That comment (re degree and home ownership) relates to a thread on another post and so if you haven’t followed the other post it wouldn’t mean anything to you; made me chuckle though.
I am also very curious about which city this was.
A friend of mine who grew up in Alabama went to a very liberal private college in Oregon (Reed College, howdy!) studying fiction writing. As soon as she arrived, her main professor started mocking her accent. Had he not heard of William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor? No, it was just class bias. She adapted, and learned to mask her accent and talk like the people around her.
I was in Scotland having dinner with a 12 year old and his mom and dad. The 12 year old said I have a strong accent. (from the US). I told him I was thinking the same thing about the three of them. We all laughed. I didn’t think he was being prejudice just an observation. In another part of Scotland I had a taxi driver that wanted to converse with me the entire 15 minute cab ride. I did not understand most of what he was saying and we both have English as our native language. From the host just mentioning your accent doesn’t sound anything more than a little surprised as you said where you are located on your profile is where you are now not where you come from. They may of thought everyone puts the country where they are from not currently in.
Well said!
I’ve actually been rejected for jobs, as well as socially, because I “talk too posh” and “use too many big words”. It works both ways; inverted snobbery is a thing too. But as @BonnyinBrighton says, it’s just part of being human. I think we all have to suck it up, see the funny side, and keep going.
Upmarket area in the UK 
@MGDGN If they dismissed you because of your accent then be glad you dodged a bullet! Who wants to sit for a judgmental snob!
Strangely the reverse can happen too. I’m from the South of UK and grew up thinking I had a ‘normal’ accent. I.e same as all my friends and I did not stand out. I am a Doctors daughter I.e middle class background- Well spoken but not over the top. But when I went to University in Manchester, in the north, I was suddenly considered exceptionally posh!! So much so I even tried to ‘roughen’ my accent a bit to blend in!
I made a friend on the first day who was from Cumbria- even further north- who had an impossible-to-understand accent! She had to do the opposite and ‘tone down’ her accent and speak more clearly! Eventually we both fitted in better but nowadays ofcourse I don’t adjust my accent for anyone and I love and appreciate all types of accents.
@MGDGN, curious observation.
We perceive that some pet parents, assuming choice, seem to prioritize housesitters that have same a demographic profile to themselves. We suspect that we’ve faced both sides of this, with seeming strong fit with some pet parents and immediate decline by others.
We’ve also faced situations where a seeming key [unexpected] selection criteria was ability of housesitter to socially interact with neighbours/community. Several of our housesits have been in premium private communities, that may have gated security and atypical social environments.
Housesitting requires a fair trade. And reality is that some, not all, listings are high-demand with bountiful applicants so pet parents may apply atypical criterial - whatever those may be.
There’s plentiful listings out there. Happy hunting 
There is aot of truth to this. When I was a hiring manager in the corporate world, we had extensive training on identifying hidden bias in hiring decisions. There is a concept called “Like likes Like” meaning we subconsciously gravitate towards people who look and sound like we do. For hiring we we were required to look beyond obvious characteristics such as gender, race, age, etc and justify a potential hire based on the qualifications they brought to the role. HR, in fact, began withholding full resumes and redacted names and universities which could trigger unconscious bias in hiring. It made hiring more tedious than the good ol’ days but it was a much more fair process, I think.
Anyway as hosts if someone strikes me as ‘odd’ I do try to self reflect on of it is core value or characteristics important to the sit, or if it’s a knee jerk reaction because they may be different than us.
Our sitters so far have ranged from solos to couples, with age ranges in the mid-20’s up to 60+. We had sitters from Spain who spoke limited English (thank you, Google Translate!) and US sitters. And all has gone fine, and we appreciate the different strengths each brought to our home and pets.
I guess it’s a long winded way of saying we can all do better if we want to. Sadly, some don’t want to.
The biggest load of *** I have heard for a long time.
There is no class bias. I am Scottish. I have a broad Fife accent, working class coming from a labour stronghold…no, let’s tell the truth, the last communist MP came from here. Yes, I was brought up on farm but it was a working farm, meaning the children worked at the weekends.
I sit in Hampshire/Surrey mostly. I have never ever come against any class bias. Our home owners are only interested in what we do, how we cope and are we a fit. They’re not interested in our backgrounds, politics or accents.
My hosts at a recent sit in Manhattan mentioned in passing after I arrived that they needed a sitter who fit into their building, which is upscale and skews older. I interacted with their concierge folks, doormen and neighbors and things seemed to work out. I didn’t need to be told to blend in, when to tip, etc.
Interesting story.
I agree. I also think that it’s more efficient because that way selection is focused on what is really relevant to the job. Not to talk about the enrichment that diversity entails.
More efficient, not really. Soft skills are important and it’s difficult to gauge that without knowing the person. Most roles require people who can push back when appropriate, versus just being being a constant ‘No’ or ‘Yes’ person. It took longer to get to that stage where we could interview and begin to assess the judgement of each candidate.
It was fairer in the sense that resumes weren’t immediately put in the rubbish bin if their was an ethnic name on it, or degree from a community college vs. a private university, as examples. Those candidates at least got a fair shot at the start as candidates with more privileged backgrounds.
I didn’t mean the selection process itself, as it probably took longer. What I meant was that the people finally hired were probably the best because the “noise” generated by irrelevant aspects was reduced.
Anyway, I was just theorizing. I admit I am completely ignorant regarding hiring procedures and management.
Basically, hosts can discriminate or lean however they want. And if anyone is surprised by that, then they’ve been among the relatively privileged.
If that was the real reason they declined, then that is unfortunate. But unless hosts directly say why they did not pick someone, sitters can only assume. And sometimes those assumptions may be correct, but you can’t know for sure.
From a lot of posts I see on the forum, I think that the ‘rejection’ can trigger certain insecurities sitters may have, and leads them to automatically think they were not selected because of this particular characteristic, whether it be their age, something about their appearance,etc… They worry there may be something about them that hosts won’t find appealing and the ‘decline’ just confirms that.
But again, remember that you really can’t know for sure. And regardless of the reason, it just means it wasn’t the best fit or it would have worked out.
@SeniorSitter1, heck I originate from Scotland but struggle to understand some notably strong Scottish, English, Welsh & Irish accents 
. Guess I’m generally just confused 
. Suspect that you’re not alone. But hopefully harmless.
If curious, the Economist publication this week has an article on Scottish language. Weblink below but paywall. Essence is that Gaelic and Scots (and English) are spoken in Scotland. Gaelic is unrelated to English. Scots is descended from Old English … example being Scots ‘Ah dinnae ken’ versus English 'I don’t know". Seems 1.5 million and 70,000 currently speak Scots and Gaelic respectively. Huh.
For what it’s worth, Scotland is the only place where random strangers refer to me as ‘luv’ .
Some quirks of language are but one component of the joys of travel .
(Link to The Economist removed as it has a paywall)
That’s interesting to know. When I was in Australia, I heard lots of people who I thought sounded very similar to BBC English, while others had a broad, difficult to follow Australian accent. Definitely, for my foreign ear, Australia is the English speaking country where I have heard an accent closest to British. Some people were actually British but others were from Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney…
I wonder what accents the dogs used?
Berkshire mainly or Barking if from London.