End of sit anxiety

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
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I’m getting to the end of a six week sit and it’s been mostly great. The owners are really nice and the dogs lovely. The house was clean and tidy when I arrived but also felt lived in.

After two bad experiences from over entitled owners who marked us down for cleaning I’m now starting to really stress.

Yesterday I deep cleaned the kitchen and I’m doing a room a day. But I keep finding chips and marks and signs of a lived in home and I don’t know which, if any, are because of us being here. I don’t think we caused any marks or damage but I didn’t do an inventory at the beginning like you do with a car rental as the beginning part was all nice and friendly and we stayed overnight with them.

The two previous negative sits, I also cleaned very thoroughly but it clearly wasn’t good enough. How do others deal with this aspect of pet sitting? I’m not a professional house cleaner and I struggle to get that streak free finish you see once a good cleaner has been round but I also am clean and tidy and look after things as best I can.

I hate that these previous nitpickers (two out of fifteen sits) have so poorly affected my trusted house sitting experiences. I think it’s important for owners to realise the inherent power imbalance in the THS dynamic and that you can really have a big impact on people with whether you choose kindness or mean spiritedness when giving reviews. I can’t even look back on those sits with happy memories now, because instead of remembering how much I loved that dog, instead it’s the bitter ending.

One more bad review and that’s it for us.

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When you say bad reviews are you talking about one or two stars which are negative reviews or a four star which is still a good review just not perfection ?

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Two stars for clean and tidy with no justification

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It’s difficult if you didn’t get any feedback on specifics as you are having to second guess what the issues may or may not be -

Did you ask the previous hosts privately for any feedback on why they have only 2 stars ? How had they rated previous sitters ?

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We complained to THS and got a list of really petty things from them including that we left a bowl in the garden (it started pouring with rain one day and we ran inside and accidentally left it) and there was dirt on the stairs (the deep pile, pale grey carpet stairs were filthy when we arrived, there were swatches everywhere implying they were replacing it soon and we had to walk the dog in the rain just before leaving and he ran upstairs as soon as we got inside - as they were so dirty anyway we assumed it wasn’t a big issue). The other sit they clearly didn’t understand how dirty their house was because I know 100 percent it was much cleaner than when I left it than when I arrived. They even marked me down for not washing the sheets and towels with I actually brought my own and didn’t use theirs.

You’re missing the point. It’s not about learning moments about cleaning - I’m an adult who has managed their own home for twenty years - it’s about being unfairly marked down for petty nonsense when you know you did a good job and also the unexpected nature of it. Unfortunately in the THS world, four stars is bad. It’s so competitive especially in my country which is highly desirable.

We are not professional cleaners!! Owners need to recognise this and the stress and shame involved.

Everyone in these forums constantly proudly refers to themselves as “a five star sitter” if being less than five stars wasn’t so bad then people wouldn’t put so much value on it.

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I would imagine that the chips were there before, so try not to get too stressed about it. It sounds to me that you’re a very caring person. In all my sits (currently on #94) I’ve never been marked down for cleaning. I certainly don’t deep clean, but just leave the homes as clean (sometimes cleaner) as I found them. Maybe I’ve been lucky, or just passed by the listings with owners that sound entitled. Fortunately they’re in the minority. Please try not to worry.

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You are giving these homeowners way too much power. I’m here to enjoy travel and pets or else I would stay in a hotel. I am human and a considerate person in someone else’s house. I consider myself a clean person and like to live in a clean home. I clean their house before I leave and clean up after myself during the sit. If they are entitled people or mean spirited people then that’s on them and especially if they are being unreasonable. You had 19 sits and two people marked you down and you are letting these two people affect your spirit and emotional wellbeing. You are at a sit now after two people marked you down for cleaning so it is not affecting you getting sits. These experiences should be enjoyable not full of anxiety. If they expect the pet sitter to be a professional cleaner as well this is not the site for them. Their concern should be on loving care for their pets and a clean house without expecting perfection. Think of it in a positive way. You are weeding out all the entitled pet parents and those that expect you to be a professional cleaning service.

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It sounds like you are doing a great job. I have also been docked a star, when I asked why so I could learn they never responded. What I have done is not cleaning «more», I already left it as found or better, I was more careful choosing not sits, but - hosts. Reading listings, looking for hosts with priority for pet care and reasonably clean (not clean freaks) and asking what are their thoughts on end handover. No, I don’t ask for expectations on end cleaning. I’m a petsitter.

Sometimes I offer «a solution» if they don’t have thoughts. For instance for a shorter sit; «I will feed Bob in the morning and clean litterbox, wipe over kitchen and bathroom, and strip the bed before I leave. My train leaves early - do you want me to start the washing machine?»

You can think through ahead what will work for you and suggest that. Never had a host argue, often they think it is more than enough and give me great reviews on cleaning although i don’t do «much». I’m only transparent ahead so we agree. But ofc - I select hosts.

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Not true, I do not and others have also written about experiences where they got less than 5 stars. It happens and in most cases, the impact is quite small. That has been my experience anyway. I got a couple of 4 stars for cleaning and once a less than nice individual gave one star for cleaning. These were exceptions, most pet owners have been lovely, and I still get lots of sit offers.

I hope these current owners will be reasonable and you can leave the sit behind you with a good feeling!

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Honestly, it may be luck and the sits you are choosing. I always clean and occassionally have left homes clearner, but I don’t think I try that hard or do anything too extreme and haven’t gotten less a five on cleaning yet. But I also look at previous reviews by the hosts and if it looks like there is a pattern of nitpicking on cleaning, I won’t even apply. If it looks like there are complaints from sitters about the cleanliness on arrival, I’ll stay away.

One thing I do is take photos when I arrive, especially of anything I’m goint to need to clean to use – like a disgusting microwave, or dirty bathtub. I also try to minimize my footprint on a regular basis so no food outside of the dining table or backyard. Regular vacumming of used areas – especially with a dog and carpetting! My general motto is: You’ll never have to deep clean if you just clean regularly.

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I believe some of these hosts do not pay that close of attention to their homes since they live there. It’s only after they are away for awhile that they realize their home is not perfectly clean and may think it was the sitter who didn’t clean enough. I do take photos as soon as I arrive while my daughter is looking for things like scratches, broken things, imperfections, etc so that we can know and be at ease of the prior conditions. Nothing you can do about hosts marking you down except to provide an appropriate response. For the folks who mention that they are 5star sitters, nothing wrong with that. They are proud of their records and have been great sitters matched with good hosts. That’s what we all shoot for

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I don’t take pictures of homes before or after. I don’t clean beyond how the home was handed off to me. I don’t aim to be a professional cleaner or to do chores above and beyond. I get five stars and raves for cleanliness, etc., though.

I think that’s actually because I’m very careful about how I choose hosts. I screen listings closely for content and tone. I check reviews they get and that they write, to see whether there’s confirmation of my positive impression of the host from the listing. Likewise, with the video chat and any other communications.

My No. 1 deal-breaker for sits is any signal that the host will be selfish, entitled, looking for a servant or employee, think sitters will be lucky to stay at their home and such. By contrast, I look for hosts who know how to show appreciation in words (and sometimes deeds, if they have a track record).

I ask myself every time when choosing: If this sit went sideways, would these hosts be good partners in helping to problem-solve? If not, I skip, skip, skip. To me, any successful sit requires good partnership, so I don’t settle for mediocre partners.

I NEVER make compromises in my expectations about hosts because a sit looks like a great location, a comfy home, etc.

By doing the above, I avoid jams. That’s because if the hosts aren’t appreciative kind of people, how am I going to change them with one sit? How am I going to make them good partners if something goes wrong? How am I going to thread the needle for their idea of a “perfect” or “excellent” sit? I have absolute humility that I can’t turn selfish, entitled people into nice, thoughtful, appreciative people by “proving myself,” or being a cleaning maniac, etc.

I am clean and responsible, but it sounds like sitters often are in posts about sits gone wrong, so it’s probably not the cleaning or such in those cases — it’s probably because the hosts were (predisposed) to be unkind, ungenerous, unappreciative in the first place.

The homes I’ve sat have varied a bit in cleanliness, but nothing extreme. That’s not actually the key, IMO. The key thing is, I strive to select kind, reasonable people as hosts.

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Hi @Katemarie

It sounds like you’re a really conscientious sitter, and I’m sorry you were left feeling like this after this sit ended.

I hope that the advice and support from our members has been helpful :heart:

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I find that homes are not the cleanest, give me the lower grade on cleaning. But homes that uber clean when I come, give me 5s on cleaning. HOs are what they are. You move on.

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You could ease your anxiety, by arriving at a new sit more prepared (but it’s not always possible, I know).

I used to own a professional cleaning company (among other things), and there are certain things I keep in my car that simply make life easier, and it helps to keep the last couple of days a little calmer. And before you think it, I’m definitely NOT ocd about cleaning, I can think of much better things to be doing with my time.

Microfibre cloths - owners never have enough for a whole house, and if you use a cloth to dust a table, you then can’t use it on glass/mirrors/shiny surfaces because it will leave streaks… but the thing that needs cleaning last before you leave, is likely to be a glass table and all of the cloths are dirty by that time. So we take our own microfibre cloths, and pop them in the washing machine when we move to the next sit eventually.

Method Shower Cleaner - it’s not just for the shower, you can use it on mirrors/glass etc. Because a lot of so called ‘glass cleaners’ are totally rubbish & not fit for purpose, but a lot of owners have them. I can’t be bothered to spend 2 or 3 times the amount of time, just trying to remove the smudges and smears that rubbish glass cleaners have left., so we have a bottle of Method in the car, because you can use it just like glass cleaner (or just spray it after showering and leave it).

We also keep a cheap disposable mop in the car, where you just toss away the mop pad. We do this for one reason, and one reason only, because I’m in my 50’s and I hate heavy duty mops now and never know what type an HO will have, the traditional mops hurt my back and they leave me feeling shattered, whereas I need something quick and lightweight, especially for the last couple of days. These things can’t be used for gorgeous solid wood flooring, but we haven’t sat in many houses where we couldn’t use it.

When we’re doing a sit without a car, then it’s a little different, but we always buy some extra microfibre cloths, because it’s dirty cloths that are the main problem when it comes to streaks etc.

If you think of anything that will make your own life easier at the end, do it.

As for chips, or knocks - You always know when you’ve damaged something, so if you’ve used place-mats and coasters, then dwell on it, it won’t be from you.

We never take images on arrival, unless there’s a real reason to. But we’ve always had a great vibe with the owners.

Try to help reduce your anxiety, by thinking of what you could do in advance, so your anxiety isn’t as bad.

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As a sitter I feel the same as you. I am starting to fear taking on a new sit, which shouldn’t be the case.

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Yep, so true for me as well, @Maggie8K :heart_with_ribbon:

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I haven’t personally experienced this but I do get that feeling when reading reviews. I have seen a certain pattern of an owner being down rated on cleanliness in a couple of reviews and then they start down rating sitters. In the reply, sitters consistently say they have left the house cleaner than they found it.

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I’ve noticed that too - even when I leave the home cleaner than I found it. 2 of my early sits did this, and it’s not stopped me getting sits since then, so although at first I worried about losing stars, I’m less anxious now, but am still diligent about cleaning. My aim is that a returning HO shouldn’t know anyone had been in their home, apart from contented pets.

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Yes to the above, but I never really understood why. However, reading @IHeartAnimals explanation makes perfect sense:

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