Quick question: When encountering a neighbor or a tradesperson coming to do some work, how do you introduce yourself or explain your presence? ie: friend of the owner or as a housesitter/petsitter?
I’ve done it both ways, but curious if one is better than the other, and if one is more strategic than the other? Or is there other ways that are?
@CopCami, welcome to THS Forum. Gosh, that’s a thoughtful question.
If I’m honest, I don’t really care what the person thinks so probably not an ideal role model for such a question.
We reply honestly. Sometimes are literal and say ‘looking after house and property during [name] absence’. If person has a pet then we’d tend to simply state housesitter, and elaborate if that seems an unfamiliar term.
We are not, in any way, somehow ashamed of our role or lives. And we find that such honesty sometimes opens up interesting conversations; or suggestions of local places to visit; or questions about THS membership. Even sometimes questions about our future availability!
When we answer the door we usually just introduce ourselves and say “we’re just pet sitting at the moment” and then no-one knows that the owners are away, as it can imply we’re just dog walkers and are just there to let them in. But we’ve always had a response like “did they get off okay?” meaning did their flight take off on time, or “it’s Italy they went to, isn’t it?”, clearly indicating they are very friendly and knowledgeable about the HO’s, and then we can just be ourselves naturally.
Depends who asks. 
I usually ask the HOs if their neighbours know I am coming.
I’ve read too many thrillers to know that curtains will be twitching at the sight of the unknown gentleman in black. I don’t want to be the gossip of the local whatsapp group. 
I have usually asked owners to inform their neighbours that I will be there. Happy to say hi to them if I see them outside their place and have been invited in for a cuppa and chat occasionally. As for tradespeople coming to do some work, remember the Third Party Policy where no other person is to be at the property without sitter’s agreement prior to confirmation.
Depends on the circumstances and the people, out of safety considerations for me as a solo sitter who’s a woman and for the hosts’ confidentiality / privacy.
Some folks aren’t necessarily friendly with their neighbors, so I don’t think it’s my place as their sitter to share their business. Some are very friendly with their neighbors. It’s usually easy to suss out which, without giving anything away upfront.
Some hosts intro me to their neighbors and some tell them I’ll be there. In most cases, even when I meet the neighbors, I’m interacting with them briefly, so I don’t volunteer much info about myself. But I have had hosts who’ve also extended their neighbors and friends to me, so we might get to know each other more. Like some have invited me on outings or given me tours.
With cleaners, gardeners or such, the hosts usually let them know that a sitter will be there. Today, I let in a regular cleaning crew, but I don’t know what they thought — my hosts had said they’d be coming, but that they didn’t speak much English.
Often, I’m telecommuting when the cleaners come anyway, so I’m on meetings or such and they often have a key and do their thing. I might just stay in the guest suite (sometimes with the dogs) and ask that they leave my quarters for me to clean.
We just say " we’re only here for the swingers party "
Do you leave the balaclava and gloves on?
Why is there no 
emoji precisely when you need one @Oztravels? 
#emojilove
That would be rude!
Thanks for sharing!
I usually say "Oh, I am looking after “Name of the Pet, while X and Y are away”. Most people are fine with that. Sometimes I curate the answer to include more or less information depending on what the obvious realtionship is with the home owner; i.e. neighbour who obviously knows them well.
However, and going off on a slight tangent, I always find it interesting to meet the neighbours, and it can be useful if you find yourself in need of help.
One time I locked myself out the house on my first day walking the dog. All the information (Welcome Guide) was on my phone which was inside with the keys. The neighbour didn’t have spares but he did have an athletically, skinny, teenaged son who was more than happy to slide in through the barely open lounge window to open the back door. The day after I met his mother, when a passing woman called out, “Hi , I am your housebreaker’s mother!”
We were on a sit recently and meet a gentleman when out for a walk. We had a chat and then we found out that he had messaged the HO later that day to ask her if she knew 2 stangers had her dogs out for a walk!
Good neighbourhood watch!!
Haven’t sat in neighborhoods with much interest in me 
but I would say as little as possible or counter with a question. «What did :host: tell you?» If they know, they know. If not, there’s probably a reason.
People tend to know whom they see regularly walking which pets, especially if they have dogs and often overlap on walks. Some of them just by sight, not because they actually know the hosts.
If they say, oh, it’s (pet’s name), then we might start chatting. If they mention the hosts by name and some other reference that indicates they actually know them in a friendly way, I might say more about myself.
On one U.K. sit, I went to a village pub and the barkeep greeted me by saying I must be the American watching the dog for (hosts’ names). I had the doggo with me and she was instantly recognized.
On another sit, in Glasgow, I bumped into my hosts’ friends repeatedly. They always recognized my sit dog.
On various U.S. sits, I’ve encountered others with pets in the neighborhood who regularly played with my sit dogs. We’d end up chatting and letting the dogs hang out some.