We have a confirmed sitter for September who just cancelled her sit. Her stated reason being that she has a friend of a friend who as offered her a paid sit for the same time period. As she states, “I’d be silly not to take it.” But she hopes our paths may cross again and she would be considered for a future sit.
Why on Earth would she’d think we’d consider her again? What if we did, confirmed a sit, and she cancelled on us again for a paid sit?? Happily, we have time to find another sitter.
Then for closure you probably need to reply and share your thoughts/feelings. How will these sitters learn unless honest feedback is provided by HOs.
BTW you might mention if your dog snores as he’s a big dog that shares your bedroom just a thought having skim read your listing.
Regarding reactivity to other dogs you state you correct him gently as he’s ‘sensitive’ what happens if he’s not gently correctly but corrected more assertively? You could describe this in more detail as it’d give me pause….
The sit got automatically cancelled when she cancelled and then relisted automatically. Figuring out the best reply to the sitter. I agree this degrades the point of the THS platform.
I did send a note off to support and informed them.
Wow. It was great that she was honest about it, but it’s also scary that she may do this again when a HO doesn’t have a lot of time to replace her.
How does a HO address such potential issue when chatting with sitters? I feel that maybe both parties need to make a pre-sit deposit and if one cancels, if the reason is lame, the other gets the money. I know, crazy, but something’s needed to keep people from breaking their promise.
That’s surprising. She sounds very young by that entitled answer. I also do paid sits and I was offered a paid sit on a scheduled THS sit coming soon. I didn’t consider it for a minute. Don’t be on here if you would cancel so easily. If she needs the money so badly, get off this platform and only do paid sits.
A sitter who cancels on a host for the given reason isn’t going to learn anything by given feedback. It’s who they are, they well justify their decision until the take their last breath, no matter what anyone says.
I believe in the capacity for personal growth, and change. If we avoid giving honest feedback when there’s an opportunity presented then we act like bystanders in our community letting others maybe suffer in the future. It’s about taking personal responsibility for the society of which we’re a part.
There’s no way we can equate entitlement with age. As @Cathie said, It’s about principles. I would go out of my way to keep a commitment, on this platform or any other commitment I make and it has always been like that since I was a teenager.
It can’t hurt to try, and perhaps you feel a bit better knowing you made a contribution for the better of society. But don’t get your hopes up that this sitter will suddenly think “wow I didn’t realize how selfish I was being, I won’t ever do THAT again!”.
@Savuti94, thank you for making us smile. Sometimes stuff surprises us.
We’d guess that you dodged a bullet, so to speak. If their commitment was so meagre then so may have been other topics.
On upside, you still have approximately three months to secure a great housesitter. Assuming reasonable listing then this should be ample time.
You may wish to consider reflection on video call questions. While this seems an outlier situation then always good to refine tactics. We’ve repeatedly evolved our tactics when faced with PP expectations that we find odd (that occur on both sides!)
Sadly, that would just lead to a plethora of “family emergencies”.
I can’t help being impressed that this sitter was honest. The “family emergency” is such an easy point-non-plus to roll out. Maybe she’s honest, maybe she’s just too… er…naive to realise that bailing on a sit is BAD - especially if your excuse is “Well hey, I’ll be quids in!”
So while I’m just a little bit impressed, I wouldn’t want to go near her as a sitter.
I agree. She would only say to herself, I can’t believe the THS host thinks I should take her unpaid sit instead. I guess I will start using the excuse, family emergency. If she is over 50 her character is set.
