I’m a newer caregiver and I’m trying to figure out if what I’m experiencing is normal or if I’m slowly being put into roles that aren’t really caregiving.
After my weekends off, I come back and nothing has been cleaned. Dishes are still piled up, doggy pads are left all over the house (sometimes even dog poop on the floor), and overall the home is usually messy.
For context, my client is not someone who is completely dependent. Honestly, I would say he’s fairly independent and does a lot on his own. Because of that, I’ve started to feel less like a caregiver and more like I’m functioning as a housekeeper/maid.
When I’m there, I’ll ask if he needs anything like food, drinks, or errands run, and 99% of the time he says no. So most of my shift ends up being me just sitting there unless I start cleaning on my own.
My routine has basically become:
- Clean kitchen and pick up dog pads when I arrive
- Sweep daily, mop M/W/F
- Make bed daily, change sheets M/F
- Clean bathroom on Fridays
That’s pretty much it because he doesn’t really request help and mostly does things himself.
On top of that, he will sometimes ask me to wash his dogs, and he also yells at them in a very aggressive way when he’s frustrated (saying things like he’s going to “strangle” them). If I miss something or don’t do a task exactly how he expects, he will cuss and get upset.
For example, he wanted me to dump his ashtray daily when I make the bed. He thought he had told me, but he hadn’t, and then said, “I told you to dump that damn ashtray every time you make the bed.”
I guess I’m just trying to figure out if this kind of situation is normal in caregiving, or if I’m stepping into duties that are outside the scope of what the job should be. And how do other caregivers handle situations where the client doesn’t really ask for care but still expects you to be there and do general cleaning?