I received a frantic message recently from my answering service. They were letting me know that I had a client (a new client in a first time cleaning) who was “upset” that her home was not cleaned to her specifications. I was curious as to what was going on because the client and her husband were at home throughout the entire cleaning and I did not understand why they did not complete a walk through before bidding my staff farewell.
I immediately called my Team Leader who was one of the two who had cleaned the home. She told me that the clients were in fact home and that they had told her that all looked good. They also had followed her and her partner from room to room throughout the entire cleaning, giving directions, reading labels on their cleaning products, etc. In short, it was an uncomfortable working situation for my staff but they got through it.
Fast forward to the client who had called me. She told me that she was so upset about the cleaning of the downstairs that she actually experienced a few contractions. Really? A house not cleaned to her satisfaction caused contractions? I knew that I had to go out to see the home for myself.
Long story short, I entered a home that was perfectly clean. I did not go upstairs since the family had been happy with it. The client took me on a tour of her first floor. I whipped out my camera because I wanted to know what was so awful that it caused (in her opinion) her to have contractions. Everything was clean. Spic and span clean. The woman’s husband told me that in the kitchen, if I were to bend my knees and position my body just so….I would be able to see a water mark on the granite.
Needless to say, I was scratching me head, trying to figure out what I’d walked into. He actually wanted me to put my body in a position over the edge of the counter so that I could spy a watermark?
In short, all I found was a crumb on the kitchen floor. One crumb. I took a photo of it which you will find above. That one crumb was telling. Quite telling. And I was happy to see the crumb because it brought a very insane situation back to sanity. That one crumb was silent but it spoke volumes. It told me that no human is perfect and therefore, I should expect to see a crumb. It told me that no matter how hard you work, no matter how hard you try, you will ultimately miss something. Why? Because God did not make any perfect people.
Because there are no perfect people, there also are no perfect companies. UpperCrust Maids is far from perfect. I’m proud to say that! Knowing that we will never be perfect frees me. It frees my employees. It blocks stress from developing. I do not have an expectation that my employees will never leave behind a speck of dust or dirt and I don’t want them to have such an impossible expectation.
I said all that to say this. If you are in search of a “perfect” company with “perfect” employees who never make errors, you have entered the wrong website. If you are so anxious about your home that you get upset at the sight of a water mark, speck of dust or grime, etc., call a different company. We are not the right fit for you.
In conclusion, if you are looking for an imperfect company that makes errors from time to time and misses the mark from time to time—–but at the same time does our best to deliver a dynamic cleaning, give us a call. 301-322-7112. We look forward to hearing from you!