and thought what would I take if I had to go into witness protection? I wonder if I can get rid of things using that idea? I need to get rid of stuff.

I get a phone call from the Cleaning Lady. She is lost: she never Map Quested my address! She says I live very far from Wildwood. I guess this means one woman for three hours. I am nervous; I never had a cleaning lady before. She pulls up in a newer SUV than I have. She looks about 50 years old. I give her my list of priorities, the bathroom tub and surround to be scrubbed and the dining room, kitchen fans to be done.

She starts in the bathroom. I hear lots of banging. I am in my bedroom, working on my computer. I try not to panic. It is my nap time, and all I want to do is lie down on my bed. But can I sleep with someone cleaning my house? That would be so rude. Am I seeing the end of being able to keep up my house? I have so much stuff it is overwhelming.

I think the most difficult part of staying out of her way was not using the bathroom for three hours. Seeing my house through someone else’s eyes made me realize how tired the house looks. Detail cleaning may never be done again, but this fast surface cleaning is pretty good. I asked her about prices, but she did not know any. I wonder if I can afford it once a month. $70.00 is a lot of money to me, but $300.00 is impossible. She tells me they run specials all the time.

My niece sent me a text to see how the house cleaning went. I tell her the crystal they hid twenty years ago in my house is still missing. Although the cleaning lady did a better job than I do these days, she did not discover the hidden crystal. I made my niece laugh electronically; she said she had wanted to ask that exact question.

The cleaning lady is gone. I never understood her name because of her accent, and I asked twice. I did not tip her, was I supposed to? I find my things in different places, some things unexpectedly cleaned (my toaster oven), a pumice stick was broken (I can re-glue, but why wasn’t I told?) and things forgottenthe door jam to the outside door, no shelf was dusted taller than five feet. Only one, of the two ceiling fans in the same room, was dusted. I guess she does not do step stools either.

Yes, I need a little help.

Yes, I cannot do things I use to do. Yes, if I need to sell this house and move, I could.

But first I have to clean out my bedrooms.