Work

This weekend I had a referral to help out a family whose father is struggling with cancer. That means he is going through chemo and all the dreaded stuff that goes along with cancer. I received a call to help out and they wondered if I could do it the next day.

I have a tender spot in my heart for people suffering and REALLY feel the need to help get their home as clean as can be - to ward off further infection or sickness from a dirty house.

I said I would work over the weekend to help out. The reason for the rush and the need for the weekend - was because the step mom was out of town AND that is why the kids were there helping their father. The step mom would NEVER have let me come and clean - too proud. They are older - in their 80's...and the wife thinks she can continue to clean the house AND take care of her husband. To bad she won't get someone to help her out with regular cleaning.

It is always a huge task for me to clean someones house for the first time. It's hard - because not too many people are germ a phobias or a clean freak like me... I think that is why my customers love me and why I always get referrals. (a side note... I've been asked by 4 different people in the past month to clean their home - which I turned down - because my business is big enough right now.)

Anyway, I killed myself to get as much done in the time allotted ... They did want me to come early Saturday morning - because it would be too hard to get their father moving early in the morning. So we agreed I'd be there to finish up at noon on Saturday. I could only work for 3 more hours (also worked on Friday night).

I had a baptism for 3 of my Primary children at 4pm and needed to be there. That only gave me 3 hours of mad dash cleaning to finish what they wanted. I didn't get as much done as needed to be done - but that was all the time I had.

I made it to the baptism - only 10 minutes late. The job was done ... I had extra money jingling in my pocket and I was happy.

THEN at 7 pm I received a call. The daughter who hired me thought I ruined the counter top. She called and said it had blue streaks through it. I was shocked. Could I really damage their counters by cleaning them? hmmmmm ...... it's never happened before.

I originally thought she told me the cabinets had blue streaks coming through the paint. That the cleaning supplies went through the paint causing blue streaks.  WHAT??? I couldn't figure it out.  I thought I would have to drive over there and fix whatever was going on. Shoot!!!!... I was freaking out. In fact, I am still kind of freaking out.

But then .... through the conversation I understood it was the tile on the counter top... OOoooohhh  

The blue streaks were already there and part of the tile.. I didn't do anything to it...

All that worry and freaking out when I had NOT ruined the tile... can you ruin tile - really?  Anyway, I explained to the daughter it was already part of the tile (which you couldn't see under all the dirt- I didn't tell her that). But now that the counter was clean - you could see the blue coloring streak.

I hate stuff like that --- especially when I am doing a favor and helping someone out  --- by working over the weekend. I'm still freaking out a bit about it. I probably won't sleep ... that is why I had to sit down and put it on paper or blog.

What a busy.... busy weekend. Plus - I received another call this morning before I left - for a one time only clean. When I quoted a price ... she almost freaked out. Actually she did freak out. I'm sure she won't do it (she is thinking about it). I'm not cheap :-D... It's a business and I work TOO HARD to quote low - plus.... I don't work for free.. My business is big enough.

I laugh - because I am sure people think they can pay me minimum wage -- or something like that.. Sorry, I'm not an employee....I'm a business. I get paid what the big boys do - but my work is soooooo worth it. ha ha!

Anyway... I'm going to try and settle down and enjoy the rest of the weekend. Still can't believe I worked over the weekend.



PS.... I know I need to do some more cleaning blogs... It's on my to do list :-D