So my mom has a cleaning lady come over once a month ($70 for the day and she comes with another lady – pretty good deal). She called my ma the other day and she was pretty upset because she said she was at another house and she accidentally knocked over her Gatorade bottle and it spilled on the bed. She washed the sheets and comforter but the mattress had a red Gatorade stain. When the woman of the house came home, she flipped out starting to curse out the cleaning lady, belittle her, ridicule her, then the husband came home and he joined in on the fun. The cleaning lady offered to hire a professional mattress cleaning company to come steam, disinfect, etc. the mattress – they said no, she needs to pay $3,000 for a brand new mattress and if she can’t afford it, too bad she can take out a credit card. Now mind you, I recently bought a mattress so I know they’re expensive – but spilling juice does not warrant throw it out. I also work in the restoration industry, so a majority of my job is looking at things and deciding if they merit replacement after a disaster (fires floods mold etc), or if they can be salvaged.
Like I said I don’t know if this belongs in this sub but what made me think of you guys is the ridicule and belittling that she had to endure. I think the homeowners just figured since she was a lowly blue-collar cleaner they could just treat her however they want and she hast to take it. Oh, they also didn’t pay her or her helper for the day. I told her I would help her write up a very nice professional letter that essentially says: This was an accident and your behavior is not how you treat people. I’ll pay to have it professionally cleaned and if you don’t like that solution eat shit cause guess what there’s no agreement that say if I damage something in your house I have to fix, I’m trying to be correct and you insist on being dicks so peace. My mother and I told her not to stress and worse come to worse tell the woman see you in court and get ready for a counter-suit since you didn’t pay for the service I provided, interest will accrue as is legally allowed.
TLDR: cleaning lady spilled Gatorade on the bed, owners treated her like crap – cursing, yelling, belittling, ridiculing. Cleaning lady offered to have it professional cleaned, they said no and demanded $3,000. I told her let’s write a letter with your offer of having it professionally cleaned and if they say no too bad, see you in court. There’s no agreement, she made an effort to fix things, and they didn’t pay her for the day.