I’m on a petsit and I have been asked to do a number of things that are kind of messing me up. I’m being asked to move heavy items to be picked up and was asked to wait for a delivery of something (without being given tracking information and put on alerts). The delivery ended up getting stolen from the porch shortly after it was delivered. I’m pretty stressed out about the construction items that need to be carried upstairs for pick-up (I will also need to remain home during the 4 hour window that this happens). Does all of this fall outside the scope of what I’m required to do? Frankly I’m worried about getting a bad review because of the stolen package and I’m worried about damaging these heavy items that need to be carried. All this is adding stress I don’t need.
No, you are absolutely not required to do this. It falls outside the remit of a house and pet sitter. Why? Well, you answered your own question…
Doing things outside your remit means you could hurt yourself, damage property, have something stolen and be blamed for it, because the home owners made you responsible when they shouldn’t have. I would recommend giving the following a read to clarify what you should and should not be agreeing to, and perhaps pass it onto the home owners for their awareness (unfortunately, that may be tricky now since you’ve done much of what they asked of you and are now suffering the consequences).
What are the sitter’s responsibilities during a sit? – TrustedHousesitters
What household tasks are sitters responsible for? – TrustedHousesitters
Some home owners may take advantage in terms of what they will ask or expect of sitters, but you are well within your rights to say no.
You were “asked” which, to me, means you were given a choice to do it or not. If you knew you would struggle to lift the heavy items and didn’t want to wait in for the delivery your answer should have been no when you were asked.
We have done several favours for the householders in the past when it didn’t inconvenience us too much. I’m not sure how it fits in with the T and Cs but I see nothing wrong being asked. The householder is not demanding these tasks are done.
Were you asked before you agreed to the sit? Did you agree to do these things? If so, that was a mistake, and once you realized you made a mistake and that the things were too heavy, you could have spoken to the homeowner.
Were you asked after you took the sit? If that is the case you could have just said no. You might have given an explanation – bad back, fear of injuring yourself, fear of breaking the items and not wanting to be responsible, etc. If the host gave you a bad review for saying no, that would be something you could respond to and even start a dispute about.
Sometimes sitters put themselves in positions where they are used as a valet, and then complain that homeowners “made them” do things. I get the fear of getting a bad review, but this is ridiculous. It is probably not the homeowner’s intent to make you miserable and stress you out. You can say no.
Were you asked prior to the sit or during the sit? Probably when you agreed, you weren’t aware that there would be heavy items involved, particularly having to carry them upstairs.
Either way, having heavy construction items picked up / delivered is something that the HO should have done prior to your arrival or after your departure. No, you are not required to be responsible for carrying heavy construction items. As @anon6309382 mentioned, doing so, could result in your getting injured and / or the items get damaged. They could easily try to find fault with you if something goes wrong. Expecting you to look out for deliveries and remain home on a 4-hour window for pick-up, certainly does not fall within the realm of sitters’ responsibilties.
Are you sure the package was stolen? Maybe it was delivered to the wrong address.
It sounds like the HO is taking advantage of you. You can tell the HO: “You realize you agreed, but you are not comfortable with what they asked, you are worried about damaging the heavy items and you could injure yourself.”
If they want things moved, picked up-- they should hire someone or wait until they get back.
Sits for sitters should be enjoyable–not stressful.
Yes, I’m sure it was stolen. The deliverer photographed the package on the porch. I’m feeling like a fool. As for the heavy items she sprung this on me after they left. Lesson learned.
I think the homeowner didn’t exactly ask. She said this is what was needed.
Saying it was «needed» is entitled behavior and will quite knowingly it seems put you in a difficult position. Going forward, say that you are unfortunately not able to and that she would need to reach out to her emergency contact to sort it out if it cannot wait until she return.
If it was me I would during the sit start on my factual and un-emotional review, giving an honest impression of the sit with the good and bad. Apart from that being «needed» 
it can also be a good way to process your experiences.
It depends on what you’s both agreed upon.
This reminds me of a sit where I received instructions from a home owner, part way through a sit, to pot up 100 seedlings that would be arriving that day.
And yes, they were instructions.
She had a gardener but he wouldn’t be there for another 5 days, and I did consider leaving them in her greenhouse for him to sort out when he next visited but in the end I decided that it wasn’t the fault of the seedlings that they had been bought by a demanding, thoughtless, arrogant woman - so I potted them.
I responded to her text to advise that gardening wasn’t part of our agreement, that I wasn’t a gardener (nor particularly green fingered) but on this occasion I would help - and she might want to consider not arranging for plants to arrive when she was away.
She gave me a 5 star review.
I would message the owner and say that you weren’t aware when you accepted the sit about heavy packages needing to be moved and that you won’t risk injuring yourself moving any more deliveries and that she should contact a friend/relative who may be able to handle the items.
Don’t apologize for not being able to do these tasks that were not disclosed up front, and don’t feel foolish.
You’ve been taken advantage of and that’s onthe HO. Not you.
Write a factual review that states you were asked after the sit started to do tasks that weren’t disclosed up front.
As a sitter reading that review I can read between the lines what that means.
What review did you give her?
Different interpretation of semantics here, to me ‘to be asked’ to do something equals to be told to do it.