Submission via email:
"This quarter, we got a message from our DM stating that we would no longer be reimbursed for washing the blankets and large cloth backgrounds. If a child defecates on the black velvet, we are now supposed to clean it up with a wipe and move on. Are you kidding me? The large backgrounds need to be washed and dried in a super capacity washer and dryer to get them really clean, and I have honestly NEVER seen things this dirty! The blankets are getting stained with spit-up, babies routinely pee on the velvet, and they want us to clean it with a wipe?!? Aside from customers being upset that the white muslin is now stained with melted M&M's (thank you, idiot mother), this HAS to be against some kind of health code....right?"
I'm guessing yes. Why SPS has never paid someone to come and do cleaning on everything is beyond me. Especially now with the reduction of hours, it seems like there would be a cleaning service that could pick everything up and bring everything back in the morning. And it would give parents piece of mind that their child isn't sitting in pee from 5 months ago.
One of the best things about my new job away from SPS is that I'm no longer responsible for cleaning the entire place from top to bottom. Even with a magic eraser, that white vinyl would take an hour to clean in and of itself.
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19 comments:
The cleaning situation was always crazy. I couldn't believe we only got the handy wipes and windex. It was all very unsanitary.
Actually, you should not be dealing with ANY type of body fluids-that's the job of the Sears LP team.
Well so is vacuuming the floors probably, but I did a lot of vacuuming in my day.
I was told to "just take them (backgrounds and blankets)home and wash them. Use a LOT of bleach on the white muslin." But when I asked about taking them to a laundymat to use a larger machine and get reimbursed, I was told CPI wouldn't do it, so I never took them home, I just ordered new ones so often that they started asking why. When I told them why, I never had a problem getting new ones and they didn't charge it to the studio.
~M~
Running the vacuum does not normally put you in contact with body fluids. Vomit, feces and urine are considered bio-hazards and are to cleaned up by your store's LP team using a special kit.
^^^
A valid point.
Anyone have any experience w/ Sears store and their willingness to actually come by and clean it?
In all honesty, I never even called them to try since my SM said it wasn't worth it. So in the end it could be my own fault that I was the one cleaning up the pee.
Still, regardless of who mopped up the pee, things still ended up stained and the props and posing tools were gross and rarely (if ever) cleaned.
I know at my studio we had some different colored backgrounds than other studios (e.g. a purple). They were ones that used to be white but that a previous manager had dyed to be a new (pee masking) color.
oh i had a woman claim a teddy bear gave her daughter pink eye. 6 years later that same dirty teddy bear has never been cleaned. its ok to clean the covers on the infant pillow poser but what about the pillow itself? its been peed on and they never sent new. the plastic weight thingie on our white seamless has been broken for almost a year splintering more when a kid trips over it yet we still cant get a replacement. the carpets in our studio waiting room are stained filthy and even when they replaced the entire stores carpeting we didnt get one. not too mention the amount of dust floating around. we must have amazing immune systems.
CPI has always been willing to ship new table cloths and new pillows..they have even sent new muslins as long as you sent the old one back. Since last year we now have to get DM approval for any new cloths..
I spend a fortune in hand sanitizer and Lysol to clean the bead tables and counter areas... I think we should have two hours paid twice a month and Then I would do the laundrey... I have my own kids to clean up after...
Our studio has a chemical spill spot on the floor from a shipping accident (a container with a chemical broke and leaked onto a box that came to our studio). The floor turned strange colors and caused anyone who touched it to get ill. The solution was not to replace the carpet...instead they threw a little area mat (the kind you wipe your feet on) over top of it and have forgotten about it..... lovely!
No where in CPI training does it talk about cleaning the studio or the props and proper care for everything (even for manager training) They leave it up to you as an individual to decide when/what to clean? Umm...I know that I am personally a clean person, but I can't speak for everyone else! I am personally embaressed when I ask a customer to set their child on one of our backgrounds (especially my white muslin). They are disgusting! I take them home and clean them (on my own time with my own money..because god forbid CPI reimburse us for something like that!!!!) Still they are gross and have stains that will not come off. Most of our customers are also quite disgusting and let their children do whatever. I'm sick to death of mom watching her child pee/poop/vomit on something then sit there and watch me clean it up (with my little Fresh N Up wipes...thanks CPI) and not even offer to help me clean it! I am your photographer, not your maid! If your child has an accident why am I the one cleaning up after it...that is disgusting!!!!! Just because it is a baby, it does not mean its fecal matter and pee is "cute". Screw you nasty people! Seriously...if they were at their own home do you think they would just sit there and let their child pee all over stuff?! I hope not! And those "pee pads" CPI provides us with for naked poses are useless. They have no absorbency whatsoever and are entirely too small. If a child pees on one, it spills all over the place and makes a bigger mess!
I used to put in 2 hours of payroll whenever I took home blankets, etc. to wash. In the comments section I simply put "Studio Laundry". I was never questioned.
In response to the one that was disgusted by having to clean up "baby pee/poop/vomit. I do not have children and have never wanted them. That being said, in 18 years and hundreds of "accidents', I never cleaned up any. If it happened in a session, I simple handed the parent a box of tissues or wet wipes and asked if they needed to go to the restroom for paper towels. Sometimes i would say nicely, "I will give you a minute to take care of that and I'll be back". If it got all over the backgrounds, blankets, etc. I would tell them to pick up the child and remove the entire thing and toss it. Something about changing diapers in the camera room is soooo appealing to some customers, but did you know it is a health code violation and CPI could get in serious trouble for allowing it to happen? I actually had an officer tell a customer not to change her kid on the carpet and then give me a long speech. I never let it happen again. I have had two separate incidents in two different cities where someone (adult size) has defecated on the carpet. Both times I called LP and they sent someone to clean it with no problem. They have the haz-mat materials for such occasions.
I have worked with so many "moms" that just wipe baby drool as they see it and then on their clothes or worse, but I personally wouldn't want anyone's dirty fingers in my childs face, just like I don't want to clean up other peoples poo/pee/vomit.
~M~
We've been waiting for three months for a new white muslin...guess what! We still havent gotten it. Our DM has even been to the studio and didnt do a thing about it but exclaim at how dirty it is. Some of those stains on there....there's nothing can get any of them out.
HO doesn't care! Quit whining! ITS ABOUT PRS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've never had a problem from my DM about replacing background, props, blankets or whatever. Also, if I do take home anything to wash I do like another commenter and add the hours in. As long as I tell my DM he doesn't care. Also, it helps if you tell the mom's that want to do naked shots that you'll do it, but if they pee they're responsible for cleaning it up. Also, we will only do naked shots on the white vinyl and not the muslins or the velvet, because it's easier to clean up. If you ask the cleaning crew they'll give you a spray bottle of industrial strength sanitizer. We use that on our bead table, on the backgrounds, on the props. I never pay for any cleaning stuff. I get it from Sears.
I think the point of the post was that CPI WILL NOT pay you for those lovely extra hours you've been putting in for cleaning anymore.
I don't know how it is with you, but our DM is carefully monitoring the time activity and so if we create anything (i.e., extra time for washing), it will be removed and we will be written up.
So say goodbye to the extra hours you've enjoyed as reimbursement for washing the blankets and backgrounds. They are gone!
My dm is also closly monitoring our labor, but if we can justify it by telling her about it ahead of time, she will approve it.
We were told we could not order muslins, etc because it would come out of the studio's GPI.
Our DM is still offering to reimburse us for taking our muslins to the laundromat. She just asks that we get a receipt then I assume she writes it off on her taxes since I KNOW she doesn't get reimbursed thru the company.
As for body fluids, I have been doing photography for over 7 years. I have witnessed a lot of "accidents" but have never had a problem getting the parent to clean up after their own child. There have been a couple people that seemed to expect me to, but all it took was explaining that it's not my job to clean up after their child, they normally obliged & did it. We also do the "cake sessions" for Baby's 1st Birthday & the same rule applies. If the baby makes a mess, they clean it up. We make it perfectly clear BEFORE we start both the cake & naked sessions. Most parents are decent people.
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