Time for a massive rant.
I've been doing cat sitting now "professionally" for almost a year, after sitting for several friends over the previous year and a half, and owning two cats in the past. I'd like to think I'm professional (not perfect mind, and I have 3 year old) and try to send pics of the cat/s with regular updates, follow instructions, and leave the house in similar or better condition than I find it.
We just finished a week long sit on Saturday, during which there was a known issue with the heating that I hadn't been told in advance how to fix, & which happened twice so clearly was a regular occurrence, and the internet stopped working the first time the heating stopped working and they had no way to troubleshoot it remotely, apparently. House didn't have a clothes dryer or a functional clothes line. It wasn't the most convenient house to sit, but not the worst either.
But what completely floored me was that they did not send one message to confirm their cat was fine on return, or to thank me, or anything. I sent three texts checking in over 3 days, with zero response. Thinking maybe there was something wrong with their phone (even though I was getting the equivalent of read receipts) I sent an email yesterday asking if they'd got the texts: no response. This morning I begin panicking that perhaps they arrived home to a dead cat, or no cat, that I somehow didn't lock the door behind me properly or that I might have somehow mortally offended them or done something else horribly wrong.
I start stressing about the above possibilities seriously this morning, it's horribly distracting, I'm seriously worried their cat might be dead... Get home and finally send another text, this time basically begging them to please tell me if something has happened.
I get a terse response back in 5 minutes saying cat is fine, they've just been very busy since getting back.
Yeah, you hoped I might be free to sit in November as well?
No fucking way in hell, lady.
I do this largely because it's really a good feeling to be appreciated for caring for someone's beloved pets, and I do really care about the welfare of the cats I sit for. If you can't take one minute to acknowledge that role as being valuable and put my mind at ease once you've returned and found everything in order, then I definitely don't want to be performing that service again for you.
#petsitting #rude #cats
