Memo to Vacating Residents: Leaving cleaning products behind does not mean your apartment is clean

I've noticed a pattern over the course of turning over apartments for the past 3+ years. Some people leave cleaning products behind in lieu of actually cleaning their apartments. I'm not sure why this is exactly, but I'd like to offer a few theories I've been working on, usually while cleaning said dirty apartments.

Theory #1: They hope I won't notice how dirty the apartment is because I'll be so excited about all the free cleaning supplies.

Response: While I do love free cleaning supplies, I am not blind....or stupid. I think everyone here knows that I am the one who does the cleaning so even though I don't get paid extra when the place is really dirty, I'm still going to write it down on the check-out sheet. If you don't want to clean it, you are going to pay for it.

Theory #2: They know they apartment is dirty and I'm going to need those cleanings supplies after they're gone.

Response: I really want to believe that people are nice and thoughtful so I came up with this theory so that I can live in my "give everyone the benefit of the doubt" bubble.

Theory #3: Moving took way longer than they thought because they had no idea how much crap they had and they ran out of time to clean.

Response: This has happened to me. I have the best intentions, but moving is one of the most exhausting life experiences ever. Two times I have had friends offer to do all the cleaning after we left the state. This is one of those gifts that humbles you to the core because there is no way you could ever repay those people. I made the promise to pay it forward. I've only ever done it out of the goodness of my heart a couple of times, but since this is part of my job I just remember those times and consider my service a continuation of paying it forward. Also, it makes me sad for them that they don't have friends to help them move and clean like I do.

Theory #4: A misguided belief that the cleaning supplies themselves will magically come alive and do the cleaning for them.

Response: You've watched Fantasia one too many times. Actually, I secretly hold this belief. Sometimes I get the vacuum cleaner out of the closet and put it in the middle of the living room hoping that it will magically start working on its own. The closest this have ever come to happening is when my husband gets the hint and starts vacuuming without me mentioning it. The worst is when he gets sick of looking at it after several days and just puts it away without using it first. Then I get all upset because, "I was going to use that." And he's like, "Really, it's been sitting there for 3 days." And I'm like, "Yeah, but I really was going to get around to it and that vacuum sitting there was my reminder." (As if all the gross stuff accumulating on our unforgiving apartment-grade carpet is not reminder enough.) And he's like, "Whatever, I'm tired of tripping over it." And I know he's right so I shut up then because I really wasn't going to vacuum.

Those are all of the theories I've come up with so far. Please feel free to submit your own.