It’s no secret that every house has its secrets. Fortunately for their owners, their four walls safely guard most of them. Unless there’s a two-eared stranger who may accidentally (or not) overhear something that wasn’t meant for anyone else.
So when someone asked housekeepers on Reddit, “What do you know about the owners of the houses that they don’t know you know?” it was destined to become a heated thread. With so many secrets anonymously spilled, their responses give us a glimpse into the complex, sometimes weird, even dark, other times plain scandalous world of random people we walk by on the streets.
Scroll down for some of the most interesting stories, and let us know what you think of them in the comments below!
#1
I clean for an elderly lady who is still quite sharp and feisty. She was a Boeing inspector in the 60s and 70s, and stood up to a lot of men in order to make sure the planes were up to code. And she did all this as a black woman and a mother. At some point she divorced and later in life remarried, and cared for her husband as he developed dementia and eventually passed away. She tells me about her life without a trace of sentiment, everything is matter of fact and lighthearted. But I see the photographs she keeps of her husband all over the house, ones of them together as well as of him young and handsome in uniform, long before she ever met him when they were middle-aged. I know how it is to lose someone to dementia, but I can only imagine it being your spouse. Sometimes when I call her to confirm that I’m coming over, she sounds deflated and lonely when she first picks up before she switches into her telephone voice.
She’s never told me how deeply she still loves him or how painful it was to see him slipping away, how lonely it is living with only his photographs and memories. How that need for one particular person never goes away. But even though I can’t know exactly, I know.
Image credits: AbsurdBird_
#2
Honestly, everything. I worked in a house manager/butler type of position, and there is nothing you don’t find out eventually. The trajectory of the toothpaste droplets on the mirror would tell me which of the women had spent the night. I knew passwords to computers, alarm systems, bank accounts and safes that I hadn’t necessarily been provided with. Drugs, kinks, medical history, sordid family secrets, skeletons in the closet, you name it. I think that’s the reason salaries get obscene if you stay long enough, your silence is literally golden.
Image credits: CopingMole
#3
Our maid service found our positive pregnancy test in the bathroom trash, after presumably finding negative pregnancy tests in the bathroom trash for the previous 12 months. Left us a nice little congratulations note on my wife’s nightstand.
Image credits: fizzleguy
#4
Housekeeper/Nanny here…
Eventually we find everything.
Mainly where the [adult] toys are, where dad hides all his empty energy drink cans, where mom stores all her shopping purchases with tags still on them… parents in general hide their unusual items in the most usual places. Simple boxes in bedroom drawers, in random linen closets, mostly readily able to find and just out of they way (I’ve helped move several families and doing the checks for packing has gotten some interesting results)
We know when the parents are tired and dont want to come home. We know sometimes the bar trips the parent takes before coming home.
We know schedules that they say are the reason aren’t really the reason
We know personal preferences they have over the years to any random assortment of thing. Seriously who buys mayo to put on everything as their condiment of choice?
Some things that we know, they know we do and accept it. Alot of the stuff we know, we find out and DEFINITELY play dumb with.
First milestones in nannying are a big one. Keep that to the parents finding the first tooth we found days ago, the walking steps they took yesterday were really the first today. Why take those moments from parents needlessly is our perspective.
Housekeeping is usually the who is dirtiest. I know which parent doesnt brush their teeth every day. Which parent is having an affair with a coworker and left behind a recognizable item on accident.
We know that they dont even consider or think much about us knowing all these things.
The worst was accidentally listening to my bosses get it on. They had left the monitor for the baby in their room. It was not turned off and they to this day do not know I heard them (and turned off the monitor) lol
Image credits: Grey_Kit
#5
Not a house keeper but a nanny. A family once took me on vacation with them so I could watch their kids while they‘d go out and explore the area. That week, my bed was the couch in the living room. It’s late at night, the kids are sleeping, I’m laying on the couch and the parents get back. The dad says, “is she sleeping” referring to me? I didn’t say anything so apparently he assumed yes. He then started farting very loudly.
Image credits: sisof2
#6
I used to do housekeeping for a while. I found out that the guy i worked for had a wife AND a mistress. He would bring each at different times to his vacation apartment that i serviced. It was sad because when he was with his wife he was really sweet and sensitive and they would just have a relaxing time if i did happen to see him. They would also clean up after themselves a little so the job was a bit easier while they stayed.
When he would bring his girlfriend he was much ruder to me in front of her (i think trying to be suave and look powerful) and they would both trash the place, she would always leave her underwear, dirty dishes, bottles and cigarettes everywhere.
He didn’t know (or at least didn’t acknowledge) that these women were clearly different people. He referred to both of them as his wife and would call them both “babe”. He seemed unaware or uncaring that i clearly knew they were different women. One was 20 years younger than the other!
I felt sad for the wife because she clearly didn’t know about her husband’s mistress but it was such a well paying job and i needed the money so i never said anything.
Image credits: MiloMolly
#7
Not the housekeeper, but,
I thought I had this brilliant hiding spot. And when I lost my wallet, my Maid told me “you should hide it with those papers inside your nightstand next time”.
I felt such fear. She knows the house better than any of us.
Image credits: AndreZB2000
#8
Our cleaning person actually found a hidden drawer in my nightstand even I didn’t know about. We thought things were disappearing for months before finding the drawer ourselves and realizing he was putting things in there while cleaning. Had a good laugh about that one.
Image credits: some0ne3lse
#9
My friend and I used to clean for a Scientologist couple and we definitely looked at all the “secret” books in their cupboard
Image credits: boatyboatwright
#10
Working in hotels is similar to cleaning someone’s house, because those comfortable will lay it out for you. You can tell if someone is messy or tidy at home, how well they take care their things, what they eat, how much they drink, what medical problems they may have, and if you get the chance to meet them you can piece together why they live the way they do by telling their stories.
I never made fun of our guests or judged them. That would be so unfair and intrusive.
Image credits: silly-noodle
#11
Not a housekeeper but a friend did some contractor work. A client wanted to remove some of the drop ceiling and replace it with drywall. Well, a few ceiling tiles removed, and falls out a ton of crushed beer cans and used condoms. The family had a very active teenager.
Image credits: ThrowMeAwayAccount08
#12
I knew the couple I was cleaning for would get a divorce about 6 months before they did when I found a note from his lover in his coat pocket.
Image credits: Bentish
#13
The wife was too attached to her mother. The husband worked crazy hours and often had to travel internationally. One time, Husband was gone and she had contractors build the basement into a large suite. By the time he was back, his mother-in-law had moved, from Texas to Utah, into his home. The mother-in-law tried to manage the househould while my employers were away at work. The husband ended up buying the mother-in-law an apartment 20 minutes away. He also gave me use of the family vehicles as an apology. About a decade later, they’re still together, but have moved accross the country to escape the extended family.
Image credits: KoalasAndPenguins
#14
This was a while ago when i was a custodian at a nice residential tower. One guy would show up around 6 pm everyday from his job( when i was just starting). One day his girlfriend shows up in the parking garage, as im walking by. They start a LOUD arguement, and i cant help to overhear. She says she is keeping his baby, etc. Week Later, found out he is married with 3 kids already. Even met the kiddos a couple of times in the halls. YEAH. Wow. But i dont think he knew anybody was nearby with that arugement…
Image credits: Wrest216
#15
They did well to hide it but I know both of them are having affairs. She gets really giddy the week she meets her lover. She is usually quite dowdy in the way she dresses, but puts on much younger looking items to meet her man. The week she doesn’t meet him is the week she is more glum but gets bombarded with messages so she is stuck in her phone.
He, on the other hand, he is a lot harder to catch. I find seemingly innocuous handwritten telephone numbers and names (always female) on scraps of paper. He is a professional that works all over the world and travels a lot and has a massive network so it is part of the job. However, in his bin, wrapped in tissue paper I’ll find a torn off section of paper with a room number and presumably time written on it. This method is used with at least 7 different women judging by the different styles of handwriting. I’m pretty sure he is banging more than that though.
Image credits: imakeenwon
#16
I’m a nanny. The last family worked for I overheard the Dad calling his insurance asking if a certain Rehab was covered. He talks LOUD naturally. I heard what he was going for and everything. Nobody knew not family not friends. Just me and them. They never knew I knew.
Image credits: Thesugarsky
#17
That she got a DUI. Typical religious white collar family; husband, wife, and 4 teen kids. She had one of those at home breathalyzer tests from the court sitting in the master bathroom, it takes your picture as you blow into it and it sends it to your probation officer. I only know because I was on probation a few years ago and had one too. Curiosity got the best of me and I looked at her public record…yup. DUI and she messed up on probation too, had another court date. After that I started noticing 12 step books and such.
Image credits: LunaTheFerret
#18
Me and my mom were housekeepers. I did my best to get in and out and not learn much but there’s a lot of unhappy people. Closet druggies, alcoholics. Animal abusers. Questionable parents. They try and hide it but you can’t hide that stuff.
Although I assume they know I know, there are some really disgusting people. People letting their kids trash the house, imagine middle school age kids spitting tooth paste on the mirror then squeezing a bottle of tooth paste out on the 2 sink counter then spreading it from one end to the other and slapping their hands on the mirror. Eating rotten food, as in asking me to clean out the fridge and me throwing away old bad food. They then pull it out of the trash saying no it’s fine.
Image credits: Rottified
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