15 JANUARY 2005, Page 51

Q. We have a new daily lady but despite our

having made it absolutely clear that she should never unplug my son’s computer, she keeps doing it, even when she has not used the Hoover in the room in question. I do not want to lose this daily (even though she costs £10 per hour, which is apparently now the going rate) but my son, aged 11, is furious because he gets to a certain point in his games and the unplugging takes him back to square one. Like all dailies, she is very touchy and I am almost afraid to raise the subject again, because the last time I did so she replied that she would not come again if we did not like the way she did her work.

W.F., London NW3 A. Dailies do have an unfortunate tendency to unplug things. Just as they leave paintings cocked at off-beam angles to prove that they have dusted along the top, and bath taps turned to shower mode so that the next person innocently to try to run a bath is doused, they like to unplug things in a room to show they have been scrupulous about fire risks. This is because they often believe that fires will break out if electrical appliances are left plugged in. You can retrain your daily by explaining to her that since her last visit your son has had a new accelerator built into his computer, which must be left plugged in at all times — if not, an explosion will occur. Although this is illogical, there is no reason for her not to believe it. After all, if she were computer literate she would not be working as a daily. Take the additional precaution of taping the plug to the wall with DANGER written on the tape, and you should soon see an end to the nuisance.