Cleaning clients hide 100 rubber ducks around apartment, demand cleaner collects them all as they work: 'I would never clean for them again'

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Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Jan 27, 2026 9:00 AM EST

If you hire someone to perform a service for you, you have to trust that they are going to do a good job.

This is not an exact science, and nobody is going to get their choice right every single time. A lot of it comes down to reading the reviews, maybe looking over some kind of portfolio, and simply trusting good old-fashioned intuition. The rest is in the hands of the professional you have entrusted with whatever it is you want done. 

While most people are willing to accept the risk that comes with trying somebody new for the service they are looking for, some cannot help but bring out their control freak tendencies and make working for them a miserable experience. It is every professional's worst nightmare to deal with a nitpicky client who is forever questioning the quality of their work, even if they have no reason to. 

When somebody is soliciting some kind of service for their home, it is somewhat understandable for them to be worried about whether the person they hire is going to be a good fit. Still, they are more likely to make their best effort if the relationship with their clients is a positive one.

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  • Kam TOIR @PatsKam I would in fact, never clean for them again!
    via PatsKam

  • House cleaning is one of those jobs that can turn out to be surprisingly intimate. After all, it involves going into somebody else's personal space and going into all the nooks and crannies that may otherwise be left well alone. It can give a cleaner a vital insight into how their customers live, and the kinds of personalities that they have. 

    One cleaner was in for a shock when some new clients that they had decided that it was necessary to set up a test for them the first time they were cleaning their apartment. They left them an empty jar and a note claiming that they had hidden one hundred small rubber ducks around the apartment that they expected them to collect and leave in the jar to show that they had cleaned thoroughly.

    Nobody who saw the photographic proof of this stunt thought that it was a good idea to have an attitude like that with somebody coming to clean your house. Many saw it as a surefire way to get fired as a customer.

  • To our cleaner, We hid 100 mini ducks around the apartment. We do this to ensure job well done! 5 please leave ALL ducks In this jar-5+J
    via PatsKam
  • Kaimana White Balsa по алп эш
    via PatsKam
  • Cheezburger Image 10600532224
    via PatsKam
  • Cheezburger Image 10600532480
    via PatsKam
  • heather marie ❤ ❤ @heatherellaxo Replying to @Patskam Imagine taking the time to do this, but not clean your own house...who raised these MFs I swear..
    via heatherellaxo
  • Atlas @AtlasxVT Replying to @Patskam The way I would find all the ducks but not clean and then quit Imaoo
    via AtlasxVT
  • Tanner | Mindset @TannerMindset Replying to @Patskam That's just insulting lol. Basically telling the cleaner that you don't trust them.
    via TannerMindset
  • Bryan @_Witha_Y Replying to @Patskam I would hide them in different places and leave a new note.
    via _Witha_Y
  • EXCH Cam @CryptoNews_eth Replying to @Patskam I owned a cleaning business with my wife and a 'customer' tried to do something similar to one of our employees... Safe to say we dropped them very quickly. Zero tolerance for that.
    via CryptoNews_eth
  • Tom DuPree III @tomdupreeiii Replying to @Patskam What kind of moral-high-horse-p assive-aggressive-status-game is this?! People are wild, man.
    via tomdupreeiii
  • katie honan @katie_honan If you can hide 100 mini ducks you can clean your own home
    via katie_honan
  • Drew @AuntieSlayer The most confusing archetype of human is the "extroverted quirky passive aggressive". Do they think being an asshole in a cheery tone makes them less of an asshole? Everyone hates you more than people who just embrace that they are assholes.
    via AuntieSlayer
  • eva @hyunagalx to pay people you don't trust to clean your home just to treat them with disrespect to the point of leaving small things in every corner you want cleaned and insist on them being collected because you don't trust them is insane behavior. just do it your fucking self my God!!!!!!
    via hyunagalx
  • annie !!! @namjoonshime id clean the place, put the ducks back where they were and quit. nobody would remember where they put 100 tiny ducks, so they would have to go look for them themselves. hell id get more ducks and put them in the ducts like fuck u
    via namjoonshime
  • alex @notvar1 As the CEO of a cleaning company, we see overprotective homeowners constantly. If a cleaner sent us this, we'd refund the client and still pay the cleaner for even dealing with it. Not funny. Just annoying.
    via notvar1
  • Mauvais Perdant (autod... @Nacre DieNasty When I was a house cleaner in Finland I had costumers that who come after me, and wipe surfaces with their fingers wearing a with silk glove to be sure that I dusted properly. In front of me. It wasn't only about the cleaning service but also about power and humiliation.
    via Nacre_DieNasty
  • Vix @lillai23 As a former cleaner: They'd find no ducks in a jar & no cleaner. Bye. I had a waiting list, they'd be dropped immediately
    via lillai23
  • Ugochi | CM @MyzJulz They are not looking for the ducks They are deep cleaning It's simple, if you do your job well, you won't have to "look" for the ducks.... You'd see them as you clean. I don't know if this makes sense but that's how I see it
    via MyzJulz
  • redhead ophelia @redhead_ophelia Imagine coming to do your job - clean the apartment - and being forced to count little ducks while doing it
    via redhead_ophelia

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cleaning customers ducks entitled people apartment cleaner rubber duck
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