Elderly Woman Fires Caregiver For Using Her Washer and Drying to do Her Personal Laundry: 'My Mother Noticed the Water Bill was a Little Higher Than Usual.'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
Jul 21, 2026 7:45 AM EDT

Was she wrong for firing her for this? 

Life is so annoying when you don't have a washer and dryer in your building. If you've ever had an apartment that necessitates you going to the laundromat multiple times a week, you know how annoying that is. My bestie just moved to my neighborhood, and her new apartment doesn't have a washer or dryer. Not to be the greatest friend in the world, but I've been letting her do her laundry at my place, and it's been so fun! It gives her an excuse to come over, hang out, and talk for a couple of hours when she otherwise wouldn't have planned to. I would think she would do the same for me if I ever moved somewhere without laundry. However, I don't know if I would expect the same thing of somebody whom I barely know, or somebody whom I work for. If a random acquaintance that you've hung out with once asks you if they can do laundry at your house, chances are there is something going on with them that you don't want any part of. 

The woman in this story started doing her laundry at her client's house without asking them first, and it cost her her job. Do you think they should've fired her over this?

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  • Caretaker helping an elderly couple with an activity before they fire her for doing her personal laundry at their home, using their washer and dryer, which drove up the water bill.
    via Age Cymru

    Caretaker helping an elderly couple with an activity before they fire her for doing her personal laundry at their home, using their washer and dryer, which drove up the water bill.

    Image uses models to depict situations. 

  • Am I the bad guy for backing up my mom for firing the caretaker that was hired to help my mom, because the caretaker got caught doing the caretaker's laundry at my parent's house?

    Last Saturday my mom finally had enough of the caretaker she hired to help her and needed my help with firing the caretaker. The past four months my mother had hired a caretaker to help her with things around the
    via u/Gymtrio2025
  • house. Within one month my mother noticed the water bill was little higher than usual and my parents are usually very careful of how much water they use. The water bills the next two months were high again. my mother suspected
    via u/Gymtrio2025
  • An elderly couple goes through their bills and notices that their water bill this month is higher than usual.
    via Curated Lifestyle (Unsplash+)

    An elderly couple goes through their bills and notices that their water bill this month is higher than usual. 

    The couple in this picture is not the couple in the story. 

  • something and had my father install a ring camera in the laundry room which in no time caught the caretaker using my parents washer and dryer using clothes from a basket my mother didn't recognize as well the clothes seen in the footage didn't match anything my parents would wear.
    via u/Gymtrio2025
  • A caretaker is doing her own laundry at her employer's home after she did their laundry, even though she didn't ask for permission.
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    A caretaker is doing her own laundry at her employer's home after she did their laundry, even though she didn't ask for permission. 

    The picture does not feature the real person in this story. 

  • When my parents showed me the footage I told them she's gotta go, she's breaking so many rules. Within an hour the woman was confronted by my mother and I asking her to explain the footage. The
    via u/Gymtrio2025
  • woman begged don't fire her and don't tell her supervisor she really needs her job. I asked her does she have any idea how unprofessional it is to use someone else's washer and dryer without their consent not to mention she's on the clock to help my parents not
    via u/Gymtrio2025
  • do whatever she wants while on the clock. My mother and I called the supervisor and said we'll send the footage. My mother hasn't seen the caretaker since. Am I the j for backing my mother up?
    via u/Gymtrio2025
  • Update 2: lot of you asking was she a live in caretaker, she was not a live in caretaker she was just an employee the company sent to work with my mom and the only reason her company told us she was let go is because they had grown bit suspicious of her
    via u/Gymtrio2025
  • she was already on thin ice for two prior incidents which were not disclosed.
    via u/Gymtrio2025
  • Maiace124 I think I would need to know how many hours the caretaker was working there and if she was live in. I would probably start off with a conversation. Franky finding good caretakers is difficult and if there had been no other issues, I would hesitate to jump to firing. Seriously, it was almost impossible to find a good caretaker for my grandparents. If one of our care takers asked to do laundry at our house, we would have said yes in a heartbeat. But again - there would have been a discus
    via u/Maiace124
  • browsingbananas A few loads of laundry isn't enough to have a noticeably higher water bill. If I were you, I would have focused my time on doing a leak search. I think you're a j for doing that. She's in a low paying job which means she probably is struggling financially like everyone else and maybe she can't afford to fix her washer and dryer or works too much she doesn't have time to do it. I would have considered it a tip to her. Unless there were other serious rules she was breaking. But eve
    via u/browsingbananas
  • nasturshum INFO: Are you paying her enough money for her to live on? Like a proper decent wage with enough for her to save some money each month? Or is she struggling so much. she has to try and make savings wherever she can?
    via u/nasturshum
  • Helpful Section5591 It sounds like she's contracted through an agency (since she has a supervisor), so they wouldn't even known what her actual wages are. They are an elderly couple, likely on a fixed income (since they "closely monitor their water usage"), and are already incurring a substantial expense due to their need for a caretaker. I'm not sure why you would assume they are wealthy enough to support a whole other person.
    via u/Helpful_Section5591
  • CasperMoriarty Fired for washing clothes...these are the same people who probably give to charity every Christmas my god..has nobody heard the phrase " charity begins at home" when did people get so cruel.
    via u/CasperMoriarty
  • Acrobatic_Iron_1427 I really would not want someone using my personal washer/dryer at all. I have a compromised immune system and am older and don't snap back like before. This gives me the ick because you don't know where this person has been and cold water does not necessarily destroy germs. Charity does begin at home. But. Ask permission first. Respect begins at home too.
    via u/Acrobatic_Iron_1427
  • Cloverose2 I would want to know if anyone tried talking to the caretaker and making it clear that they didn't think this was acceptable. Because this doesn't feel like a firing offense. This feels like a conversation. You didn't make it clear how much laundry she was doing. Is it a load or two once or twice a week? Is she running a laundry side business using your mother's machines? Those are different scenarios.
    via u/Cloverose2

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laundry boss dryer employee fired mother unfair old people washer healthcare elderly
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