Good Help is Hard to Find...

After the flea bonanza with the diatomaceous earth etc over the past month or so (yes, it takes that long to get rid of fleas without harsh chemicals), despite vigilant dusting of common areas, our house is covered in a fine dust. It's everywhere. I just pulled the crock pot out of the cabinet and it even had dust on it in the cabinet! It's everywhere. Did I mention that it's absolutely everywhere? My hair is finally starting to relax - I was looking like a scarecrow there for a while as it dried my hair out so much! Anyway...

A week or so ago I looked at my husband, while wiping dust off of the baking goods I was packing to take with me for Thanksgiving, and hesitantly said "It's going to take us a year to clean up all of this dust. I'm thinking about hiring someone." He responded by saying simply, "I was thinking the EXACT same thing!" So I embarked on an enlightening hiring experience...

Having asked my neighbors for a referral and getting nowhere, I decided to put an ad on Craigslist.org. Never again.

The first person that responded (and sounded good in writing) was someone whose name my husband recognized immediately... as someone he has "met professionally" more than once. (I guess this is a benefit I didn't mention in my recent post about being married to a police officer.)

The second person to reply played the "military background" card. I'm a HUGE supporter of helping veterans get back on their feet so I, of course, put him on my short list of people to check up on. It turns out that he is a Level 3 sex offender and his most recent arrest was for larceny over $250 in a nearby town -  (He's also homeless in Hyannis and it makes me wonder if I've seen him at the Salvation Army when I volunteer there...) Thank you, Google. You were very helpful in turning up this information.

The third person sounded good in writing, her one reference that I could reach gave her a glowing recommendation (perhaps it was her mother...), and when I spoke to her on the phone, she sounded professional, ambitious, and ready to work. I invited her to the house for an interview and then sat there for two hours waiting for her to arrive or call. Nada.

There were others that didn't make the short list for in-depth checking on because I looked them up quickly on Facebook or Google and quickly found things that didn't sit right - one couple said that they were "professional cleaners" and then when I found them on Facebook, there were things that indicated that they were more likely professional take-me-to-the-cleaners.

Frustrated by the process (and happy that some idiot had flagged my Craigslist ad as "inappropriate" for some unimaginable reason thereby removing it before I got more than a handful of applicants) I called A at work and asked him if he knew anyone that might clean for us.

Right now, as I write, she's here. She's a hard-working Brazilian woman that dates one of A's co-workers. (We had initially stayed away from this arrangement as we were nervous about having to potentially fire a co-worker's spouse. After the Craigslist debacle, I'd rather just deal with that if it comes up than potentially have a sex offender or heroine addict in our house. A made a good point that he'd rather "keep the money in the [police department] family anyway. He's so smart.) She came by this morning to look at the job... and came back two hours later to start! I forgot to tell her that I only use eco-friendly products so the smell coming from the bathroom is quite strong... but I'll tell her before she comes back next time and I suppose the place could use a good scrubbing now and then.

Maybe I'll get her this as a Christmas bonus. :-)

She will be back. I can tell already. We initially said that it's a one-time gig preparing for visitors over the holidays but her price was really reasonable for what she's going to do... and I will organize all day and clean as I do it but the drudgery of regularly washing the windows, baseboards, behind the furniture etc just ain't my thing.

She had the job when her eyes lit up when she said, "I LOVE to clean!" Perfect!