A Woman Should Know

I got a call today.  A female applying for a job said, “every woman should know how to clean a home”.

Should we pause a moment right here . . . take it all in.  Men, ponder.  Women, deep breath. 

I know what she was doing.  She was trying to sell herself as a potential great staff member. Her femaleness alone has qualified her for this position.  Every woman should know how to clean her home.  She has not had official “paid cleaning” experience, but she cleans her home, and hey . . . Every woman knows how to clean, or should know, so it is OK.  Job is half in the bag. 

Are woman innately born knowing more about cleaning then men?  Or is the supposition, “should”, the thorn.  And if so, why?  Why should we know how to clean?  Why should I know how to do one thing more then another?  And if we should know, then what about men?  They should not know?  Or is the implication that they should not know how to do it as well as we do. 

Are we going to talk about changing a tire and winning the bread?  No.  I should be able to mix all these things together and bake a lovely croissant for you, complete with a flaky crust of reasoning, and soft layered inners which build on each other like a lawyers final argument, combineing the ideas in one scrumptious buttery bite.  But I can’t.  Hopefully, “every woman should” not have to possess those skills.  Every lawyer, every writer, but not every woman. 

My answer to her statement was:  Every woman does NOT know how to clean a home.  Is this an insult to our female clients who call on us every 2 weeks to keep the upheaval of life at bay, if only in the area of home care?  No.  These women know how to clean a home.  They know what a clean home looks like to them, they know they want it, and they know that the reality of life is that they can more efficiently achieve that goal by working with us. 

I have an admonition to someone who thinks they know how to clean your home, that anyone can clean homes, especially any female.  I have witnessed so many kinds of cleans, that “cleaning a home” has no meaning.  Can you clean a home to satisfy your own personal subjective judgment, or can you clean a home in accordance with our guidelines and policies?  Who defines clean?  If every woman should know how to clean their home, then why do homes vary so, in their state of cleanliness?  Or perhaps, every woman should know how to clean a home, but that home is their home.  Not everyone else’s.  I would agree with the statement that every woman knows how to clean their own personal home. It may look clean to some people, or dirty to others, but they know what they need to do to feel like they have cleaned it.  By the way, many men think they know how to clean a home too. 

But please don’t call me up, and tell me that because you are a woman, you know how to clean a home. Call me up and tell me that you know how to LEARN.  To LISTEN, to FOLLOW DIRECTOINS, to CARE about others wishes and opinions, to WORK HARD at doing the job at hand.  This will get you hired in a flash, and will negate the subjective harangue that can follow such a statement as, “every woman should know how to clean a home.”

Rethinking Bar Soap

We have noticed, after cleaning 300 tubs or showers a month, that BAR SOAP leads to soap scum, far more often then liquid soaps.  Specifically: men's deodorant bar soap.  Let's talk about this.  It does not have to be this way.  Irish Spring, why do you torture us so?  It is no fun having to scrape down the sides of your shower walls to get through the thick layer of soap scum.  I advocate liquid soap all around! 

Professional Home Ames ~ your residential cleaning service

I have been playing with Picasa and making a movie!  Who knew you could send 3 hours figuring out movie making, u-tube posting, etc....?  I wanted to put together a few shots of the office.  We are proud that we have a professional office to work out of.  Most non-franchised residential cleaning individuals work out of their homes.  We find that by having a dedicated office space, our professionalism increases, our focus stays on clients and client communication all day long (as opposed to doing the laundry or dishes instead of following up with clients).  We are also reachable to our cleaning homeowners, as we have office staff to answer emails and phone, even if I am doing an estimate or quality control checks!

It doesn't have to be an adventure...

I have neglected the blog! Primarily because I have been running a business. I would say that the aspiration of growing up has been in full swing. Running a business has little to do with cleaning, and I admit to missing the days of starting a job, working hard, and ending it. There does not seem to be much definition between the off and on brain mode required of a "boss", a small business owner, responsible for the cleanliness of the good folk of Ames, Iowa; responsible for paychecks staff and their respective families rely on.

I will report that I have the best staff ever! Wonderful caring and respectful people to work with. My loyalty and concern for them and their well being has surprised me. As much as I want to make my clients proud of our service, I want to make our staff proud to be a part of this business.

As far as blogging, socializing, networking go...it has taken a back seat to scheduling, training, communicating and paper working. I am looking forward to tomorrow, when I shall wear my comfy clothes, and participate in two cleanings, some quality checks, and general companionship with my staff in the field.

I will try to do better with my writing. It reminds me of the other facet I enjoy. The rambling creative part of my brain. Not that growing a business is not creative, it is all sides of creative, but a rambling blog post seems gentler, more grounding... and the only person who is looking to me for this post, is me! Goal accomplished, smiles all'round!