Advice needed - has anyone had the same experience?

Owner Questions, Advice & Chat
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Dear community

I had some sitters in the last years without job or working something remotely for a few hours a month. I have now noticed that these sits never have been really good.

Actually I have a sitter for a long time which doesn’t really work. But it’s allways the same experience: The sitters are not reading the wellcome guide exactly or read it once and never again, the sense of responsability seems to be different .Of course I’m not talking about pensioners here. Sure, if someone has been successful in their job and then takes a few months off, that’s something different, but when you find out that a sitter hasn’t actually had any real work for years, you ask yourself a few questions.

I’m now wondering whether I should still take sitters who don’t work, because for me that’s not a good sign.
What experiences have you had?
Edited to meet posting guidelines

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I don’t work. I retired early. I was very successful. You’re making assumptions based on your tiny sample of experience. I’m an excellent sitter. Would you pass on me because I don’t work?

I own and maintain my own home. Personally, if I was choosing a sitter I would want to know more about their experience caring for homes if they did not currently have one. Some don’t. That’s fine but I would want to know that they had owned a home and taken care of a home before.

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You can certainly choose sitters based on whatever criteria you want. You don’t have to take sitters that don’t have jobs. If they don’t have a job, you could ask how they support themselves. They must have some source of income. I travel full-time and it’s definitely not much cheaper than paying my mortgage when you add up hotels in between sits, storage costs, travel/transportation costs.

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@systaran How I support myself is no one else’s business. I would not feel comfortable discussing my financial status with a homeowner.

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@anon42826925 great point! I stand corrected, you absolutely do not have to give anyone financial information. And actually, I hate when HOs start asking me a lot about my work. I guess I should have said she could ask if that makes her more comfortable, but sitters don’t have to provide that info (and may be put off by the request). Didn’t really think it through enough before my first post.

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Hello
By ‘real work’ I assume you mean being traditionally employed. I see you mentioned two types of people: Those who don’t seem to work at all, and those who may work remotely. My post speaks to the latter type of person.

If you feel more comfortable choosing sitters who currently work, and perhaps only sit part time or are taking an extended vacation, or are retired, that is your prerogative. I recall seeing a post on the forum once by one of the moderators who said the average sitter on THS only sits 30 days a year so I imagine the bulk of them do ‘real work,’ but even a lot of these people may still have remote jobs.

My husband and I are full time sitters who have been working remotely at our own businesses for over a decade and have over 70 reviews on here. We take our responsibilities as house sitters extremely seriously and not to brag, but anyone who lands us will be extremely lucky because we do a really good job.

I’m not posting this because I am offended by your insinuation that people who aren’t traditionally employed or don’t work a lot of hours are more likely to be irresponsible not take their role as a sitter seriously, or just generally have a less desirable overall character. But just to illustrate a point that you seem to be making a very broad assumption that could affect your ability to find sitters in the future. These days especially many people work remote jobs.

Homeowners are free to establish whatever criteria they wish for choosing their sitters. And if you have these sorts of ideas about remote workers or people that don’t seem to work at all–but aren’t retirement age–you don’t have to choose them.

The only thing I would say about this preference is if you feel the need to question people more closely about all of this, they may find it off putting. If I had a HO who had reservations about choosing someone like my husband and I, and they asked me a lot of questions about our lifestyle and working habits, especially after seeing all our experience and positive reviews, I wouldn’t do a sit for them. And I would feel the same way even if I was their more ‘ideal’ candidate employment and lifestyle wise.

I like things to be smooth and easy, and feeling like I was in a position where I needed to defend my choices or convince the HO of anything isn’t smooth and easy. My reviews speak for themselves. I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing a sit for people who might not feel fully comfortable with me.

I am sorry you haven’t had good experiences and again, you are free to choose whichever sorts of sitters you like. You need to do what makes you feel most comfortable.

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You should pick sitters who match your comfort level, just as they’d pick you based on the same.

You can ask them Qs, but they don’t have to answer if they don’t feel like it.

Personally, I can afford to quit working, but I still enjoy it enough to keep doing it. If I quit overnight, it wouldn’t change the kind of sitter I am when it comes to trustworthiness, reliability and such.

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Correct, sitters do not need to supply that information if the pet owner asks for it. However, the pet owner may take the rebuttal as a refusal to cooperate and reject their application.
Everyone has choices.

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After working 42 years as a hospital RN in many capacities, I am HAPPILY retired. What does how you make your living pertinent in any way? Not working gives us more time to play and care for your pets and home!

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Thanks for your answers.

I would like to clarify: I’m not talking about sitters who work remotely or had a good job in the past and are retired now (even earlier).

I’m talking about sitters who have not been reliable.

By the way, I would never ask about income or anything related to that.

I’m not representing an opinion here, I’m just asking the forum whether anyone has had a similar experience?

Edited to meet posting guidelines

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Very wise man.

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I do not find this question insulting. She’s not referring to digital nomads or those who are retired, she’s talking about people that seem to have no job and I assume, no home base. Evidently she’s had negative experiences with people who fit this profile and is wondering if others have too.

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@mars … that was clear to me also

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There seems quite a lot of prejudice in your postings about what you constitute as a good job and what people should be doing with their time and then attaching personality traits and moral assumptions about people you consider not ‘working’. Many people with traditional place based work won’t be the people pet sitting. Maybe you have had some bad experiences. Maybe you need to review who you want as your pet sitters. There are plenty of sitters to suit everyone.

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I felt the person had certain feelings about those who don’t work, as they see it. It seems clear to me, don’t get those people to sit. I suppose the fact that both their posts have been edited to fit moderating guidelines hints at something slightly afoot.

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@Coclico

Age, job status, marital status, finances etc. is not an indicator of anything and you really should try to get better at assessing people as individuals.

This forum does a very good job at assuming and making poor generalisations.

You are free to choose who you want but by potentially limiting your choices in the way you suggest then you will miss out on wonderful people.

If petsitting has taught me anything so far it’s that I should take people as I find them. Not to judge or make assumptions based on my own limited views. People of all types have surprised me in good ways and bad.

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We sit as a couple, I’m in my 50’s and have a passive income/self-sufficient, and my partner took early retirement etc, and a little online income too, we also rent out our own home while we sit so we have income from that too. All of which is stated in our profile. We aren’t rich, but neither of us ‘work’ in the conventional sense of the word. But I do know what you mean.

Maybe in the past you have been reviewing your sitters purely on the love of pets, or keeping a clean/secure home (only natural). But now from past experience you need to read a little deeper into people profiles, do they actually declare how they fund their lifestyle, or do they simply not mention it… the later speaks a thousand words.

Yes judge peoples profiles on the above, but now (given your past experience) also take into account how they fund their lives too.

There is no reason why you should or shouldn’t take someone who doesn’t have an income, as they are not your paid employee whereby you have to be seen as being neutral. You simply have to do what is personally right for you and select the sitter you feel is the best fit, and if non-self-sufficient is not right for you then that is totally fine.

You shouldn’t need to quiz a sitter about their income, it should be covered in their profile in one way or another to briefly explain how they are self funding the lives they have, as it forms part of who they are as a person.

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Not really. THS will edit or block any post that says anything negative about the platform or is considered ‘not on topic’ or has a link they don’t like etc., so the fact it has been edited should have you making assumptions as to what the content may have been or if ‘something was slightly afoot’.

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Hi @cawosey and @Reliablesitter

I just wanted to pop on and confirm that if the Forum team make any changes to someone’s post, it’s to make sure that it’s in line with our Community Guidelines, which everyone agreed to when they signed up. We leave a note on the post to explain that.

As long as our members keep to the guidelines, we don’t look to make any moderation decisions. :slight_smile:

Jenny

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If you have seen a trend in the quality of care your home and pets receive from sitters who don’t currently have, or had in the past, a regular commitment that they had to complete then by all means exclude them. If it’s not evident from their profile or initial application then you should be able to do this fairly easily during any call just in conversation. My profile and initial application states that I work remotely as I think this is a plus in that I will be in the home most days working and not out sightseeing all day. I’m happy to discuss what I do (I’ll try not to bore you to death) as are most people.
I’m not an owner so don’t have the experiences you are looking for but I have volunteered my time in a couple of ‘jobs’ where they took volunteers but did not take anyone who was not currently employed, studying full-time or retired as they found the commitment was not there or there were other issues. I say continue to filter sitters as you see fit even if no-one else has seen the trend you are experiencing. It’s your home and pets.