You should also state it is not in the WG.
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I’m on a sit at the moment, for people who have a gardener. I was told at the outset when the gardener would be arriving - and that I would need to make sure the gate was open for them from early on the relevant day. I spoke with the gardener, who said he’d probably have to come back a week later, to finish up. So again, I made sure the gate was open for him. When I asked if he’d need another visit (it’s a four-week sit) he said he thought not, but since he had my number (with my permission), if he had to make another visit, he’d drop me a message.
It seems to me this is how civilised people communicate. If your HOs needed you to be there, they should say so - and when and why. But of course, there’s nothing you can do about it now. You can only make goshdarned sure that you ask at your next sit if there are any times when the HO really needs you to be at home.
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After reading your other thread about the missing coffee mugs, this HO sounds like the Miranda Priestly character in the movie “The Devil Wears Prada”. Simply impossible to please.
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Hi Kit, Whenever I have sat and there have been gardeners coming, I have not needed to be involved. They have simply gone about their business, frequently without me even realising they have arrived. They are oiutside in the gardens and do not require any access to the house. I have never needed to be there to let them in or stay watching them. They have been anywhere between two hours and all day.
And if they have had a cleaning lady she has always had a key, so again never needed to be there.
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Modeled after Anna Wintour of Vogue magazine.
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On a recent sit, I was encouraged NOT to be home when the cleaner would be there.
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I don’t think it was fair as she should have been more specific. I can only think of one stay we had with a gardener. We were just told he might show up on a certain day. There was nothing about access to the house or our needing to be home. But I’ve seen instructions that might be very specific – eg leave cold water out, allow access to a bathroom or a shed, etc.
If the review specified why the point was docked, I’d tactfully respond: While __ mentioned that the gardener would be coming that day, __ never mentioned anything about the need for us to be home to let the gardener in. We simply had no way of knowing that the gardener needed access to the home. When _____ texted us, we came back immedately and were fortunatly only a few minutes away and let the gardener in. We chose not to take off a point for this miscommunication on the part of the homeowner, as the matter seemed to be resolved. We have __ 5-star reviews with no other dings in this category.
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ABGM, this is a thoughtful and kindly answer. Thank you. I was hesitant and inexperienced and only docked stars in the communication section. I think that as I build experience and grateful HOs, it will be easier for me to be more honest.
The host that came after this one was a wonderful person and confirmed my value and assessment of the previous situation. She had a palatial property in the same town and no difficulty trusting me or her staff.
Something that occurred to me during these recent (and fairly minor) challenges is that some people are used to their status or money being the defining currency in their dealings. They’re used to conducting themselves however, and others just quietly work with it. I REALLY love it that on TH, the currency on all sides is one’s character and conduct.
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Oh, I could leave if the housekeeper was there, but not the gardener, and I didn’t know any of that in advance. When I found out by talking to the personal assistant that she was taking over, not the HO, I let the HO know that I cleaned the house and would do the bedding, etc. She suddenly changed the timing of the housekeeper to show up early the next day when I was trying to leave the house for a meeting. The housekeeper was asking me questions about what to clean and I didn’t speak the language, so it was a challenge. I had to pay extra to take a cab to be on time and I never found out why the housekeeper was engaged to clean what I’d already cleaned. Just utterly weird assumptions and communications all-round.
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It didn’t occur to me that I could be that specific in the responses to HO reviews. Thank you.
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There was no welcome guide because she said she was too busy, and I accepted that.
Yes. I have a feeling that she and her personal assistant retain the impression that I was the problem, but I have had enough confirmation of my good conduct to let go of this.
(Edited in line with the Forum Guidelines)
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What a cool observation. (And not everyone’s currency is that good, unfortunately! 
)
It would be nice if there was more of that in the world in general.
Glad you had a much better sit to follow up.
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I haven’t read the review, so I’m going off what you’ve shared here. If the host marked you down simply because you weren’t at home to let the gardener in ( but they hadn’t told you that was required ) that reflects more poorly on them than on you. It also sounds like this host—who couldn’t locate their own mugs—may be accustomed to having a personal assistant manage their day-to-day life.
It seems they may not fully understand the mutual nature of a THS house-sitting arrangement, which is primarily focused on caring for pets.
They were perhaps expecting more of a house manager than an unpaid THS house sitter.
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You aren’t a concierge. If she didn’t explicitly ask you to be there for a scheduled arrival, that’s on her. Docking a star for a 10-minute wait is completely unreasonable, especially when you weren’t given instructions.
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