Hello friends!
Looking for advice on a very unsettling situation I am in. I am on a 3 month sit just watching someone’s home- they do not have pets which is fine. I just got a call from my employer saying that the home owners I am sitting for called my place of employment asking questions about me?!
What do I do? Has anyone encountered this before? I think this is highly inappropriate and not only do I not really understand what this would have to do with my sit, but I feel this is a pretty huge breach of trust and I’m not feeling extremely safe or comfortable here anymore. Am I over reacting? Would love any feedback! Thank you!
I don’t think you are overreacting. That’s
weird and creepy. Did you tell them where you worked or did they do some research? I don’t generally volunteer my surname or what I do for a living or who I work for as I am keen to keep my work and my house sitting strictly separate. If they had wanted to do checks before the sit and you’d consented that would be one thing but calling your employer after the house sit starts is super odd and inappropriate. Do you know what they asked? Have they been trying to reach you and couldn’t so just wanted to get ahold of you some other way or did their questions really cross the line?
UPDATED: I’d seen another post where the same OP mentioned “THS sits and non-THS” and thought the sit in question was NOT THS. However, the OP corrected this.
Important bit of information here: You posted recently on another thread and mentioned this is not a THS sit. So if was a THS sit, something like that would be icky and if not a violation of a policy, certainly a breach. Not knowing anything about the kind of agreement you made with the people you are sitting for: Are you paying them? Are they paying you? What are you expected to do? Etc Etc. I don’t know if anyone on this forum can really say.
I’ve never encountered this before because no owner had ever known who I work for. Why would they ever need to know.
If this is a THS sit then contact member services. If it’s not then contact whichever agency you got this sit through and talk to them.
You mentioned that you have an office so maybe they are upset that you are using their home rather than your office to run your business?
Clarification Marion, this IS a THS sit. It was through this app, they just don’t have any pets.
It is the exact same agreement, not paying, not being paid, and just care for their home for 3 months while they are away. Check their mail, water their plants, make sure things are in working condition and I also agreed to run their car every so often in the cold weather and also was asked to gather donations dropped off by friends and neighbours for their daughters work, which I also agreed to do because I thought it was a kind thing to do.
Hey Bianca, thanks so much for your quick response! I did tell them exactly where I was working and my position. I am generally a very open and honest person and maybe that was my mistake here . I guess I always have felt that if I am staying in someone’s home and taking care of their loved ones it is somewhat of an obligation, but I certainly never expected a call to be made to my place of work, and my coworkers and boss were quite unsettled by this call and alerted me fairly quickly in regards saying they did not feel I was super safe and should consider leaving.
And I agree. Had they wanted or asked to speak to my employer or even told me they were doing this I probably wouldn’t have had much of an issue. But it’s also the fact that this was not a reference call and they did not state the reason they were calling. Apparently it was a strange enough call for the executive director to contact my director and ask him if he knew these people.
I don’t know the full extent of what they asked and have asked my boss to look into it for me. But I work as a producer/art director/wardrobe and set Dec normally for film and television but currently on a theatre production and they apparently called the playhouse! They asked the production dates, the name of the production, and a few other questions that the theatre director deemed “odd”.
And it has absolutely nothing to do with not being able to reach me as I have been in contact with them every day. It seems they were trying to investigate whether I actually worked here? I honestly am not really sure and that is what is more unsettling for me. I’m not sure why a phone call like this would be helpful for a home owner to make.
This is not appropriate at all, and I can understand why you are concerned. I would speak to the hosts, and ask them why they did that, and maybe hint you are considering leaving. It sounds as If they don’t trust you, very weird.
I would contact the hosts, tell then what your work said, and ask the hosts if everything is ok. Give them a chance to tell you if they are unhappy about anything. Also put them in a posituon to apologize to you. I would convey that your boss was freaked out and diesnt think you are in a safe situation. I eould think they are either going to reassure you or give you an out of this situation.
Wow. Realize you told them where you work, but this is concerning as THS does ask sitters for Linkedin accounts in profiles as well. I would never think a HO would do anything like this. Completely violating and shocking. There should be something in the agreement that neither party can directly contact the other parties employer.
Definitely a learning experience for me, being the honest/up front person I am I didn’t think twice about providing my job title/work place. I am also a bit of a workaholic and my career is a lot to me, I have always seen it as part of my identity and I’m also quite proud of what I do, I just didn’t think it would be sort of turned against me, I should have known better.i did contact the emergency line last night after receiving an email saying there had been a formal complaint lodged against me for having an unauthorized guest on the premises (inaccurate) and that I was at risk of having my membership terminated. I just got really scared overall about my employment being contacted and then this, I was very grateful for someone suggesting I reach out to member services. I guess I’ve never actually experienced any issues with a sit before, especially not like this, so I didn’t realize there was a human able to assist, I thought it would be an automated email response. But I will say, I was extremely grateful to the THS team, they were very supportive as I was in tears and having an anxiety attack and not sure what to do in this situation.
And re: your above comment, one thing with THS which I think is a general understanding, especially with longer sits, is that we obviously are not paid for this service, so most individuals do have to still work for a living. We also dedicate our time and energy/efforts into the home/pets we are caring for as much as possible. So if I ever bring my work to a house sit with me, it is literally so that I can spend more time with/around and more care on the house/pets I am caring for. I do understand this was this family’s first time using a service like this though, so I suppose that may not register with them.
I have now had a chance to speak with the hosts. I think they understand now this wasn’t an appropriate action to take and they just got anxious… still a very upsetting and stressful situation for me. They have decided house sitting is not for them and are cancelling the sit.
Yea, I’m not clear on the exact motivation, but it seems it was a rash reaction made. I just care very much about my career and certainly don’t wish for something I do for enjoyment on the side- house/pet sitting to effect it negatively. That would really hurt my overall enjoyment of life.
@Moni I hope you are covered by the sit guarantee if the homeowner is cancelling the sit early . I am glad to hear that you received support from member services a real human and over weekend hours . It’s good to know that such support is there when needed.
Hey makelikeanapeman,
Appreciate the feedback, from everyone. I was trying to reach them before and actually had had a phone convo with them where I thought things were resolved before receiving this call from work as well as the email from THS indicating risk of my profile being terminated. This was why I had a bit of a breakdown. I have since been able to speak with them and listen to their side of things. I understand having someone in your home can be a difficult and nerve wracking thing, the situation just escalated very quickly to a place I felt anxious and scared about. The HO has chosen to cancel the sit, but tbh, I’m perfectly okay with that given the circumstances, I just wish communication was directly with me… but can’t go backwards now.
Honestly, I’m just a bit anxious about using the app and doing this again now, and I’m very sad about this.
. I guess I always have felt that if I am staying in someone’s home and taking care of their loved ones it is somewhat of an obligation, but I certainly never expected a call to be made to my place of work, and my coworkers and boss were quite unsettled by this call and alerted me fairly quickly in regards saying they did not feel I was super safe and should consider leaving.