In Germany a Job is something you’re getting paid for. Otherwise it’s not considered as work.
Obviously my definition, due to a different upbringing and native language, is not the same as yours. Maybe people would be so kind to consider that here are also people from other countries than English speaking ones, no matter how good their English actually is.
And, being a “Boomer”, believe it or not, I love my job, but I wouldn’t do it if I wasn’t paid. If I did, I wouldn’t consider it as a job but a hobby…probably another “Boomer” expression…
Hello just a quick reminder on this thread to please be respectful of the topic and the people discussing it, even if you disagree with other’s opinions and some of what is being said.
Please keep the conversation kind as per our forum values.
As an owner and a sitter, I will STRONGLY agree that there needs to be clear communication about the equality of the sit. I am horrified by some of the requirements that owners have and would never apply for many of the sits here because it is way more work than I want to do. I spoke with a sitter today who is new to the site and unfamiliar with the nuances of THS and she asked about compensation for the owner OR the sitter. She asked in a way that started an open, honest dialog about the value we were both looking for in the exchange. We have both earned money taking care of pets, we have both cared for homes and we were clear about what each party would be contributing and we agreed that the exchange was fair for both of us. If you don’t have this conversation before accepting a sitter/sit, you are doing both of you a disservice and setting yourself up for possible failure.
As for the housecleaner, I WISH I could even find a house cleaner here in Germany! Cleaning services are few and far between and IF you can find one and IF you can get on their schedule, it will be expensive and require a monthly minimum number of hours. Believe me, I would gladly pay someone to clean my house for my sitter before I leave for vacation, that’s extra stress I don’t need. But alas, I have to suck it up, pack early and plan on spending the day before my vacay cleaning in the hopes that I come home to a house in the same condition I left it. So far so good! But my point is this: it might not be about an owner cheaping out on a cleaner, there are other reasons why it may be a DIY cleaning situation.
Thanks for sharing! You raise a really great point - you and this potential sitter/HO stumbled into a very productive, necessary and honest convo about expectation setting. From experience, that can be difficult to do, especially across various cultural and demographic differences. Again this presents an opportunity for THS to create process that facilitates these important conversations ahead of a sit.
Fair point about the cleaner - my intention in making that a line item wasn’t necessarily to shame a homeowner who doesn’t, but from my experience to protect both parties from disappointment due to honest differences in perceptions of what is “clean”, lol. As someone who has lived somewhat nomadically and sublet from and to people a LOT, it’s been a pain point on both ends of the spectrum multiple times.
I’m being a tad fascetious, but “treat others the way you want to be treated” is a slippery slope when it comes to home cleaning, LOL. I am by no means a clean freak but the amount of homes I have paid to stay in and have been boasted about as clean have varied so intensely and rarely been the way I keep my home. So it raises the question of perception and self-awareness, and planning for a cleaner before and after removes the risk of discrepancies. Of course it doesn’t replace someone cleaning up after themselves and keeping up with the house during their stay, but in my experience it’s great for peace of mind.
The fact that you state that you value the labor of pet sitting means the problematic approach I outlined doesn’t really apply to you. However you still took issue with equating the value of the labor, so perhaps do some introspection on why you felt the desire to expend energy doing so. In many places other than where you live - for example London, NYC and San Francisco, where I’ve lived - the cost of labor is considerably more than what you’ve stated. Moreover, globally, the concept of the “working wage” is not commensurate to the value created by the actual labor and was also never intended to facilitate a quality of life.
Through pondering your response I’ve rather organically come to the underlying issue of class, privilege and an under-emphasis on the nature of “exchange” and what that means. People who have experience with home exchanges, communal living, international communities, and mutual aid tend to be more aware of these things naturally and I wish I could more clearly define like-minded people in this space vs sifting through so much and not having the appropriate parameters to gauge it.
@EdenS
Do you mean to say that some home owners think of themselves as bosses, rather than partners in an equal exchange?
I sometimes get that impression too with some people.
Eden, 100% agree. Where I live. I could get an overnight sitter $50-$60 USD. If my home were an Airbnb, it would cost about $120 a night. I work both sides. I sit and I get sitters.
As a homeowner, I have a cat who is super easy. As a sitter, I have chosen sits where I’ve had to walk a dog three times a day and feed them special diets. The key word here is CHOSEN. And the reason I chose them is because I like animals, and because they were in a place I wanted to go. And some of these places I wanted to go would cost me upwards of $200 for a basic Airbnb.
No one needs to act like a victim if they are going in knowing what they’re going into. It’s different if a homeowner is not honest. If that’s the case, give them a review, report them, and move on.
If this platform isn’t working out for you, then move on.
I believe in investing in the things that matter to me vs accepting a status quo that is under serving its purpose FWIW, Air BnB is also wildly overpriced and exploitative and this is increasingly coming into the common conscience. Not a great org to align yourself by but also kind of reinforcing my point. I would love for the platform to better cultivate a network of homeowners and sitters who have an understanding of exchange vs warped ideas of value. The platform is working great for me, thanks!
Eden, 100% agree. Where I live. I could get an overnight sitter $50-$60 USD. If my home were an Airbnb, it would cost about $120 a night. I work both sides. I sit and I get sitters.
As a homeowner, I have a cat who is super easy. As a sitter, I have chosen sits where I’ve had to walk a dog three times a day and feed them special diets. The key word here is CHOSEN. And the reason I chose them is because I like animals, and because they were in a place I wanted to go. And some of these places I wanted to go would cost me upwards of $200 for a basic Airbnb.
No one needs to act like a victim if they are going in knowing what they’re going into. It’s different if a homeowner is not honest. If that’s the case, give them a review, report them, and move on.
If this platform isn’t working out for you, then move on.
Yes. I have reported both. And both are no longer on THS. I don’t know if I was the only one who reported them. Or if they just found the hard way that the system didn’t work for them.
The word “job” itself doesn’t have one definition and can often be subs,ituted with words like task, duty, responsibility. It’s not uncommon to say to someone volunteering to help with something, “I have a job for you!” The word “job” can refer to someone’s paid employment, a side hustle, or a small part of someone’s bigger job – that is a task. Petsitting can be employment if someone pays you to do it. Just like cleaning can be employment if someone pays you to do it. Normally, I do my own petcare and cleaning. Because my spouse works much longer hours than I do the bulk of petcare and cleaning has become my "job."I have done petcare voluntarily for friends going out of town and even a little compensated pet care as a “job” – but never my main source of income. I do extra cleaning before housesitters arrive. That’s my job!
Doing a “job” for someone in exchange for something else is an exchange. This is not only how barter works, it’s how FAVORS work. A mom A picks up another Mom B’s kid at baseball practice 2 days a week, even though her own kid isn’t even on the team and babysits him for an hour because Mom B is giving her kid a weekly piano lesson. There are many other examples. Most of us view THS as an exchange – a pretty fair one – which doesn’t mean that it can always be broken down equally on both sides as a lot of that is subjective.
Petcare is a job, but most petparents using THS would not necessarily be paying for overnight sitters in their home if the THS exhange didn’t exist. They might be (1) traveling less, (2) using dropins rather than overnights (for cats), (3) parking dogs at kennels (4) using relatives (5)having informal exchanges with neighbors. So talking about what the sitter COULD be charging for the same service is irrelevant. Most paid sitters don’t get tioletries, clean homes, and the most comfortable bed in the house. It’s apples and oranges.
Most sitters on THS would simply NOT have the same opportunities to travel given the cost of accomodations while travelling. That’s why they are doing this. Presumably, they love animals and don’t find caring for them to be particularly onerous, so the exchange works for them.
I’ve been on both sides of THS – pet parent and sitter. I’ve never taken a sit where I felt disrespected or treated as staff. Because why would I? I’ve never treated a sitter that way. If a sitter FELT I treated them that way, I would hope they would’ve told me, so I could do better. I don’t think anyone should be doing exchanges on this site if they don’t think it’s fun and exciting and a great way (for both parties) to travel more and spend less.
As a HO, I’ve had plenty of sitters who go from housesit to housesit without paying rent/mortgage and bills. I spend a lot of time and a lot of stress before a housesit making sure the sitters will be very comfortable in the house I cleaned myself. And I know I’m not alone.
Maybe THS is not for you - Ive been a member for nearly 8 years and this is not the spirit of THS.
I agree with the people who think that the first post sounds aggressive. Some points are valid, but if you’re angry at someone before even meeting them, how is that a good starting point for a mutual exchange?
just a quick reminder on this thread to please be respectful of the topic and the people discussing it, even if you disagree with other’s opinions and some of what is being said.
FWIW, Air BnB is also wildly overpriced and exploitative and this is increasingly coming into the common conscience. Not a great org to align yourself by but also kind of reinforcing my point. I would love for the platform to better cultivate a network of homeowners and sitters who have an understanding of exchange vs warped ideas of value. The platform is working great for me, thanks!
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exactly my thoughts on some comments