Hello, my name is Henrietta Lewis, but all my friends call me Hetty. I am a senior tenancy cleaning supervisor for a London contractor, and one of my responsibilities is to manage the training of our new employees. Many people enter the industry with the notion that cleaning is inherently easy. And while I agree it is not the string theory of quantum physics or brain surgery, it still surprises the cocky and self-confident. I know it better than most – because I also had a “come to Jesus” moment at the very start of my cleaning career.
Full disclosure – I never intended cleaning to become my long-term career. But in early 2020, the Covid pandemic hit, and I lost my job in a cosy little bed-and-breakfast hotel in the Cotswolds. I had left London in my early twenties because I didn’t like the hassle of the big city, but circumstances forced me to move in temporarily with my parents in our family house in Wandsworth.
I needed to find a job – and fast! Then, fate intervened. Almost by accident, a high-school classmate posted on Facebook that her company was looking to hire new cleaners for their growing tenancy cleaning business. No previous experience was required.
“People have gone crazy because of the Covid scare!”, my friend Ellie explained. “Cleaners who have been with the company for 5-6 years or even more quit because they are afraid they will get infected on the job. At the same time, tenants all over London are downsizing and looking for smaller apartments to rent, which means the property sector is in flux. So we still have a constant stream of booking requests but a shrunk team of cleaners – not the optimal scenario.”
The job interview – if I can call it that way – lasted about five minutes. The manager was impressed that I had some cleaning experience but assured me all new employees receive extensive training and support during the first six months. “What is extensive training in cleaning supposed to be?” I thought to myself but wisely decided to bite my lip. Very soon, I would be disabused of my idea that I possessed some sort of cleaning proficiency.
To be fair, my self-confidence was not entirely baseless. I had worked in the bed and breakfast for three years and cleaned the rooms hundreds of times. I am also a very ordered person in general and like to keep my living space neat and comfortable. None of this had prepared me for the rigours and challenges of the job.
Two days after the “job interview”, I was assigned to a tenancy cleaning crew covering riverside South West London – Fulham, Putney, Wandsworth, and Battersea. It is a common practice among cleaning contractors – you learn on the job and must carry your weight as much as possible. If you are not a fast learner and don’t pick up on the stuff you see, you should probably look for another job.
Fortunately, fate intervened on my behalf once more. The team leader of our crew was an experienced cleaner named Jamie. Jamie had a no-nonsense attitude, the patience of an elephant, and the cleaning knowledge of a walking encyclopaedia. However, his most important quality was the ability to break down even the most complex task and explain it in simple terms.
So there I was, full of self-confidence, on my first real tenancy cleaning job. It was a large, three-bedroom apartment in Putney with multiple large front windows overlooking the Thames and hot water extraction for the carpets attached to the service package. “Since this is your first day, I would like you to follow me closely and observe what I do. I will delegate some tasks, but try to soak in everything you see”, instructed Jamie. I had to bite my lip really hard this time, and not to say that I was pretty good at cleaning. But hey, if all he wanted me to do were to look, I would take it as a bonus.
My illusions were shattered within five minutes. No other rookies were on the crew (also standard practice for cleaning contractors), so the other guys could work their magic without bothering me. The first thing I noticed was their speed – I think they weren’t taking a single step that was unnecessary. Every move served a purpose, they had allocated the tasks before starting, and the whole crew was operating like clockwork. And the attention to detail! Not only about the cleaning itself but how to approach each task.
“Never spray the whole window with glass cleaner, especially if it is large. Spray only the section you are about to clean immediately. Use an S motion and let the detergent do the work – you don’t have to apply extra force.”
“Do not use the same microfibre cloth for different rooms. You cannot clean in the bathroom, then move to the kitchen and use the same cloth.”
“Always start from the top of the room and move to the bottom. The rule applies especially for dusting. Never dust the bottom shelf first just because it is the easiest to reach.”
Jamie’s tips were coming fast and relentlessly like bullet tracers. But he always showed me what he meant first and always explained the reason for doing something. It wasn’t like, “You are going to do it this way because I said so” – Jamie had a talent for mentorship, and he clearly enjoyed the job.
By the end of the appointment, I had seen the light. At best, I was a talented amateur who had just witnessed a professional tour de force. And yet Jamie’s first words after we left were: “You have cleaned before, haven’t you? Most people do not pick up the little details so fast on their first run. You will be OK.”
Those words meant a lot, and I never forget to tell him so. We are still colleagues, and he rarely misses the opportunity to tease me about my teaching role nowadays. But I hope this post can serve as a motivation for everybody who is making their first steps in the industry. Humble yourself, learn, and you will be OK!