The Important Thing to Remember

I keep telling myself that the important thing to remember is: everyone survived. And so far, are all fine.

Dawgs playin' 

What happened is that, yet again, a pet sitter did not do what I was going to pay them to do.

This is the second sitter in a row that just disregarded what they were instructed to do. 

I did a lot of pet sitting in college. It's a decent way to make money, especially if you like animals. You look in on pets every day or however often. Sometimes you stay the night if that's what they ask and they pay you to do. It's not necessarily difficult to do, though sometimes some pet owners are, well, kinda a little nutty, I'll admit.

But if someone left instructions that the cat food was to be heated, guess what I did? I heated the cat food! It wasn't up to me to decide how someone took care of their pets. So I did what was instructed to do.

Hit the "Read more" button to, well, read more... lol

Silly Penny behind my desk. Yep, belly up  :)

These two pet sitters were supposed to spend the night in the house. Then there was company for some spoiled pets, the dogs got to go out on a regular basis, and someone was in the house. Did I expect them to come in and not leave? Of course not! People have jobs, appointments, dates, etc. But I damn well expect them to spend each and every night in the house as they are getting paid to do!

So - when I got home from being out of town last night, and the house had clearly not been at all inhabited (and come on - we can all tell. Bed never slept in, nothing moved in the fridge, towels not rumpled, not a sheet of toilet paper gone...) - I was livid. Furious, in fact.

It was clear that she did come over (as he did a few months ago when he was supposed to pet sit). Our babies did not starve nor did we find poop and piddle all over the house. And she did water the garden - not a huge job in and of itself, but an important one.

Just because dogs *can* hold it for nearly 24 hours, however, doesn't mean they should have to. Last time, Sophie ended up with a serious urinary tract infection that was very expensive to treat, and a lame leg that she still limps on from time to time. So far nothing seems to be bothering her like that this time. Time will tell, I guess.

Now - both of these pet sitters are early 20s, college-educated people who should know better. The first one willfully misunderstood what we told him. He didn't want to stay, so convinced himself that's not what we meant. When he got reamed for it, he had the grace not to expect any money for it.

The second one even talked and asked questions about when she would be staying here at night. All the while, she probably knew she wasn't going to stay, which to me is a form of lying. And then texted me that she was sending her boyfriend over for the check, though cash would be better, all the while knowing she hadn't done what was expected. I know people who would construe that as stealing. I told her to leave the keys in the mailbox and I'd figure out how much she was actually owed for what she did do. 

So yea - I do owe her *some* money that I will be happy to pay her. But it won't be the agreed upon price from days gone by, because *that* price included staying in the house, with my babies, every night!

Which leaves me with a bunch of emotions. Am I furious? Not as much as I was last night. Frustrated - absolutely. But what I am most of all is just plain disappointed. I liked both of these people, trusted them with my furry babies, my garden, and my house. And while everything is still standing, I know all was not as it should have been. 

*sigh* I apologize for the rant, but I needed to get that off my chest.

Later or tomorrow - awesome updates on the garden. Including George's first tomato!!

:)