Latest / Cleaning Business Life / CBL EP 178-When Trust Is Broken: Theft Inside a Cleaning Business

Transcript

CBL EP 178-When Trust Is Broken: Theft Inside a Cleaning Business · Cleaning Business Life

• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome everyone.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: I am your co-host, Jamie, with Shannon, the actual host of the Cleaning Business Live podcast.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: And today we are talking about theft.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Theft and the trust inside someone's home as a cleaner, or if you have if you're a business owner and have employees, theft.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it is, it comes up.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: It comes up and this kind of is I feel like this one is kind of geared a little bit towards homeowners, but this is a lot of juicy nuggets for you business owners.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, right.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: And let's be honest, the cleaning industry itself is a trust-based industry.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: And as the cleaning industry grows, we're unfortunately gonna see more and more of this because unscrupulous individuals put on that mask and they get that big old smile, and you're just like, well, what happened here?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: But today we're gonna talk about jewelry theft.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a repeat offender.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: So if you follow any crime stories out of Florida, you've probably heard of Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, J-U-D-D.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: He's known nationally for the direct press conferences when crimes affect residents in his community.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: He's actually a go-getter.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: I was I kind of trolled him a little bit yesterday and the day before.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Recently, his office announced a case that hits very close to home for the cleaning industry itself.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: A cleaning business owner is accused of stealing jewelry from clients.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, everyone's innocent until proven guilty.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: Just got to say that for the attorneys out there.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: According to the investigators, several items were later traced to a pawn shop transactions.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: And after the first arrest became public, another homeowner came forward reporting a similar situation.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I would imagine as this story gains social media sensation, more and more people are gonna come out.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Stories like this travel through the cleaning industry very quickly.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, they do.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Cleaning is one of the most trust-based professions there is.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: We are inside of your private home.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: That and caregiving, I would think.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it's very intimate.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very intimate profession.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: We work inside of your homes, we work inside of offices.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: I will, you know, our company does banks, we do churches, we do their financial room.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we see a lot.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so when something like this happened, it immediately raises concerns to all of our homeowners.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: No doubt about it.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: That would that would raise concern for me.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, obviously, it raised concern enough for me because I am automatically sent this to a group chat that Shannon and I are in.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just, I knew Shannon would take it, and because she's just like, oh hell nah.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: And we need to talk about it.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: It really puts um puts us down as an industry.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I consider us a trade.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: I've always considered us a trade.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: And fortunately, certain individuals think that this is just easy, easy pick-ins, right?
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Sure do.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: They sure do.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: So, according to Polk County Sheriff's Office, the case began when a homeowner over the age of 65 reported jewelry valued at more than$10,000 missing after a cleaner had been working in the home.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Trust me, ladies and gentlemen, or your homeowners should put their stuff away.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: It shouldn't be left out for chance.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: Investigators later located several of the missing items down at a pawn shop.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen this happen millions of times.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they do.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Or or you could falsify your name.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there's a lot of things that you can do nowadays.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Here in Arizona, you have to show your ID.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, but you know, it's you know, who who knows?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh she could have been a friend.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's that's a true that's a that could be a very shy scene, not saying that all pawn shop owners are like that, but you know, you're dealing with a lot of theft or a lot of uh drug use.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that drug use usually goes to people stealing or trying to get to stuff.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, there's laws in place for that, and that's kind of where we're we're taking this, is because we need to set up our own laws inside of our businesses, y'all.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: Policies, definitely about theft.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: You would think that that that this would have stopped this girl, right?
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: You would think that would have been the end of the story.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: That would have been enough.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: So this goes out into that newspaper that Shannon was talking about, and then other people started coming forward.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: And these are all elderly people.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if this lady is just a, you know, and then mind you, this is not a just a cleaning tech.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is actually a business owner, a supposed cleaning business owner.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know where what ended up happening to where she decided to, you know, go down the would be an easy in to somebody's home.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: And for you homeowners, this podcast is for you guys, and and how can you guys protect yourselves?
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and you know, especially because we help you so much.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just, man, this just left a bad taste in my mouth.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, you think that that story the story would be over with.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: She ends up, people end up coming forward, and I'm sure there's maybe even more.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people don't even want to say anything because of embarrassment.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh yeah, I got got, you know, I got got too.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: We've had a couple of episodes over the years, and there was another cleaning company in town where she got hired in, it was a she, and her boyfriend was or partner, whatever he was, was very violent towards her.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: So he they would set it up, right?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: So it was kind of a one-two punch.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: She she would go in and clean, and then she would take medicine, usually prescription pain pills, and jewelry, and then they would go and sell them, and then she would do another one.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: It took like, I want to say, six or seven homes before they finally figured out the gig was up.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't know how much how much they got in drugs because those prescription pain pills are numbered.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: You have to sign a thing saying that you will not sell or give them away.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's against the law because they're narcotic.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: And the jewelry thing is a huge thing.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: I've I've seen people leave out.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: You guys have all heard me talk about the gun, right?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Because the guy in the cash and he's like, Why didn't you make the bed?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: But there's been jewelry.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: We had an instance where he bought her in a different scenario.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: He bought her a four carat diamond ring, and they did not have a very tidy house.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And she also had two carrots on each ear that just floated around the house.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just like, You gotta pick these bad boys up.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's like, you know, five or eight carats of diamonds sitting right there.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, yeah, I you guys, if you've followed along on the podcast or even on my social media, you know I live out here in the wild, wild west.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: They literally call it the Emerald Triangle, right?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: You can only think about what that means.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: So there is a lot of marijuana grows here, and they're very large.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of guns, there's count money counting machines, cash, a lot, you know.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I remember whenever I was first starting, kind of within my first year, walking in, and this is of course is whenever I put a policy in place about guns.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they literally with a gun enthusiast, and I was just like, I I didn't think anything of it, but I was I'm like employee, because I remember I started right off the bat.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, maybe a few weeks without W-2, right off the bat, I wanted W-2 employees.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I didn't, but they were nervous with all the the amount.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was literally like a gun room, and and this person was very proud.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, just feather dust.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I guess I'll just feather dust these.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: But that's whenever I put a policy in place, like, hey, we have to have, if you've got any valuables, now granted, we are bonding.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're bonded.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Don't want to give it to chance.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: So and and I think a lot of our listeners don't realize because some some of you may still be a solo cleaner, you can bond yourself.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: It just puts an extra layer of trust.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: It tells the client, hey, you know, if something ever comes up missing and and we can prove that it's one of our cleaners or whatever, of course, you would fire them immediately, but you're covered.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: You're covered.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think I think I'm covered up to uh 20,000.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: I had to get a bigger bond for stuff.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know why.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Probably one of nine times out of ten when someone asks, Are you bonded in insurance?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's usually a commercial link.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: So when you're doing the large commercial properties or banks, they usually require a bond.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Or sometimes when you're doing government contracts, they also want you to have a bond.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: The bond can vary anywhere from 20 to a million to five million.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: It just depends on what stage you're at in your business.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: And and a bond is just an extra layer of insurance, as Jamie just stated, and it just protects you against theft.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: There is no guarantee that they'll pay, but it is an extra layer of protection should your consumers want that coverage.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: So that that really does protect you.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: So if you, for example, if the the four karat diamond rings came up missing, which could have been really easy, they were on the floor, it could have just vacuumed them up in the porter vac and not known anything.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's you know, she had five dogs.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: So you just you never know about those things, but just an extra layer that something to think about.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: And when a story like this hits the news, it does make homeowners a little more nervous about letting cleaners into their homes.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, absolutely, especially whenever guys it makes us as the industry look bad.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: But but it happens.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: It happens in every industry, not just we are not gonna catch every single bad apple that comes through as a new hire.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of bad industries, you know, and you can get totally hit sideways too.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: They could be the best person and for years be the best person, and then the right opportunity presents itself.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Years down the road, it's just something that'll hit you out of side uh, you know, like I had would never suspect, and probably would have gone up for bat for this employee, would never suspect that they would do something like this.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: But you there are little red sign uh red little signs here and there, and you you know, yeah, I can't say been in business as long as I have because uh remember, I'm still a baby, I'm still four years old.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: But so in your experience in the industry, how often do you see do you see cleaners?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: How often do you see valuables?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like I see valuables.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: If I was still out cleaning, I probably would still see the same amount.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: With some of the cleaning techs, they do report, you know, like we have someone who has several Picasso.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, hey, how are those Picasso?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: You don't touch those, right?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: But as far as usually everybody, it takes a while for everyone to get trained customer-wise.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: They have to put their valuables away.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I know some people are like, well, I shouldn't have to, but I'm like, I wouldn't, it's like leaving your Rolex on the train station on the thing, right?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Don't take my Rolex.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Don't do it.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't know which episode it was, it but the red herrings, right?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, people and we're in a digital day and age now.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: He assume constantly, no matter the client, that they have a camera somewhere.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: I will say that I have bluffed and said, Well, we got video footage.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it may have told a little bit of lie because it might, you know, but I wanted to, you know, and then that's whenever the stories come out, like, well, this is what happened.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: I thought it was trash, da da da da da.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, mm-hmm, bye, you know.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, we we we do come across quite we're in your ver your homes, you know.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I know that you feel that you shouldn't put your stuff up, but whenever it comes to valuables and having somebody and you you just especially our elders, this that's whenever it breaks my heart.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, man, not them.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: They worked so hard for that.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I think that in all of the times we've been accused of theft, and and remember, I'm you're number 16.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: I got paint on my hands for those of you who are watching the video, um, from painting the chicken fence in case inquiry minds want to know.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: Lady, why are your hands covered in paint?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: I I think back to all of the times we haven't been accused of theft very often, but nine times out of ten, it's usually a misplacement.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I think in recollection, because these are seniors and memory isn't as sharp as it used to be.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not saying all seniors are that way.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying from my experience, from what I've seen, sometimes we forget things and we put them in a place to be safe.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: I've done it to my own ring.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like you put your your your your wedding ring because you took it off or whatever, because you're painting the chicken fence.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then you're like, where did I put my ring?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then you start to freak out because you're like, you don't remember because it was like 52 steps back.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: I I I think too all of the times I thankfully, knock on wood, have never had one, but I can tell you of other business owners, cleaning business owners here in my town, and caregivers who've who I personally knew the person who's a victim who had their ring stolen or jewelry stolen, because it's easy.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody has a gold bracelet, everybody has the gold hoop earrings, everybody has a diamond ring.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: So those are normal per se.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: But for the example, with the two carrots on each ear, that's not a normal sized earring.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's unusual to have big diamonds on each ear.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: I can imagine they probably were heavy too, but that's beside the point.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, nine times out of ten, I do not think it's actually theft.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: I do think it's a memory thing where they've misplaced it and put it away for safekeeping.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: That is, I agree.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Nine times out of ten, uh it a misplacement.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: But I have a company has, but you know, and it's bound to happen.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: It is, if you own a cleaning business, it's bound to happen, whether you're solo or, you know, uh and then whenever the homeowner asks, Hey, did you see this?
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Instant fear shock that like you get real hot and you're like, please let them find that.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, do okay, do I help them look for it?
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Do I have what do you're like questioning yourself?
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why you put policies in place so that you protect yourself and you have a script.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: You have your own script of how to handle the situation.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Whether you own a business with lots of employees or you're a solo cleaner, you have something to follow.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: We had someone who said that I it was he was a male helper, a male W 2, and that he had stolen one of her rings, and but she wasn't in sure.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: So she's she was a monthly and she stopped service for several months and then called me up six months later and she goes, Thank God I can have you come back.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: My house is a mess.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: I found that ring and I'm really sorry.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: So tell your W-2 that you know it wasn't him.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: We just had to until I could find it.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: And she had put it, it was it was like a cocktail ring.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: She had put it in a box inside another box, inside another box.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then expected herself to remember.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh my god, this is wild.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I really like that ring.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of rings, I'm looking at your ring, it's so pretty.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thanks.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: I got this labradorite.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's a pretty big piece.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's um from the seven and I love that.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's such a good vibe.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: It looks so pretty.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, this this leaves this leaves a a little bit of a bad taste.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely and and uh homeowners and trust really does go both ways in this business.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: They affect it affects how our profession is looked at.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but it happens, right?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: It happens in our industry, it happens, we've seen big, big, big it like it made the news.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: We had a, I want to say a school superintendent embezzle millions out of the Tucson school district.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: We've seen city employees here in different small towns embezzle, I'm sure it's happened in your in your area.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's going on now.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: We had someone, Lisa Townsend, who actually, I believe, just got out of prison.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: She's been in prison for like 20 years for embezzlement of people's money.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: She was in the real estate industry.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: I could go, I could laundry list.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: We had the lady who and the and the husband at the barbecue place, they shut that place down.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: They came in and raided all the barbecue places.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: Remember that?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: And she was forced, she was forced laboring all of these poor immigrants who were illegal.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: And she was also trafficking some of them out.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: It was just you just I went to this lady's house on a bid on multiple occasions.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: I would have never just never known.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: They just take it.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, oh, I'm just it's like an you know, uh it don't matter what the what the situation is.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever theft is theft, and it and it's like you question the you question why would they risk their freedom or their business reputation or I mean especially gonna get caught, I guess.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know why why people do what they do.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't either.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Addiction.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh who'd eight don't matter.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: People sometimes just don't think that they'll get caught.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: There are things that you can safeguard and that you can do.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, on your bed.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Or or you know, if you got guns and a money pump.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Or pounds and pounds of weed.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you're trimming, you're trimming, and so yes, cleaning professionals operate in one of the most trust-dependent service industries there is, right beside, if not, we're I think we're almost twins with the caregiving industry.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: It really there is a lot of trust.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: So much trust.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if you really wanted to slide in childcare too, but that's not as potentially dangerous because childcare usually is filmed all of the time now.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: In the old school days, it wasn't.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: So we're inside of bedrooms, we're inside of closets, um, we're inside of offices, finance rooms, sometimes entire homes where the homeowner isn't even there.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: 99% of the industry operates that way.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: And an overwhelming majority of cleaners take that responsibility very seriously.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's us.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Woo-hoo! Yes.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: So whenever something like this happens, people naturally ask the same question.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Why would someone risk their reputation?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I really think it is addiction and maybe abuse or some other there's usually a reason why they're doing it, especially if it's repeated over and over and over again.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: There's something going on.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: But so that if there's financial pressure, addiction, or and like you said, I don't think that they think they're gonna get caught.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then well, you know, it it all came out in the wash after she got caught the first time.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: So let's see what happens now.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I it's like, okay, you're you got caught and and you that's whenever somebody's like, oh yeah, she stole from us too, you know, or he uh you know, but in this case it's a she.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: There are things that you can protect yourself, right?
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: So having things like insurance, I can't I cannot tell you how important that is.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: Again, that is a layer of trust to the homeowners.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, they're insured.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: So bonding.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's three different types of bonding.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: You guys can look it up through Chat GPT.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And again, even if you're a solo cleaner, and a lot of people are like, well, why would I ever get bonded as a solo cleaner?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: You can definitely do that.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Having background checks, we automatically do a background check whenever we onboard our employees.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: I use QuickBooks payroll, and right there does it for me.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's a click of the button, it's like, I don't know, 15 bucks.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's through QuickBooks.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: I don't, I think it's checker or something like that.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: They have some sort of waiver to have the background check.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: No, you just client, they do, yeah.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: The employee, of course, whenever you're onboarding.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I'm still working on my onboarding procedure.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: We'll work on that together through podcasts.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Having clear hiring practices, important.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: And that is why stuff like this, whenever we do these podcasts, it don't just help you.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, it's helping me in real time.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, I gotta walk through this threshold, especially now that I have a storefront that has added another layer of okay, you're trusted in this community.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: So my hiring practices need to be on point.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll we'll get into that down the road of well, I think the key point we've mentioned this on multiple episodes is when you're
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: Hiring and you're asking because a lot of people don't do national background checks.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: There, you're hey, we do national background checks.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: Is there anything I need to be made aware of?
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: And you can usually they'll say, Oh, it's amazing how many people have criminal records, but you can say they'll usually say, Oh, well, I got in trouble.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: And then then this is when you become educated on felonies and what the degrees of felonies are, and you decide if you're comfortable with that degree of felony or not.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's just uh, oh, I made a mistake because someone talked me into doing something stupid and I was young, or it genuinely is I second chances, you guys.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Second chance, but whenever you're messing with elderly death, I mean, those are probably not gonna be your best employee.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because impulse, you know, anything with child, sex anything like that.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: But something that you did whenever you were young, dumb, 18, and full of it.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'm guilty of charge.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying, you know, people do change, and they have colonies and it sucks for them.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: So it that does not automatically withdraw you from working for me.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: No, but you can have those removed.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: If you've served your time and you've done your thing to make yourself put back into society, there are ways legally that you can have that expunged from your record, and that's just a talk for another day.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: But yes, there But that but there there are these are safeguards that we all as cleaning business owners need to put in place.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're a homeowner, you need to ask, are you doing background checks?
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: Are these guys vetted, right?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: You're not just arbitrarily.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: We see a lot of people in the industry, we won't go too deep about it, but they hire someone off the street to fill in for a short-term rental.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: I see it happen all the time.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: They have no insurance, you have no information on this, you don't even have a copy of their driver's list.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: They're just sending people to properties, and you're like, Well Yeah.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and I see it a lot.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: I see people I look in the hire for house, my schedule's full.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: I and it's just anybody out of the or hey, I need a babysitter in one of the mom's groups, and I'm like, oh, you know, so there's some of us that have been been trusted, and some people will just hire anybody.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: These questions you need to ask as the homeowner.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody honestly can tell you that they have insurance.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: They can lie, so many people lie.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's whenever you get that certificate of insurance, it will prove how long you're insured for.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's so much.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Same with background checks.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: They can say that they're background checked.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: We have background checks on file.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Ask for your background, you know.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's and there's nothing wrong.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, it I would love for somebody to be like, I just it it warms my heart.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yes, you're doing your due diligence, and that's the client I like.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Ask, ask these questions, you guys.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: What policies exist if something goes wrong?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like if something gets broken, what do you do?
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: Because we I dealt with somebody the other day who had something go wrong, and the cleaner didn't go own.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: It was a subcontracted deal out.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: The subcontractor didn't want to be held accountable, didn't have insurance.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I already see where this is going.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, you as the business owner have to buck it up and yeah, no, absolutely.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's another thing.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: And the professional companies do expect us.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're waiting with bated breath for you to ask us if I'm so proud of that.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the those, I am so proud.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: I say it from the rooftops because I know, like again, I know people they're not telling the 100% truth online.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Look at this lady.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: This lady weasled her way into she found a way into someone's home to be able to steal for steal from them.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: So whenever you, as the homeowner, ask, and your potential company should be honored that you and and proud, like, yeah, because you got all those ducks in the road, eyes dotted, T's crossed, right?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: And and the most interesting thing about this whole scenario is is how it spread.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: This, like, it's no longer in the old school days, and I know I'm dating myself because this is year number 16.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: We you'd have to go to the you'd have to know someone in the police department, or you would have to go through different avenues, check on different websites.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: But now with social media, it's immediate.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, this happened at the end of February, and here it is, March, five days, less than five days, and this person got arrested twice in a two-week time.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: So it was all over the internet.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the second victim realized something was amiss because she saw the first post.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: So that I'm thinking, uh, you can give me your opinion on this, that other people are gonna come and I'm sure.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Unless there's, like I said, embarrassment.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people don't it's embarrassing.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's embarrassing.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm one of the ones that asked on social media and I would have just hired the cheapest cleaner because that, you know, and that's she very well been bonded and insured.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know that because it wasn't mentioned.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: Because I poked around to see to make sure, right.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: She could have bought it.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine running a business years ago like that, with you know, yeah, you had to do your dil due diligence.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it does word travels fast.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: So most cleaners take their work seriously, and we do care deeply about our reputation.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, um I I take it so personally.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Again, we're in a small town, too small to have you have too many eyes watching you, you know, like not that that that's all they're doing.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I know that, but integrity is such a big thing for me.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: And integrity, you guys, is doing all doing the right thing when no one's looking.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and that's one of my whenever I'm hiring, is I'm looking for this person got integrity.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: These stories like this remind us about professional standards and how much they matter.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: And uh insurance, bonding, hiring practices, and accountability.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: Those systems protect the homeowners and the cleaning professionals.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: And we leave, we just leave you with the question how do you do you carry insurance and are you bonded?
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: Do you ask those things before allowing someone into your home?
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: Answer these questions down in the podcast.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get some, let's talk about this.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to hear what you guys are are thinking and and no shade thrown at you if you haven't gotten bonded yet.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and especially if you're a solo cleaner and looking to grow, because I know you guys are out there.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: You guys talk to me often.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: It'll come, it will come, and it's not near as expensive as you think it is.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, once you get yeah, once you get bigger, it and it they they have a one-year plan and a three-year plan.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: So just just know it's coming, but let us know down in the in the comment section.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: That way we know that you guys are listening to and following along.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Ask questions, definitely ask questions down there too.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, ask those things before allowing someone into your home.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: And because you guys trust goes both ways.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, it was good to see your face.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: It was good to see every it's good to hear everybody.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's good to talk to you guys.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_02: Talk to you guys soon.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: Take care.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_02: Bye, you guys.