Latest / Cleaning Business Life / Ep. 230 | The Cleaning Fairy Who Broke In—and Left a $75 Bill

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Ep. 230 | The Cleaning Fairy Who Broke In—and Left a $75 Bill · Cleaning Business Life

1:09
SPEAKER_01: Hello everyone! Welcome back.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: This is Shannon Miller with Cleaning Business Life, and today we're gonna talk about an older story.
1:17
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure you've seen it flash all around the internet.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: This one is from 2012.
1:23
SPEAKER_01: So imagine coming home and the coffee cups are washed, the trash has been taken out, the carpet's been vacuumed, the beds are made, the toys are picked up, and for one brief moment, you're like, did the cleaning fairy really come?
1:42
SPEAKER_01: And you start to get a little bit excited until you start to walk around your room trying to figure out did she come?
1:49
SPEAKER_01: Did she not come?
1:51
SPEAKER_01: And what's this piece of paper over here?
1:54
SPEAKER_01: And today, ladies and gentlemen, we're talking about meeting Miss Susan Warren.
2:01
SPEAKER_01: Susan was notoriously, and she actually got in a lot of trouble for this.
2:05
SPEAKER_01: She would break into people's homes, clean it, leave a bill, and expect to be paid.
2:11
SPEAKER_01: That's probably the wildest internet story for cleaning there's ever been told.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: She was 53 at the time, and she was from Illyria, Ohio.
2:24
SPEAKER_01: And the first incident happened on May 22nd in 2012.
2:28
SPEAKER_01: So a little over 14 years ago.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: And according to authorities, Susan was driving through Westlake, Ohio early that morning when she saw a house and decided she wanted something to do.
2:41
SPEAKER_01: So when most cleaning businesses will take the phone calls, answer the Facebook pages or the groups, well, 2012 didn't have Facebook groups back then.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: But we would do all the bells and whistles to attract clients.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: She just decided that she was gonna pick someone randomly and clean the home and then leave a bill and expect to be paid.
3:01
SPEAKER_01: So Susan apparently just selected a random house, just said, uh right?
3:07
SPEAKER_01: And how she entered, Susan later claimed that the door was open.
3:11
SPEAKER_01: So maybe she went to one house and those people locked their door, and then this is obviously before all of the porch cameras that were there.
3:19
SPEAKER_01: Maybe she went to the blue house and that was unlocked.
3:23
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe she went to the yellow house and maybe that one was unlocked, right?
3:27
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if she ever ran into the condition where there were two houses unlocked and which one to pick.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: Which one's less messy, right?
3:35
SPEAKER_01: And if I leave my front door unlocked, does that give someone the right to come in and clean without me asking?
3:42
SPEAKER_01: I'd actually be horrified because I knew that the dishes wouldn't.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: The kids' toys didn't get picked up, my my laundry didn't get picked up, my my coffee mugs definitely didn't get washed.
3:53
SPEAKER_01: And 99% of the time my bed is made, but still you're like, oh my god, right?
3:58
SPEAKER_01: So Susan did not know who lived there.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: She just picked the random house.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: She did not have an appointment.
4:04
SPEAKER_01: She did not have a service agreement, and most importantly, she did not have permission to enter because it's actually considered trespassing.
4:13
SPEAKER_01: This is the part that makes the story much more serious.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: The homeowner's 19-year-old daughter was reportedly asleep upstairs while Susan was cleaning downstairs.
4:24
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine?
4:27
SPEAKER_01: That would scare the bejeezers out of me, right?
4:30
SPEAKER_01: I came downstairs to get some coffee and there's a random woman cleaning.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: I'd be like, Mom, did you did you schedule someone to come clean the house?
4:37
SPEAKER_01: Right?
4:40
SPEAKER_01: So you don't know who's downstairs, you don't know why they're there, you don't know whether they're alone.
4:44
SPEAKER_01: She could have Susan could have been working with a team, but I believe she was a solo cleaner.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: And from a cleaner's perspective, Susan may have not have thought anything of it.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm just hoping, right?
4:56
SPEAKER_01: The intent does not erase the impact.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: Susan washed some coffee cups, she took out the trash, she vacuumed, she dusted.
5:05
SPEAKER_01: One report also mentioned the playroom.
5:07
SPEAKER_01: Nothing, nothing was reportedly stolen.
5:10
SPEAKER_01: She apparently completed her unsolicited cleaning appointment and prepared to leave.
5:16
SPEAKER_01: But Susan did not disappear into the morning like an actual fairy.
5:20
unknown: Poof.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: She left a handwritten note on a napkin of all things.
5:25
SPEAKER_01: I got many business plans that way.
5:28
SPEAKER_01: And she left her name, address, and telephone number, and she also left a bill for$75.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: Keep in mind this happened in 2012.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: Based on the work described, what we can reasonably assume about the home is that the same cleaning probably would cost anywhere from$180 to$210 today in today's market.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, we don't know the home's exact square footage or the condition.
5:52
SPEAKER_01: So that is an estimate, not an actual confirmed quote.
5:55
SPEAKER_01: So we guessed.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: I guessed on if it was$75 in 2012, it's probably a buck 80 or 210 in today's prices, right?
6:06
SPEAKER_01: Still, even by 2012 tower standards, I think$75 was low.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to think of like even when I was charging$25 an hour, I had a$100 minimum.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: So and by then I went into business in 2010, right?
6:22
SPEAKER_01: So she broke into the house, performed the service without authorization, and still managed to underprice that job.
6:30
SPEAKER_01: Poor Susan.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: I feel really bad.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: Poor thing.
6:35
SPEAKER_01: There are several business lessons packed into the story.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: I have discussed creative marketing plenty of times.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: I actually got a letter.
6:45
SPEAKER_01: Someone sent a sales letter and it says, Is your current landscaping company giving you a headache?
6:51
SPEAKER_01: And it had a package of Tylenol to the staple to the letter.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: I thought it was great marketing.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: I kept it.
6:57
SPEAKER_01: I have it here somewhere.
7:02
SPEAKER_01: They called the telephone number Susan had conveniently left behind.
7:05
SPEAKER_01: Susan reportedly told him the door had been open and that she was desperate for money.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: Not a good business deal there.
7:12
SPEAKER_01: And apparently believed the homeowners had overreacted.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: I understand being desperate for money.
7:17
SPEAKER_01: I understand needing clients.
7:18
SPEAKER_01: I understand doing whatever you can to generate business, hustling.
7:22
SPEAKER_01: That's hardcore hustling.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: But desperation does not create consent.
7:26
SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure it scared her daughter, but you know, and cannot perform a you cannot perform a service that nobody requested or obligated them to pay for.
7:36
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're looking for a little more of a different type of story, there is that what happens when your cleaners clean the wrong home.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: That is an interesting podcast.
7:45
SPEAKER_01: So check that one out.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: So there were some legal consequences.
7:49
SPEAKER_01: Poor Susan was actually arrested for her good deed.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: She eventually pleaded guilty to attempted burglary.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: I guess they wasn't trespassing.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: In November 2012, she was sentenced to one year probation and 20 hours of community service.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: Now, here is my question.
8:07
SPEAKER_01: Did she did she get community service where she had to give free cleanings away to the community, or did she have to do some other type of community service?
8:16
SPEAKER_01: I'd inquiring minds want to know that.
8:19
SPEAKER_01: And I lost my place, I'm sorry.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: So that's a fairly expensive customer acquisition cost.
8:27
SPEAKER_01: The probation, the 20 hours of community service.
8:32
SPEAKER_01: One year probation meant that you had to like really be careful and you could get in trouble for anything, right?
8:37
SPEAKER_01: So can you imagine trying to apply for a regular job after you decide that you don't want to clean anymore?
8:42
SPEAKER_01: Oh well, I got I got probation.
8:45
SPEAKER_01: I got arrested and I got probation for blah blah blah.
8:48
SPEAKER_01: I was trying to give out a free cleaning, but she wasn't trying to give out a free cleaning.
8:52
SPEAKER_01: She actually was leaving a bill.
8:54
SPEAKER_01: So poor Susan did not have any structure or systems in her business, which caused her to drive randomly in people's neighborhoods.
9:04
SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't a one-time strategy.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: That's the most surprising piece about Susan's journey.
9:10
SPEAKER_01: According to contemporary news reports, Susan said entering houses, cleaning them, and leaving bills was something she had done before.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: So if it worked once, why not work have it work again?
9:20
SPEAKER_01: She reportedly said she had never had a problem with it.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: And that raises an important business question.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: If nobody complained the first few times, does that make the practice acceptable?
9:31
SPEAKER_01: For those of you who are not watching, I'm shaking my head, no.
9:35
SPEAKER_01: If that happened here in Arizona, most of us carry guns, you'd get shot.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: So I do not recommend that you do that.
9:43
SPEAKER_01: So that's an absolutely not.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: A person failing to confront you is not the same as a person giving you permission.
9:51
SPEAKER_01: You have to have permission.
9:53
SPEAKER_01: Because then it goes into the gray area of trespassing, right?
9:57
SPEAKER_01: The key under the mat is not permission to arrive whenever you please.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: Garage code is not permanent and an unlimited consent.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: In a cleaning business, permission must be specific.
10:08
SPEAKER_01: That's why when we do a lot of midterm, short-term rentals, we'll shoot them a text.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: It comes up on the schedule, but we also shoot them a text because most of them have cameras and they're like, Why are your person at my property?
10:21
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, Did you get the text message?
10:23
SPEAKER_01: And they usually go, Oh, I forgot to check.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I got the text message.
10:26
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, okay, just so cleaning companies are given extraordinary access to people's lives.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: We see a lot of things that most house guests never see.
10:33
SPEAKER_01: We have keys, garage codes, alarm codes.
10:37
SPEAKER_01: We enter in empty homes, newly purchased homes, occupied purchased homes.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: There is a lot of access that we have.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: We see medications, paperwork, jewelry, family, photographs, children's belongings, private living conditions.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: You name it.
10:56
SPEAKER_01: I've seen it all.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure you guys have too.
11:00
SPEAKER_01: That access is based entirely on trust.
11:02
SPEAKER_01: And that is the premise behind the cleaning industry.
11:05
SPEAKER_01: We are a trust-based industry.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: So keep that in mind should you want to do what Miss Susan did.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: So permission to use a door code does not mean you can share that code with an unauthorized worker or give it to your friends or give it to the internet.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: It means that it's only used in and it's only for the one time and it's with permission and there's conditions attached.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: Authorization tells you whether you are allowed to enter, so you need both of those.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: Cleaning professionals can cross boundaries with completely good intentions.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: I think Susan's intentions were honorable.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: She was just looking for extra cash and didn't know how to market herself.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: And this time, this is the intention I'm sure she was not looking for.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: We see something that needs to be organized, laundry sitting in the basket.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: We have food in the refrigerator that appears to expire.
11:55
SPEAKER_01: We decide to move personal belongings because we believe the room will look better.
11:59
SPEAKER_01: And usually we generally believe we are helping, but clients still have the right to decide what happens inside of their homes.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: You do not throw away food, paperwork, medication, personal objects, or anything else simply because you believe it is trash.
12:12
SPEAKER_01: You do not reorganize private drawers without permission.
12:16
SPEAKER_01: You do not invite another person into the home without authorization.
12:20
SPEAKER_01: And a keynote for that is we took on a weekly client.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: They were both um empty nesters in this huge house.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: And the cleaner who was cleaning the house decided to bring her air quote friend along.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: And the friend decided to use stainless steel or I don't know, shredded steel or something.
12:38
SPEAKER_01: And she ended up scratching the shower wall, which was all glass.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: It was that really thick half-inch glass.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: Ruined it.
12:45
SPEAKER_01: Like$4,000 worth of damage in today's pricing.
12:51
SPEAKER_01: There was also no agreement about the service and the$75 price.
12:54
SPEAKER_01: So there's a big difference between free cleanings, which you can look up on the podcast, and you know, doing this without being asked, and then by the way, you need to pay me for my services.
13:05
SPEAKER_01: In a legitimate cleaning transaction, both sides would understand that there is a transaction that is about to happen, what work is to be performed, when it's to be performed, how much will it cost, who authorized it, how payment will be collected, and what happens if the scope changes or the appointment is canceled.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: There's all of those variables.
13:24
SPEAKER_01: Susan skipped the estimate, the agreement, the scheduling, and the consent, and just showed up.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: Susan, she went directly into the home invasion to invoicing, and you cannot retroactively create contracts because you completed some work.
13:39
SPEAKER_01: Remember that.
13:41
SPEAKER_01: A bill is not automatically valid simply because you wrote an amount on a napkin.
13:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm wondering if it was a paper towel or a genuine napkin.
13:48
SPEAKER_01: Every cleaning company should establish clear access procedures.
13:53
SPEAKER_01: This should be an SOP.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: Confirm the service date and approximate arrival window, and this is usually done with your CRM.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, document whether the client will be home or not home.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: Record how the team is authorized to enter.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you enter into the garage, sometimes it's the back door, sometimes it's a sliding glass door, sometimes it's through the casita, and then in the in-between.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's so many different things.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: Have a procedure for finding someone inside who is not expected to be there.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: That has happened.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: We've had some scary things.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what are you?
14:24
SPEAKER_01: You're not no one's supposed to be here, right?
14:26
SPEAKER_01: If something feels wrong, stop and contacts the client.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: When in doubt, remain outside until authorization is confirmed.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: Your technician arrives for reoccurring cleaning.
14:35
SPEAKER_01: The front door is unlocked, but the client is normal, but the client normally leaves a key in a lockbox.
14:42
SPEAKER_01: The technician tries calling, but no one answers.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: Should the technician walk inside because the house is on the schedule?
14:49
SPEAKER_01: Typically, you'd want them to call the office to confirm.
14:52
SPEAKER_01: I would say no, because you just don't know if you're walking into something.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: Not until a usual access situation is confirmed.
15:00
SPEAKER_01: Maybe the client forgot to lock the door, maybe someone's home, maybe the schedule changed, maybe there's a safety issue.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: A short delay is far better than walking into a situation where you were not expected.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: A professional cleaning company protects the client, the employee, and the company itself.
15:16
SPEAKER_01: And there is a really big marketing lesson here in case.
15:22
SPEAKER_01: Poor Susan didn't give it to you.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: And if Susan truly needed money, there were many legal ways to demonstrate her work.
15:29
SPEAKER_01: She could have actually, and this was really popular in 2012, where they would come in and clean a room, and if they liked the cleaning of the room, then they would actually, you know, to build trust, they would clean the rest of the house at a discounted rate.
15:43
SPEAKER_01: Painters do that.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: She could have offered a discounted first-time cleaning.
15:50
SPEAKER_01: She could have created a before and after photographs on a volunteer home.
15:54
SPEAKER_01: She could have asked previous customers for referrals, distributed flyers, knocked on the doors, offered a quote.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: The strange part is that she left all her contact information, so she was not trying to conceal her identity, so she really wasn't the cleaning fairy.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: Because that person's anonymous.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: This is a powerful example of how bad judgment can fail when someone becomes focused only on making the sale or in collecting the money.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: Marketing gets attention.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: Good marketing builds trust.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: If your marketing strategy requires the police to explain your offer, it probably needs some work.
16:31
SPEAKER_01: And the bigger business takeaway is that there have to be established boundaries and systems.
16:37
SPEAKER_01: So boundaries are not obstacles to making money.
16:41
SPEAKER_01: Boundaries are part of the product you sell because we're selling a product.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: We're cleaning a home, right?
16:46
SPEAKER_01: We're selling that spot of time.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: They're paying for trust, consistency, predictability, the same person, confidence.
16:56
SPEAKER_01: So many things.
16:57
SPEAKER_01: The moment a company validate violates the trust, the quality of the cleaning becomes almost irrelevant because you feel violated.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: I would feel violated if the cleaning fairy showed up and then left me a bill.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: Like, oh my god, you poor thing.
17:15
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's just closing.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: The Cleaning Fairy story is entertaining because it sounds almost harmless.
17:20
SPEAKER_01: Please don't please learn from Susan and don't do it.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: A woman entered a home, cleaned it, and left a bill for 75 bucks.
17:29
SPEAKER_01: When you place yourself in the homeowner's position, it stops being very cute very quickly.
17:34
SPEAKER_01: Someone entered their private space without permission.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: Someone was asleep inside and probably scared the bejeezers of the poor girl.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: Someone entered the private space without permission.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: And that stranger is expected to be paid.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how well I'd feel about that, right?
17:53
SPEAKER_01: Never confuse good intentions with consent.
17:56
SPEAKER_01: Never perform additional work and assume the client will happily pay for it.
18:01
SPEAKER_01: It's usually a bonus.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: So, hey, by the way, I got your plantation shutters in the master bath, bath, and bedroom.
18:08
SPEAKER_01: Hey, by the way, I saw that this needs to be done, so I oiled your furniture because it's really dry here because we had a couple extra minutes this time.
18:16
SPEAKER_01: That's how you do that type of stuff.
18:18
SPEAKER_01: We don't, unless they want it in addition to, like, I really liked how you oiled my furniture.
18:23
SPEAKER_01: Can you do that this time?
18:24
SPEAKER_01: And you say, sure.
18:25
SPEAKER_01: I'll add that to your bill, right?
18:28
SPEAKER_01: Protect the trust your clients place in you.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: And please, no matter how slow the sales become, do not break into someone's house, leave your invoice on a napkin, and expect someone to pay for the$75 cleaning, which would be$180 to$210 in today's market.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: I hope you guys enjoyed this fun little episode, and we'll see you in the next one.