@Trust Europe, Nordic and so on…
I am based in Europe AND live in one of the Nordic countries. And it said advice so I thought it must be a good combination to get some stability and support. 
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I have landed and I sent my review today. Realised it was the last day!
Against TrustedHouseSitters rules, she didn’t left the home when I arrived. So several nights together in the same flat, where the tension between us just got worse. She even told her cat:’I know I don’t like her either’.
She complained that I filled her flat with stress, that my English wasn’t British enough and that I made the wrong choice to self care, when she had planned to show me the town.
She finally told me to avoid communicating with her.
Her neighbors were very nice and supportive through all this. I learnt that they also met this side of her.
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What a sad person! Why invite a sitter in their house if so intolerant of a foreigner, so negatively vocal about their presence, so against the spirit of THS?
Try and put the situation behind you, the next ones will be much better. 
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Sadly this has caused me to ponder a lot over the whole situation and myself as a human being.
And I still trying to navigate life, learning how to step out from my social anxiety bubble a bit more and begin to trust people again. I know that I am reserved. And I am learning to take a bit more space.
But when I, for one of the first times, dared to actively chose to self care instead of following this person’s hectic schedule around town, this happens!
BUT I also for the first time deeply felt support from friends, her neighbors, THS, answers here and I landed in that it can’t be only my fault.
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I’m so sorry to hear about this terrible situation that you found yourself in, and that you have - obviously - handled admirably despite being under great anxiety.
I’ve completed over 70 sits, both for THS and other platforms/private HO’s, and it’s been a steep learning curve on occasion, but I can assure you that owners such as this are very rare.
Sending you many good wishes and the very best for your pet sitting in the future
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Thank you.
I am happy to be in a safe environment now. And I am still hesitating when it comes to my next sit in Amsterdam(5-7 Feb only). I don’t feel ready, but a promise is a promise.
After that I will take a pause.
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I’m so sorry that this experience has left you reconsidering so much @Trust.
I really admire you for taking steps to push past the barriers of social anxiety, as it can be challenging, and I hope that the support from friends, neighbours, THS and the Forum will help you feel validated and vindicated.
Please do reach out to the Forum if you need any support or advice in making sure you feel ready for your next sit, I’m sure our members would be happy to give you advice and support.
Jenny 
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Cheer up, I am sure the sit will be great as the vast majority are. Your last sit was a very rare case.
Best of luck.
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@Trust I’m so sorry for your horrible experience. Just know that the problems lie with her and not with you. She sounds like a complete case.
I’m glad you wrote a review and I really hope it reflects your experience and that you dropped some stars, especially for hospitaility and also overall as that was clearly not a 5* sit.
If you feel to share more please let us know if, or how, she reviewed you. Sometimes in such horrible situations its better not to receive a review at all rather than a negative spiteful one like it sounds she would write.
Take care. I’m certain you are a great and caring sitter!
Onwards and upwards.
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Elsie - I’m concerned about Cat being roped into serving as go-between, having to negotiate the emotions of Owner & Sitter… Nah, you’re right, Cat is probably ready to split too.
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Now both of our reviews are there, clearly to witness for everyone I presume ?
I also replied to her review, which was very rude because she gave me few stars on everything which I only gave her on hospitality. I would have given a one star on communication to, I don’t know why I didn’t ?
I cleaned the flat before I left but still few stars in cleaning ! Maybe the neighbor cat sitting 4-5 January didn’t clean ?
And the cat clearly liked me, so why fewer stars there?
This was the worse situation to be in, not good either the cat or humans.
I truly learnt my lesson and will walk out from such situations from now on.
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I am way too polite, too overthinking and respectful. And too straightforward and honest.
So I am not the best person for everyone and I know that.
I am grateful for the support I got here, but please remember that it is always two sides of an argue.
And we were obviously triggering each other to the worse behaviours, not good for anyone involved !
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Thank you !
One thing I’ve learnt about cats, they do what is best for themselves. They don’t give a damn about anyone/anything else. The cat will decide what is best.
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@Trust Just take this unfortunate episode as a learning experience. The next sit is sure to be much better! We’ve been sitters for 6 years and though we have refined and fine tuned the process over the years and learnt so much we still get caught out on the odd occasion! Our one and only ‘bad’ review (4* overall) -which was entirely unjustified- was after we’d already done over 100 sits! I’m sure there are many other sitters who got caught out with a bad match. Its just part of the process!
The best way to proceed is to bury that bad review as fast as possible with new great reviews! One bad review in the context of many 5* reviews will be seen as a one off. Future hosts may possibly ask about it but probably not.
Time to move on- it will soon be history 
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