Dishing the Dirt: The Hidden Lives of House Cleaners

by Nick Duerden

Based on dozens of interviews, Dishing the Dirt tells the story of Britain's house cleaners for the first time. How do they live – and what do they think of their clients?

Genres: Nonfiction

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Amy Gillings · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t mean to be rude. But I feel like this book was falsely advertised.

It’s described as funny, I didn’t laugh once. And that’s not just because I have no sense of humour. It’s because this book is full of sad background stories of cleaners who have fled their home countries in search of work in England only to be treat like shit because they are ‘just the cleaners’

All this book has done is make me hate certain people. Reading the abuse and remarks these people have suffered. Even the touching! The utter disrespect that they have to deal with each day for people who can’t be bothered to clean up their own crap.

I remember when I worked for a really unfriendly company and hated it. Literally in a whole day the only person who spoke to me would be the cleaner. I regularly make the cleaners at my current job cups of tea and chat to them, and hate it when I see people being rude to them. Just because they clean up our mess. I actually find that in my job the cleaners work harder than most and it’s always the job with the least thanks.

It’s same in home life!! No one ever thanks you for doing the washing up. Unless your a child earning pocket money. But by the sounds of this book we don’t teach our kids this life skill anymore because why should we do it when we can just pay someone else a tenner to do it for us?!

I don’t think I enjoyed this book. Though it is an eye opener. Just not full of the gossip and stories I thought it was going to have!

[abi slade · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

pros ✅
- very quick read
- couldn’t actually put it down at points. gossipy non fic (/biography), just what i like!
- full of compassion, hope and aspirations as well as heartache and loss
- liked that it was structured around the different archetypes of cleaners
- thought provoking, raised valid questions about class/gender/race

cons ❌
- got a little repetitive
- didn’t elicit a massive emotional response
- would’ve liked a little more in the epilogue about his relationship with his cleaner

[Madeleine McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sobering read. Mostly about the precarious lives of legal / illegal immigrants scraping a living by working as cleaners in London, often to support family at home, earning more than they would at home, but low paid by British standards. Even when well paid and working for the super-rich, the interviewees complain about lack of respect. An easy read, in a journalistic, anecdotal style, with only a few mentions of considerate employers.

[Jessie M Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m really struggling to rate this book. In all honesty I think it varies from 2* - 3* through out.

Firstly this really is mis advertised, I even believe I’ve seen other reviews say the same? (May be a running theme here)

I thought picking this up in Tesco, seeing the cover, the back and reading the first few pages that I was getting a ‘Tell all’ gossip ridden laugh out loud true life story book! I was thinking YES brilliant, such a great idea there’s going to be plenty of hilarious stories.

This is NOT what I was getting, it really focuses on the past lives the cleaners themselves have faced. This can be very depressing and not ‘funny’ as stated on the cover.

However this all set asides there are some really interesting chapters which are this books redemption.

Think this book sits on a interesting premise, however just misses the mark

[Sophie Sternschuss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and delving into why people turned to cleaning as a job. Yes I would of like more of some people e.g the housekeeper and the lady that cleaned up after a murder but that’s the nature of the book short and sweet chapters. I think it’s a misconception though that most of the cleaners are all Europeans who don’t have many skills as shown in this book.

[Jude · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fairly interesting book which delved into the back stories of a handful of cleaners working in the UK. Often they are working really hard for mean spirited employers - in some cases very, very mean spirited employers. It makes you think about these people who often weren't cleaners in their home country but they have come to the UK to try to earn more to support their families back home. I'm sure their stories and experiences are applicable to many other countries. It was probably a 3.5 star book for me.

[Lex · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a strange one - the cover and blurb would lead you to believe this book is funny. It isn't, but that's not to say it isn't worth a read. There are some emotional stories here about the migrant experience in the UK.

As a side note, some odd editing choices here: Chapter 5 ends with a teaser of "You need to talk to Jennifer," as though her story would be Chapter 6. Nope, it's Chapter 13 and she's not mentioned again until then.

[Saloua · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @31%. This is so fucking BLEAK. Where is the fun and poignancy the cover speaks about??? Also, the first part put me off entirely. The first interviewee kept emphasizing having to "downgrade" to doing cleaning work and having to accept bad treatment even though she's highly educated. what does that have to do with anything??? so fuck everyone else they deserve to get yelled at be treated like a subhuman but you got your degree so youre above it

[Viselik · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just a great laugh.
Finished it super quick but was chuckling half of the time but it did bring up some points that made me think.

[Kara Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honest and open accounts written in a considerate way