Cautionary Tales - Halloween Edition

There are some really spooky stories out there of horror inflicted on client locations. Whether it's due to a lack of knowledge or a series of unfortunate events, the goal of this post is to spread fear (and knowledge) into your psyche. These are cautionary tales: Halloween Edition.

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Cleansed to the Bone

It was a cool fall day in 2020, at the height of COVID. Businesses were struggling to stay open, and my credit union client was hit hard, with much of their staff sick. We were there to disinfect the building, using a combination of manual cleaning and electrostatic spraying.

Everything was going well, but despite our warnings, the client stayed too close during the process. Electrostatic sprayers create fine droplets that can soak into surfaces—and skin. Unbeknownst to us, she had an allergy to the essential oils in the disinfectant. Later, we got a call from her doctor, requesting the Safety Data Sheets after she had an allergic reaction and needed oxygen and steroid treatments. Fortunately, she recovered.

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Slick with Fear: The Midnight Fall

Rewind the clock to ten years earlier. We relied heavily on subcontractors and in a dark and spooky night, one of our subcontractors thought she was working alone in a large office building. One of her tasks was to mop a large break room floor. She did her cleaning and mopping was all she had left in a seemingly empty office.. 

Our sub mopped the floor just after midnight and as she was putting away her supplies she heard a "whooomp" followed by a shrill scream. She walked back to where she just mopped only to find our client's vice-president sprawled out because she slipped on the freshly mopped floors. Our client injured her hip and had to be taken to the hospital. 

You and your workers aren't perfect. There will be mistakes. Some mistakes might hurt others. Some might damage things. The purpose of this post is to share that we're not perfect. Scary situations will happen and hopefully this serves as a warning to all that read (or listen) to it. 
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A local Facebook group was asked about scary things they faced when using a cleaning service. One poster described the time their cleaner tried to power wash their front door, resulting in a door only fitting for Halloween. 

In other stories in that group, a local resident reported that the wrong cleaning product was used on their anti-fog mirrors, rendering them useless and leaving a permanent haze. In yet another, the wrong cleaning product was used on their natural stone shower walls which turned their natural stone color to a chocolate milk color due to a chemical reaction. Finally, another poster said that her cleaning company wanted to "help" and without the homeowner's consent took the sofa covers off the sofa and washed them. The fabric tore due to the stressors of the water weight in the washing and drying process. Yep! It was clean....and cleanly ripped up.

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Breathe Deep... If You Dare

If you read our Cautionary Tales on mixing chemicals, you'll recall you should never mix chemicals. A fellow commercial cleaning company shared what not to do. Their daytime porter mixed two chemicals together: ammonia and bleach at a medical clinic. What happens when you mix the two? You create chloramine gas. What does chloramine gas do? It causes shortness of breath, coughing, and edema. Imagine millions of tiny bronchioles popping with blood and fluid in your lungs. Breathe that in for a minute. Everyone was evacuated and the area made safe.

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Accidents happen. A heavy alkaline called Awesome had awesomely spilled inside a cleaner's caddy belonging to a fellow cleaning company. This product, according to their SDS, has a pH approaching or equal to 12.0. Products like that on the pH scale tend to do damage. This was no different when this product leaked through the caddy and onto stained wood floors. We use a similar product on waxed floors to remove the wax. The damage to these wood floors are just as noticeable. It's almost like the part of the caddy remained with the floor.

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Silent Steps, Bleached Shadows

Bleach can do a lot of damage. It's not uncommon for some cleaning companies to use bleach. In one scary case, a cleaner used bleach inside a bathroom. Well, the lid to the spray bottle wasn't on tight and when the cleaner exited the restroom, the bottle fell onto the carpeted floors. Carpet and bleach don't mix well. In a panic the cleaner and cleaner's supervisor walked around on that carpet not realizing that every step they took caused yet another bleached stain. This was tracked throughout the property. The house wasn't small either. It was 8500 square feet. The carpet couldn't be matched and completely had to be replaced. One good thing about that episode: it prepared the house quite well for Halloween. 

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Acids and natural stones (ie quartz, marble, etc.) don't mix well. Acid will destroy the surface. It only takes a few drops. This fellow cleaner posted this asking for advice on how to repair this damage. It is repairable, but it'd take some time to grind the surface down and reseal it. It's not an easy fix and needs to be done by a professional. The exact cause of the spill is still unknown by the cleaner. Heart breaks for the cleaner and the homeowner for sure.

Next on Deck: What Does Your Hospitality Say About Your Business? (Coming 11-6-2024)