<p>I've helped this woman clean her home twice. I'm not interested in working there anymore, since she's never once offered me gloves and doesn't pay me for the time she spends explaining what she wants me to (for the record, she usually takes half an hour). Basically, I get minimum wage for cleaning even the yellow stuff off the toilet.</p>
<p>Anyhow, we had an appointment a few days ago, which I couldn't keep because I was ill with mono in the hospital. I didn't contact her to let her know, and she sent me an angry email saying I'd "treated her without respect" and that she'd like these books back that she gave to me. I passed them on to other people, as I didn't want them. I could purchase new copies, but really.. I'm annoyed that she's reacted so badly, for a middle aged woman. The other issues I have with the work (the grunginess), I have always been quiet about, but I feel like she's being rude now, which I can't put up with. Would it be wrong of me to just ignore her email? I have no interest in continuing to work for her, though she does know where I go to school. I'm afraid she'll be nutty enough to call there in the fall.</p>
<p>Sounds like you’re both in the wrong. </p>
<p>It’s basic decorum to let your employer know if you won’t be in to work. </p>
<p>And if you want(ed) to be paid for all of your time spent, including having the job explained, you should have spoken up. </p>
<p>However, she doesn’t legally have the right to request the books back (assuming they were gifts and not on loan)</p>
<p>As irritating as she sounds, remain professional. It may bite you later. You don’t know what connections she has or who she knows–and worst case scenario, the dream job you interview for five years from now could be run by her close friend. </p>
<p>I’m just saying, don’t burn bridges that don’t need to be burned.
Email her back, suck up the ego (I know it’s hard. I admit I tend to have a huge problem doing this, myself.) and apologize even if you’re 100% you’re in the right. </p>
<p>Then resign and try to leave on the best terms you can. </p>
<p>One less psses off former employer is one less person you have to worry about later on.</p>
<p>First and only question: did she loan you the books or were they specifically a “gift”?</p>
<p>If they were a gift, I still wouldn’t completely ignore the email.<br>
Personally, I’d explain the situation of how you were in the hospital and was unable to contact her. In that email, I wouldn’t mention the books at all.
Just be polite, and hopefully she’ll calm down.</p>
<p>Ugh. I wrote this ^ on my phone and there are typos everywhere. Sorry about that. I hope you got the gist. </p>
<p>My computer is on the fritz.</p>
<p>They were a gift (I wouldn’t have gotten rid of them if they were on loan). You’re probably both right, though I have a hard time seeing how responding to her would resolve the matter. She’s quite ****ed.</p>
<p>Then hopefully she’ll drop the issue when you explain you were in the hospital (I still would not mention the books in your email).</p>
<p>If not, Plattsburgh is right. You are under no responsibility to return them, and I wouldn’t ever consider buying new ones as a replacement.</p>
<p>She sounds like a crazy cat lady. It doesn’t matter if she knows your school, does she know where you live?</p>
<p>You’re complaining about grunginess when you are a house cleaner, and you are upset that someone is mad at you for failing to show up for work with no explanation? And you can’t bring your own gloves? And you’re upset that you’re being paid minimum wage for no-skill manual labor? </p>
<p>What are you, fourteen?</p>
<p>^ I’m going to defend the OP here. No sane person gets irrationally mad because of ONE missed day of work. The proper move by her would’ve been to send an email asking what happened and perhaps giving a warning. AND on top of that, no sane person angrily demands a gift back because of ONE missed day. That’s ridiculous.</p>
<p>Try not showing up for work one day and don’t bother to call or anything and see what happens.</p>
<p>I have. Guess what happened? My boss asked what was up, I apologized, and everything was peachy as hell.</p>
<p>Yes, however, working on a daily basis is different that setting an appointment and then just not showing up.</p>
<p>I got sent home from work once as punishment for showing up ten minutes late without calling. I think both situations are extremes. lol. But yeah, I would be ****ed too if someone who worked for me had a bad attitude (as it’s obvious the OP does) and then just didn’t show up, too. Sounds to me like this may have just been the final straw.</p>
<p>The op has worked at her house TWICE. And mentioned that he just sucked it up (although I do agree with you that the op is grumbling over nothing).</p>
<p>But it’s clear that the woman is a nut. You don’t send a scathing email asking for gifts back just because someone didn’t show up.</p>
<p>The op was in the hospital for crying out loud! You can’t expect the op to contact the woman from there.</p>
<p>I’m not saying the lady is someone I would want to work for, I just can’t believe the OP has the audacity to seriously complain about some of these things. She didn’t provide gloves!? THE HORROR! And this is not clear from the post, but I got the impression that the employer sent an email in response to the no show which the OP is asking if they can ignore, meaning they probably haven’t called and told the employer that they had been in the hospital.</p>
<p>Yes, I would expect the OP to contact her, he was not physically unable, therefore, if he really wanted to he would have been able to contact her. Which I find disrespectful towards her, as she stated.</p>
<p>Also, he is there to clean her house… what does he expect.</p>
<p>And even if he were physically unable, once able I would expect him to call and explain what happened, which he doesn’t say he did. A legitimate excuse for blowing off work is only helpful if you actually tell the employer what happened, but I got the impression (maybe I am mistaken?) that because the OP doesn’t like the job he just thinks he shouldn’t bother making amends.</p>
<p>The nutty lady is in the wrong far more than the op is. Put it into context. This random middle-aged woman is berating a (presumably) high school-aged kid working at minimum wage for doing her a favor. From the info given, he IS doing her a favor. Do you know how much professional maid/cleaning services cost?? If you guessed minimum wage, then you’re not correct. The lady knows damn well she’s getting a good deal: cheap labor who will acquiesce and take her BS without complaint.</p>
<p>It seems like she’s just a crazy lady giving a kid crap for no reason. Simple as that.</p>
<p>I haven’t contacted her yet, because, frankly, her email has scared the crap out of me. I haven’t left her hanging for days, more like a few hours. I apologize for mentioning some of the things I dislike about the job–I only wrote them to make a point that I have no qualms about leaving the job. But seriously, she is being petty about the books and I stand by that.</p>
<p>Yes, we all agree she is being childish about the books, but regardless, seeing as you knew you were missing an arranged appointment you should have contacted her either while you were at the hospital or immediately after out of respect to her.</p>