That’s very harsh annd I prefer to not sound that way in my initial introduction. I always assume the best and am surprised when it’s not. There are tons of things I could say about what I don’t want in a sit. Let’s focus on the positive and establishing a good relationship.
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Totally each sitter’s choice, of course. There’s a difference between a preference and a dealbreaker in my book.
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Absolutely. I just don’t like the idea of stating my “dealbreakers” before I’ve even talked with someone about a sit. I am, of course, an eternal optimist and hope that the information will come out in an interview. Asking the right questions makes a difference.
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Wise additions, @Maggie8K and I have something similar at the beginning of the questions I ask before accepting a sit -based on experience I’ve an extra one: “any firearms must be locked away”
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I respect and admire how upfront you always are. This approach would probably eliminate a lot of potential problems down the road.
I recently did a repeat sit from a different website for a dog I absolutely love. I’ve always had a good relationship with the owners over the last five years and it’s always been brilliant until…
We slipped into the habit of arranging the sits outside of the website and most recently, the owners sprang on me that their daughter would be travelling back to stay overnight for an old friend’s 21st after we had already arranged and locked in the sit.
I did agree to this even though I wasn’t thrilled as I like having sole occupancy of the property as I work from home and plus, I value privacy. Truth be told for the whole 24 hours the daughter was there, I felt not particularly at ease. The mother texted me the next day to ask if I would go upstairs, knock on her door to check the daughter hadn’t overslept.
The daughter then messaged me the next day to say her friend had left something at the house and when would I be in for her to pop in and get it.
There were various other little niggles of this nature including the daughter helping herself to a bit of my food in the fridge which all seem incredibly minor and petty and no bother to anyone but for the first time in 5 years, I felt I was viewed more as staff.
I need to take a leaf out of your book and become a ‘boundary boss’ as the brilliant Terri Cole calls it!
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As I mentioned, I added this to the end of my sitter profile. When writing such, it helps to see things in context. You can write a positive profile that includes dealbreakers without worrying about not getting sits, I find.
If the dealbreakers happened to weed out hosts who find dealbreakers off putting, I’d consider myself ahead. Of course, you can ask all the Qs you’d like. But I figure, why waste time doing a video chat only to find out about dealbreakers if that’s not necessary?
I’m an optimist, too — I’m optimistic that I can continue to find good matches for sits. If it turned out that I couldn’t, I’d reassess. But I have a bunch of sits booked and haven’t encountered such problems.
From a recent review, for instance: “Excellent” is an understatement! Maggie took wonderful care of our cats and our house. You could tell from her fun pictures and communications that she got to know and love the cats along with their routines. She left the house in better shape than we have seen it; meticulous cleanliness throughout and even a sparkling refrigerator interior. We enjoyed meeting Maggie and getting to know her when she arrived. She exudes warmth, genuine caring, and trustworthiness. And, her 10 days with us supports that impression. Thank you, Maggie.
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