HO rude to me during screening call

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
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I want to share this story of what happened to me today. Feel free to comment, although I’m not seeking advice or criticism - just merely sharing my experience.

Yesterday I applied for a last-minute sit in an adjacent city (15 mins drive by car) and they responded immediately, sounding excited to interview me. We scheduled a screening phone call for 5pm the following day, and in that morning I received multiple messages asking if I could do the screening call earlier. I agreed to this and called them at 4pm.

The first thing this man says to me is: “I thought you were supposed to be a girl”

What?

I kindly explained to him that my name is so-and-so, that I am not a girl, and I applied to the petsit because I am interested in caring for his cat this weekend. He said that he got me mixed up with another applicant by mistake (rude) and asked me to verify my identity because he had no clue who I am. I was taken aback by this.

I asked him if he could check his messages on Trusted Housesitters, where we had a full conversation already. He didn’t know how, said his wife manages it. I asked to speak with his wife, who was in the room with him. She explained to him that I am “the other applicant.”

I began explaining that I am happy to care for their cat, but he cuts me off and says: “We aren’t going to pick you because you rely on the buses.”

Huh??

Once again I was shocked by this man’s rudeness. He was very forward with me. I was also confused why that is an issue, since I had done research beforehand and found 3 different bus lines which take me to their city, and it would only be 30-40 minutes by bus from where I currently am, which is a very short distance by the way! I am a very capable adult who has traveled full-time for the past year; I know how to get around, and worst case I could call an uber or a taxi cab! So I’m not sure why taking the buses is an issue for them? (It sounds pretty elitist if you ask me.)

He was decidedly resolute in his opinion. Before I had a chance to explain any of this, he said the interview was over and they would be picking the other girl whom they hadn’t interviewed yet. This all happened so quickly, within less than a minute of starting the phone call.

I immediately said have a nice day and hung up the phone. I was honestly appalled by his behavior after being asked to schedule this call an hour earlier. I went out of my way to rearrange my day for this call, but got treated like a nuisance. It was truly odd and offputting.

I don’t care about the rejection, but I do care about the reason they provided. I think it’s phony. Traveling by bus is my choice and it shouldn’t be an issue of concern in this instance where the homeowners live right outside a major metropolitan US city (Seattle). Honestly I’d rather receive a rejection text or no response at all rather than be led into a false interview just to be misgendered and talked down to by a random old man who is ill-prepared and doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I think I dodged a bullet with this one. The sudden red flags make me wonder what other horrible things could happen if I were to accept this sit. Well, all I can say is good luck to the girl they selected.

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You dodged a bullet @boyrrito.

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3

You need to accept that people can be selfish, rude, dishonest, and just plain ignorant, and don’t take this stuff seriously. If anything, laugh it off and be relieved that you aren’t like that.

Folks like that don’t live happy lives. Best not to dwell on it so much and move on.

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What a dreadful man. I feel sorry for his wife and the sitter - you’ve definitely dodged a bad sit there. He’s a pig.

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Thank you for sharing your experience. You deserve a better host than that ( we all do )

I would feel extremely relieved that I had a video call and saw this hosts behaviour BEFORE the sit was confirmed . It would be so much worse if I only saw this after the sit had started .

I wouldn’t even want to do a paid sit for such a person even if they lived in a palace.

This reinforces to me that my policy of not accepting a sit until I have had a video call is a good way of screening the host . Some sitters have commented that they don’t like video calls and prefer to accept a sit without having one . Based on your experience I will continue to request a video call and it will be a deal breaker for me if they refuse.

..and There’s no guarantee that the other applicant will accept the sit …

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@boyrrito, run away from such people. Perhaps a powerful illustration of the benefit of video calls - identification of red flogs and unreasonable people.

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Pigs are loving and loyal! :blush:

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What a lucky escape! Imagine if you were stuck in his house!

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“Nice chatting with you. Bye !”

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Oh wow. You are a saint for hanging in that call as long as you did. They were awful on the call and probably would have been awful in real life.

Definitely a bullet dodged.

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I don’t think you should feel anything but grateful for not having to deal with these people.

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Deplorable behavior. They are rude, selfish and – I suspect – prejudiced against people who use public transit. In some places in the US there is a prevailing belief that only “poor people” don’t own cars. One of the many reasons I prefer sitting outside the US.

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Sounds like a bad experience. Sorry this happened to you. This may not have been the case in this particular situation, but we have had several HO’s require that we have our own car in the event the pet needed to be transported to the vet for any emergency that could arise. Buses will generally not allow pets.

Not excusing the HO’s rude behavior but there may be a good reason they require sitters to have reliable transportation without restrictions (ie their own vehicle).

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This is discrimination based on prejudice. No excuse.

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Ho boyrrito,
It sounds like you had a lucky escape. Looks like they only wanted a female and not a male for some reason? But you will always find very rude people. I came across one a few months back, where it came across as if I was a ;potentially employee without the wages. Wanted to have a half hour zoom call only ( had been given a slot for four days in advance) and sent me the link and said that I would need to download Zoom, which I wasn’t keen to do. My laptop didn’t have much memory. ( I only discovered later that there is no need at all to download zoom to have a zoom call). anyweay I had problems and after watching this blue line on my laptop not move for over an hour just gave up. I said I was happy to do WhatsApp instead. He sent me a really nasty reply, saying that if I could not master something as simple as zoom I clearly would not be capable of looking after his dogs etc. etc. They were lots more equally disparaging remarks. I actully thought I had definitely dodged a bullet. Why a whatsapp video was not acceptable I have no idea.
Anyway I then saw another nice sit. Recievedf an immediate reply and was having a lovely friendly chat on the phone just five mins later. It was just so nice to be chatting with somebody who sounded so friendly and welcoming after. the other very upsetting exchange.
There is always someone more appreciative and nicer around the corner. :slight_smile:

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Consider it a blessing that you were saved from a potentially miserable sit. If they were likethat now, image what type of review they would.leave you? LUCKY YOU :four_leaf_clover:.

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@boyrrito …hopefully she hung up too. Screening through texts before deciding to do a call can sometimes reveal such mentality even earlier, but unfortunately, not always. Unbelievably rude behavior, wow

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