I believe a lot of people have a cordial/friendly relationship with their cleaner. I know my cleaner's wife and kids, have helped one of their kids get into coding and them to get access to training (bus-driving school, which they completed, then went back to cleaning because they didn't like the rude commuters).
When I replace an appliance, my kid outgrows his cloths or I replace a laptop they've got second picks (after family) on hand-me-downs.
It's also worth mentioning cleaners make a pretty decent wage here ($20+) and don't live in abject poverty.
It's certainly not a glamorous life (and one some family members worked at at different points in their life) and it's hard work with few options for internal promotion - but it's not that soul-crushing for everyone.
I think a part of it is that good cleaners are in very high demand here and I have an incentive to have a good relationship with them because it helps a lot in getting them to clean my house the way I like and for us to work around their holidays/time off and vice versa.
It's also important to be nice to the cleaner since things become simpler logistically once you trust them with your house key and money to purchase cleaning supplies.
same here. I recently moved but until that happened I had used the same husband and wife couple for something like 5 years. The husband is a bit of a handyman so they've picked up other work from me as well (fixing privacy fence, replacing things around the house, working on my car, and so forth).
I've had them call me up because they were stuck in town due to a car breakdown and what not, and I've happily given them rides to places.
Thing is, they both used to be into drugs, and they both got clean. My impression of them (especially the wife) is that they're hard working, honest people and I wish them the best in life. They're about 4 years from outright owning their house and I'm happy for them. They recently ran into car trouble and I've asked my brother to see if he can find something in their price range (strange as it sounds, his hobby is finding cheap vehicles and getting decent use out of them).
At the end of the day we're all just people trying to get through life. I'm not trying to take advantage or cause harm and I trust they're not trying to take advantage or cause harm. We have our life circumstances and for this moment we're here, together. That sounds a bit like the temporary friend thing from fight club, but in some ways I think it's true.
When I replace an appliance, my kid outgrows his cloths or I replace a laptop they've got second picks (after family) on hand-me-downs.
It's also worth mentioning cleaners make a pretty decent wage here ($20+) and don't live in abject poverty.
It's certainly not a glamorous life (and one some family members worked at at different points in their life) and it's hard work with few options for internal promotion - but it's not that soul-crushing for everyone.