you’re leaving your home and pets in the hands of a rando. i can understand wanting to talk to a couple people to see who you click with. if others aren’t down with that, that’s also fine. thankfully we can all make our own choices.
I’m very much used to written communication and reading between the lines, so for me one sucessful call is enough (disclaimer: they all were, 100% hit rate); it’s mostly to answer and ask questions and confirm my gut feeling. It’s not an exploratory mission.
Others might want to do multiple chats because they’re undecided, but read what Maggie wrote: “They wanted to talk with other applicants out of politeness”.
I don’t even think it is polite to have made your decision and then talk at length with people, get their hopes up and steal their time, when you know you won’t select them.
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LOL. That sounds like a lack of context. You’re not picking someone off the street. You look at profiles, reviews, as well as LinkedIn and Airbnb if the sitter provides such, which I do. I have nothing but stellar reviews, though of course that’s no guarantee. But nothing is actually a guarantee with THS. And they already video chatted with me and have my contact info.
To me, if a host thinks I’m a rando despite all of the above, please do me the hugest favor and skip me if I don’t pass on you first. I don’t want to partner with folks who lack the ability to discern.
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Lol 
Aren’t we all randos? Rando sitters, rando hosts, randomly thrown together, with a bit of pot luck?
Nah, honestly, I didn’t catch the lack of context, well done. Yeah - I mean, who invites somebody else for a 30-60 minute video call if they don’t know the time is well invested? scratches head
I consider literally everyone a rando until i’ve spent significant (like weeks/months) time communicating with online or have met them IRL.
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@elmi4711 I would estimate that 95% of sits we applied for contacted us within 24hrs, some within just a few hours.
The fastest from application to acceptance was around 30 minutes! (Very experienced HOs with a detailed listing and great reviews, no chat until closer to the time but we knew as did they that all would be great and it was).
Of the other 5% we withdrew from three who had read but not responded and we received offers in the meantime.
One sit we really liked the look of had reached the 5 applicants and was in reviewing. We didn’t need the sit and so left it sitting. They never responded at all and the sit was live until the start date. Guess they didn’t like the look of any of us or equally likely had listed on another platform as well and found someone from there or maybe a neighbour? Would just have been nice to let us know or at least close out their listing if no longer required. Maybe folks just forget?
Our latest sit, for a sit favourited but not applied for yet. HO contacted us yesterday evening asking if we would be interested. Hubby checked with and we said yes. As we are currently sitting locally to them I suggested a meet and greet (or VC if they preferred). 1 hr later we had arranged to meet today. We had a lovely afternoon chatting over a cuppa. Met with hugs (and that was just the owners 
) so we knew this was going to be fine. Gorgeous dog, gorgeous house and gorgeous people (now that is a win/win/win 
) at the end of the meet they said yes please and we said the same. Sit confirmed. These are new HOs, but straight on it, know what they want and executed it beautifully.
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That sounds very limiting. Like many sits are done blind and/or on short notice.
Of course, some folks are better (or get better) at discerning. That’s lucky for those of us who work remotely and / or do a lot of hiring (including remotely). I don’t drag out hiring, either.
I have been getting responses within 48 hrs of submitting regardless of the sit being closed to new applications. Then doing the call within a couple days. In my experience, once I have the call HO will tell me in the interview that I have the sit so I haven’t had to wait.
I had 1 tell me they were interviewing another person but they were really clear about expected timeline and the sit isn’t for a couple months so I didn’t mind and let them know it was fine. I ended up getting that sit.
I feel less inclined to see it as a red flag if the process is taking longer for a longer term assignment that is further out. I understand that there may be more nerves if a homeowner is handing over their pet and home for 2 months compared to a couple days.
So I don’t know if I would say it is a pandemic. Most of my experiences have been good and the homeowners have been prompt in communication. With a very few being wonky.
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I am in the mindset of “Im not begging anyone for a pet sit” If homeowners cant/wont get back to me in a day or two, I’m over it and move on. I feel its rude.
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it seems like you think rando = bad. it’s just someone you don’t know well. there is nothing bad about it.
Well, I suppose it an ironic short version of “random person”. That’s how I use it, and I find it rather charming. Don’t take everything so seriously…
I’ve earned a healthy living with words over decades, so I pay attention when someone tells me that I don’t understand a word. Maybe I can learn something. Or maybe they can.
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Clearly I’m not up to date with urban slang, as ive never heard the term ‘rando’! The only associated term ive heard is ‘randomer’:
Since this relates to 'someone that you do not know or have no connection with" and as ‘rando’ is surely a derivative, I wouldn’t consider any THS host a ‘rando’ because we do make an emotional connection- a sense of ease - before agreeing a sit, or the system wouldn’t really work, would it?
You might want to discuss with CreatureCuddler, because you and I are already on the same page. 
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Could also very well be we made it up yesterday. Not everything needs to be official…
(I believed it was well established, and I like it; it’s short, it’s ironic…what’s not to like)
Yeah, I’ve been using it for years. So it’s definitely not a new term. To me it’s just someone I don’t know and until I’ve met you or spent significant time communicating with you, I don’t know you. I might talk to a HO and click with them but that doesn’t mean I know them. I could walk past them on the street and have no idea. I think people just have different ideas of what it is to know someone. As a hard core introvert, I have a pretty high bar for what I would consider as knowing someone.
Yeah, that did actually give me pause - you should know what the host looks like, shouldn’t you? I definitely need to include a picture of myself… Thanks for the inspiration!
Hello,
I’m new to this discussion and have been reading the thread with interest.
I recently applied for a house sit next year and it has been almost a week since my application was read. How long would you give it before following up/ withdrawing? My guess is that, given it is so far in the distance, they won’t attract as many applicants as one in the nearer future and if they are waiting for the 5-application quota to be filled before responding, it might be a while before I hear. However, I don’t want to wait indefinitely. I have 5+ years experience with exclusively 5* reviews and am fairly local to/ familiar with the area I applied for, so would have thought it was a good match.
My experience has indicated that a lack of communication is a bit of a red flag and, while I would like this sit, I don’t appreciate a lack of acknowledgement. What would you do in this situation?
Thank you!
agreed. They say they missed your application? Aye, right. Must think we (sitters) are stupid.
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