As the title says, I had a hiccup while on a housesit that has been resolved, but I wanted to share anyway for feedback and–if I"m being honest–also for validation and sympathy LMAO!
This was the first of 17 previous sits I’ve taken where the owner had less than perfect reviews. I’m very diligent about “vetting” owners, reading the reviews carefully (and “between the lines”), looking on the app for sitters that didn’t leave reviews at all, etc etc.
In this case there were two recent reviews where the sitter left fairly harsh negative feedback regarding the cleanliness of the home. However, all other reviews going back for several years prior were positive. The owner addressed this issue in his listing, stating that he now has a housecleaner that comes regularly, and he replaced all old bedding and rugs recently. He’s an older gentleman, and I empathized with the fact that it’s gotten harder for him to keep up with the housework lately. Even the negative reviews stated that he is a very nice guy, which he is. I have a soft spot for elderly pet loving guys.
Long story short, I took the sit knowing it might not be the cleanest because of the awesome location that my husband and I have wanted to experience, and the willingness of the owner to remedy the past issues. It’s within 40 minutes of where I live and even closer to my husband’s place of work, and we figured it would be a nice getaway for us.
As expected, the home was very far below my standards of clean when I arrived, but I white-knuckled it, knowing relief would be very soon in the form of a nice professional cleaner. . Honestly, it was far more cluttered and disorganized than it was dirty, and I had doubts that the cleaner was going to help much with de-cluttering at all. Regardless, the housecleaner was scheduled to come the day after I arrived, between 11am and 1pm, and would take about an hour and a half.
Fast forward to the next day. 11 am, 12 noon, 1pm came and went, with no cleaner having arrived yet. Owner needed me to be there to let her in (and wanted me to stay on the premises while she cleaned as well), so any other activities or outings were hinging on this being out of the way.
At 1:30 I texted h/o to inquire if the cleaner was still expected to come. He quickly answered me saying he checked with his daughter (who lives nearby and who is the one who referred him to the cleaner),and daughter says the cleaner will be there within a half hour. Okay fine, that would be 2pm, and I figured I could at least walk around the neighborhood while she cleaned.
I’m the type who has to “clean for the cleaner”, and I’d packed up all of own dry food out of her way, and hadn’t eaten the whole day because I kept thinking she’d be at the door any minute.
2 pm comes and goes, as does 3 and 3:30 pm. Still no cleaner, and by that point I was getting quite annoyed. The owner was across the country in a different time zone, and he had left me his daughters phone number so I figured rather than bother him again I’d directly text his daughter, which I did at 4pm.
I told her the cleaner was supposed to be there between 11 and 1, after I inquired it was pushed back to 2pm, but it was 4 and she still hadn’t arrived, and could she please reschedule the cleaning as I had been waiting all day and hadn’t eaten.
Daughter texts me back saying basically she’s so sorry, the cleaner is running late but should be there by 5pm FOR SURE. She said the cleaner doesn’t speak English so she can’t communicate with her directly in order to reschedule, she has to go through her husband to communicate, and her husband wasn’t available at the moment. BUT, she said, “You can go out to eat, I’ll let her in the house”.
Meanwhile, I hadn’t intended to GO OUT to eat, I wanted to prepare food I had brought with me and eat it there. By that point I was so frustrated and had to be careful with the sharpness of my texts. I was so hungry and annoyed, and I basically debated what I should do for over an hour. At 5:15 I texted the daughter again, saying “I know this isn’t your fault. But it’s 5:15 now, at 4 you promised she’d be here by 5 and she’s still not here. What’s going on?”
I kid you not—she answered “My husband just called her. She’ll be there by about 6. But you can go out, I’ll let her in…”.
Oh my frigging GOD! At that point I was hangry as heck, so I took off with my husband (who was now home from work and had joined me) headed for a burger place, where I could cool my pits and not send a ragey text I’d later regret. I responded saying “Okay, please just let me know when you’ve let her in” (figuring she’d be there at least an hour and a half AFTER that time). She agreed.
So we’re out finally eating. 6 o clock comes and goes. 6:30 does too. Still no text that the cleaner had been let in. Finally, my husband (who hates making waves) made the decision to put an end to the madness. He has to be up at 5am to get ready for work! So at 6:45 I texted to say (paraphrasing here) that I was finished eating, it was almost 7 pm and had the cleaner arrived yet? Because if not, I’m sorry but she cannot go there, we will be in bed before she’s done cleaning.
Believe it or not, the answer was that she was “On her way” (but STILL not there!) but if I insisted she would have her husband tell her to turn around. She added something about how it was the last time she’d be cleaning her dad’s house for the summer and “I guess I’ll lhave to clean my dad’s house for him…”
I guess you will then? I didn’t actually say that LOL, but yeah, I drew the line when she wasn’t there by almost SEVEN PM! It was so ridiculous we really had to laugh!
As it turned out, the owner himself called me shortly afterwards and apologized profusely. He was so sweet and sorry, and said I should’ve called him, and to call him no matter what time if anything else came up. He felt really badly, and I completely forgave him. Not his fault. It’s all water under the bridge at this point but yeah, it was quit a wasted day, waiting for the cleaner that never showed!
I’ve since adjusted to the clutter and am just grateful I’m not sitting around waiting for a stranger to come any longer! And also looking forward to going home in a few days LOL.
So after that looooonnnng story, can anyone relate? What would you sitters have done differently, if anything? TIA for reading my novel!