Well, it was actually my house and the client (wife) was not happy. Luckily I had an enormous amount of dry towels handy and was able to contain the spill pretty quickly. Thank goodness it was on hardwood floor and not carpet. Dirty soapy water yuk!
How would you handle this situation? I know… wear a BOAB.
Few ideas: BOAB, carry a bottle of your solution on a belt as well, and put a lid on your big bucket to prevent spills and customers pets or kids getting into it.
I slipped down some stairs a few weeks ago with a bucket in my hands but I kept my cool and spilled maybe a drop. My tailbone has hurt for like 3 weeks though.
I use a bucket indoors and I set it down on a large towel folded in half about 4 or 5 windows or so from where I am working out of the way of traffic, when I work my way towards it, I move it again so it is out of the way.
Some may claim that it is too time consuming to move your bucket like this. Bunk! 5 to 10 seconds a few times on the job is hardly time consuming. Other rooms I can set it in a central location to me and out of the way to get to it quickly when needed without moving it. Some may say too time consuming. Bunk! I move all of my gear with me as I work my way around the house, either inside or outside, and can then put all of my gear away at the end of the job rather quickly.
If you do the bucket method, make it work for you.
If you do the squirt bottle method, make it for you.
Off with their legs!
Offer floor and carpet cleaning to your service list! Then you can just cover up an accident by letting them know you thought they wanted the service and you are “prepping” the surface, or use this spill method for upsales to the carpet cleaning! 
just kidding of course.
Get a nice rubber lined rug and keep your bucket safely out of the way in a corner on or off the rug. Then just dunk your scrubber in as needed.
Been there, done that! Only once, luckily. When inside, I always try to keep my bucket against a wall and out of a walking path.
And always have way more towels than needed for any job! I’ve flooded a few houses because of leaky window or door seals using my WFP.
Just don’t leave you bucket at the base of your step ladder.
I left mine at the base of a booth in a restaurant. When I stepped back to get down my right foot went right into the bucket. Straight up the leg and wet shoe the rest of the day. The girls there just laughed at me.
Ouch!
been there done that…backing down from a kitchen counter…splosh!
Did that once myself…they never asked me back. Lesson learned 
We knocked over a bucket of soapy water in a Huddle House and made a enormous mess. The Manager was so mad that he fired us from the job. I hated that job anyway, lol.
In residential we don’t bring buckets inside very often. Usually leave them on the porch where we can just reach out the door real quick and dip the washer, or we use spray bottles inside.
…and it gets worse. The same restaurant has one of those little plastic koy ponds about 5 feet away from a wall of windows. One day I was polling the tops and stepped back right into the thing. Before I knew it I was trying to climb out. That was worse than the bucket incident. This thing is like 4 feet deep!
Yes I like to leave it outside. Or use a squirt bottle, but I’ve never really liked those too much.
On the rare occasion (once or twice per year) it comes inside a home, I will only set it down in a guest bath or laundry room. Somewhere designed to handle water. And I always use a lid.
Yup, I have done that too, and did the backing out of booth right in to the bucket of water. Wet foot made for a long day.
I smashed my head on a chin up bar at one house. Screwed into the door jamb and knocked me backwards to the ground. I had to spend a few months at the chiropractor for that one.
I only use a squirt bottle for interiors. I do place the bucket outside the front door up against the wall so it’s impossible to trip on.
I haven’t done that but I have had incidence where I as putting my bucket in the back of the truck and it catches on the bed rail and don’t most the whole buckt on you! Stinken sucks!
Haha, same here bro. I learned a valuable lesson that day.
