So after a 10 day sit all seemed well when we got home–cats were ok and house clean. Sitter left early in day and our flight got in late that night.
Apparently she decided to bake us a crumble and left the oven on 350 degrees–at least one full day. I was a bit shocked. We are divided about whether to tell her–hey–you did a great job but please check appliances before you leave…the oven was still on! I will leave a positive review and not mention it in the review but I feel she should know. My partner totally disagrees. What say you?
Oh no! I’m a sitter and I think I’d want you to tell me (but not put it in the review). I would offer to pay for the electricity and would make sure I didn’t do it again.
Hope the crumble was lovely, if expensive!
It’s a gas stove and it’s not the cost. It’s the danger in a closed house of her leaving a full day with our cats inside who could have died from carbon monoxide. The crumble is being thrown out–looks like taffy…doesn’t resemble any crumble I’ve seen…hardly any fruit!
Either this was a one off or it is something that happens occasionally in the heat of the moment. If it was the former, there’s nothing to fix. If the latter, she already knows she sometimes forgets and telling her she did it again won’t prevent her doing it in future (although she might decide to skip baking a last minute crumble on future sits).
I know I sometimes forget to turn off a stove top burner during meal prep and feel pretty stupid when it happens. Having someone point out me doing something stupid has not stopped me doing the same stupid thing later.
So she knows why she got a 4 star rating and I wouldn’t be asking back again and hopefully to prompt her to be more careful checking appliances before she leaves future sits so she doesn’t burn someone’s house down. I fear stove was on longer–she had texted she was leaving the day earlier (she was confused about what day it was) and also left a note saying laundry was in dryer (it was in washer). She’s an older woman and seemed ok when I met her and was pleasant but a bit scatter brained.
I’d definitely mention it. If everything else about the sit was great, I wouldn’t put it in the review, but that is potentially very dangerous. She might be scatterbrained but hopefully knowing something that could have had a really bad outcome will spur her to at least always check the stove from now on.
If the scatterbrainedness impacted the rest of the sit (getting confused about what day it ends?), that’s a deeper issue and future HOs would probably want to know.
As an older woman being scattered brain has nothing to do with being older. She was probably that way when she was younger as well. Some people are more detailed orientated than others unless you are applying she has dementia.
and 4) she forgot to clean the litter boxes…she wrote down in a list she left of tasks completed but she clearly could not have at least a couple days as they were chock full. I took her out for dinner to meet her face to face the night before and she ordered a double whiskey so then there’s that…
I’m a HO and if a sitter did that and nothing else really egregious happened, I would definitely send a note saying, “I won’t state this in the review but you left the oven on when you left [with the crumble inside?] which is very dangerous, not to mention wasteful.” She will be mortified and will double check that she doesn’t do that with the next homeowner. If she’s oblivious that she made such a mistake she won’t know to be careful next time.
If I understand correctly you already wrote a review, gave four stars, but didn’t mention why you docked a star? So she might wonder why, or she might be “ditzy” enough not to care. I would send a private message telling her, while my husband would say don’t bother, so that’s up to you. If you hadn’t already written the review I would suggest you mention it there. That’s an egregiously dangerous mistake on top of other questionable behavior and I would not want her sitting for me. Hopefully the review has enough detail to discourage future HOs.
Your instincts are right, I think. Tell the sitter but clearly an honest (absent minded) mistake but one they need to be mindful of in the future. So tell her, just don’t mention it in the review. Honestly between my hubby and myself we do this once or twice a year but now we usually check each other. It does happen.
@DoorCountycats We think you should mention something in your review. Regardless of what your husband thinks.
Accurate (but balanced) reviews are essential to give future homeowners a heads up about what could be considered unusual behavior. Please also cite the sitter’s positive attributes in your review.
We are HOs as well as sitters and the homeowner part of us is saying “Please mention something in the review!”
Nor do I. And I feel really bad every time I leave a sit without providing that wonderful home-cooked meal for the HOs, after their long-haul schlep home.
But stories like this do give my conscience a bit of peace.
I don’t feel bad about it, because I’m sure they manage to feed themselves without me.
Depending on the host, I sometimes treat them to a meal on their return (you can dine out or get delivery), and/or I ask whether they’d like for me to get them some essentials for their return or if they’d like to place a grocery order and have me take delivery for them.
Nowadays, most people live within delivery services, since more people live in cities and suburbs vs. rural areas. Plus, countless people have frozen foods, so they can get by till they can get fresh stuff.
Personally, when I travel, I often place an order for my return — you can pre-schedule deliveries via various apps. Sometimes, I even order while in my rideshare, timing a delivery for when I arrive home. I live where it’s possible to get deliveries 24/7. Many people do.
Please let the sitter know after both reviews post.I’m not sure what I would do as a homeowner if everything else was okay. Not putting it on the review shows generousity, but I have mixed feelings and homeowners could use a warning. I also sit and would want to know so I could be more careful in the future. I would absolutely let the sitter know this happened.
