Pet Sitter Snooped Through the House

[pigletto]

Why do people think she was looking for drugs and a drug addict? What are they going to find in most people homes. High blood pressure medicine. Think she was just snooping doesn’t make it right but doesn’t think she was looking for drugs. What can a druggie do with high blood pressure medicine and other common legal drugs People take.?

Because prescription medication is literally the most abused and street traded drug there is right now . It’s an absolute epidemic. It’s so bad that in our local pharmacy they play a loop of “please remember to lock up and keep prescription medications safe”. Prescriptions have HUGE street value .

I am firmly in the looking for drugs camp and she will have an excuse ready if she was bold enough to do it on camera. Addicts come in all shapes and sizes.

 

[loves to dive]

I understand how you feel but am not surprised she was looking in cabinets. While I never did it back in my babysitting days, nor did I do it when I was feeding my brother's pets, I wouldn't be surprised if someone did it. I'd chalk it up to curiosity and nothing more. Don't hire her again if it really bothered you, which it obviously did. I would just ask: I told you I had cameras and I saw you going through my medicine cabinet, was there a reason?

 

[GAN]

Why would you entrust someone with your pet that you trust so little you feel the need to check bathroom security cameras?

Maybe you should read before you speak. Actually ...how about we just go for read?

 

[backformore]

Decades ago, before the internet, there was a "prank" to play on houseguests. It was assumed that when you had guests for a party, or for dinner, and they used the bathroom, they might snoop to see what was in your medicine cabinet. the prank was to fill the medicine cabinet with marbles, so if it were to be opened, the marbles would fall out and make a big racket. I don't recall when I first read about it though.

I'm not saying anyone should do that, just that peeking inside someone's medicine cabinet was considered such a common thing, for such a long time, that people made jokes about it . it's a big jump to go from snooping to stealing drugs.

 

[sam_gordon]

Because prescription medication is literally the most abused and street traded drug there is right now . It’s an absolute epidemic.

True. Doesn't mean everyone who opens a medicine cabinet is looking to steal drugs through. People really assume the worst in others.

And, if the security camera shows her looking in cabinets, how does it not show whether she took anything out? Even if you don't see what the item is, you'd see her reach, look down to grab the pills, etc.

 

[pigletto]

True. Doesn't mean everyone who opens a medicine cabinet is looking to steal drugs through. People really assume the worst in others.

And, if the security camera shows her looking in cabinets, how does it not show whether she took anything out? Even if you don't see what the item is, you'd see her reach, look down to grab the pills, etc.

No it certainly doesn’t . But she went through the woman’s drawers and medicine cabinet . Two different rooms. That’s enough for me to say she’s nosy , has no boundaries, or is looking to steal and all of those reasons are enough to not use her again . I don’t assume the worst in others , I look at what I find to be the most logical scenario and go with it. I have more experience than I care to share with this topic. It would appear you are the one making assumptions about my motive for what I believe.

 

[DLgal]

I guess I'm naïve, or maybe a sucker, but a female looking through drawers in a bathroom, my first thought would be she had a, female emergency and was looking for personal hygiene products. I would leave it be unless I noticed something missing.

Nobody keeps female hygiene products in a medicine cabinet.

 

[DLgal]

Why do people think she was looking for drugs and a drug addict? What are they going to find in most people homes. High blood pressure medicine. Think she was just snooping doesn’t make it right but doesn’t think she was looking for drugs. What can a druggie do with high blood pressure medicine and other common legal drugs People take.?

Um, what? We don't have any blood pressure meds in our home. But we DO have a bunch of controlled substances. ADHD meds for our son, narcotic pain killers and nerve medicine for back issues and migraines, xanax for anxiety, muscle relaxers.

We are just a typical family of 4 in our early 40s. People looking to score the good stuff would clean up at our house if they went looking around in cabinets and drawers.

 

[Carol_]

Nobody keeps female hygiene products in a medicine cabinet.

See, if you did a little more snooping while at friends’ houses, you would know that’s incorrect.

 

[DLgal]

See, if you did a little more snooping while at friends’ houses, you would know that’s incorrect.

I buy the big boxes. LOL. Our medicine cabinets are about 2 inches deep. I would never think to look in a medicine cabinet for that stuff.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

No it certainly doesn’t . But she went through the woman’s drawers and medicine cabinet . Two different rooms. That’s enough for me to say she’s nosy , has no boundaries, or is looking to steal and all of those reasons are enough to not use her again . I don’t assume the worst in others , I look at what I find to be the most logical scenario and go with it. I have more experience than I care to share with this topic. It would appear you are the one making assumptions about my motive for what I believe.

I think it's leaping to that this woman is a drug addict gone crazy basically. The logic may be there about a few pills missing, which looks like the OP has decided to omit because she's unsure herself (and is totally fine whichever way) and the timing but "she's an addict looking to score" it's like whoa wait a minute how did we get here?

And while being delicate as possible sometimes past experiences may make us more sensitive to things reading into something that isn't there. I do it myself for sure. If you have experience in the past with this topic it may be that you're going straight to that because of that.

I re-read the OP and it says drawers in the ensuite which I would take to mean bathroom drawers, the cabinet under the sink and the medicine cabinet. Those things make me think much more first aid. I have some band-aids in the top drawer of our built-in cabinet in the middle of the two sinks in our bathroom. I don't have any actual medication though in there.

 

[china mom]

OK, long but somewhat relevant story to share.

We had a court case a while back. The woman asked her (male) neighbor to come over and let her dogs out once a day while she was tied up with a husband in the hospital. The neighbor was only supposed to open the back door, call the dogs out and then let them back in. No reason to actually enter the house and definitely no need to go upstairs.

The neighbor had done this numerous times over the course of several weeks.

One day, the woman decided to take a look at the footage from the nannycam that she had set up when she thought that the cleaning lady was stealing. The camera was upstairs in her bedroom.

She pulled the footage and discovered that her neighbor had been helping himself to her underwear drawer and was... well, I'll let you fill in the blanks.

They could not make a criminal case work because, although she had not intended for him to enter the house, she had given him a key, asked him to open the door, and had not specifically told him not to enter. And believe it or not, "entertaining himself" is not actually a crime, even in her underwear. So, we were there for a civil case in which she was suing for the cost of erecting a privacy fence (because she was creaped out) and the cost of replacing all of her underwear.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Nobody keeps female hygiene products in a medicine cabinet.

I buy the big boxes.

Maybe not the medicine cabinet but like I just mentioned in another comment I re-read the OP and they stated drawers in the ensuite which I would take to mean bathroom drawers, the cabinet under the sink and the medicine cabinet. I do keep my stuff in the cabinet under the sink and during my time I do keep several products in the drawer for easy access instead of having to bend down under the sink and go through the boxes for what I need so you'd find my stuff in 2 out of the 3 things the OP mentioned was gone through. *I get my stuff at Costco so yes the are big boxes lol.

I have no clue if that's what this girl was looking for (I think first aid more like it) but just speaking to your comments.

 

[DLgal]

Maybe not the medicine cabinet but like I just mentioned in another comment I re-read the OP and they stated drawers in the ensuite which I would take to mean bathroom drawers, the cabinet under the sink and the medicine cabinet. I do keep my stuff in the cabinet under the sink and during my time I do keep several products in the drawer for easy access instead of having to bend down under the sink and go through the boxes for what I need so you'd find my stuff in 2 out of the 3 things the OP mentioned was gone through. *I get my stuff at Costco so yes the are big boxes lol.

I have no clue if that's what this girl was looking for (I think first aid more like it) but just speaking to your comments.

If she never opened the medicine cabinet, I'd be on board with this theory.

 

[dvcgirl67]

This is what I do for a living....the type of business I run and have had up to 6 people working for me. My advice is to let the business owner know if she works for a company. If she's a solo operator, then I'd ask for my key back if she still has it, and that would be the end of it. This sounds like someone with a problem to me. She likely saw the cameras and still was going through your medicine cabinet and drawers looking for prescription drugs. I tell everyone who works for me that they should always assume that they are being surveilled at all times, because they likely are in many of the homes we work in.

I'm wondering if you checked her level of experience, references and if she had insurance? Those are all of the things that I tell people to look for when hiring professional pet-sitters. Sadly, with apps like Wag and companies like Rover....they will literally let anyone work for them and so I hear about more and more of this. And with social media in general, anyone can just go on Facebook and say..."hey, I'm a pet-sitter, or a dog walker...hire me!" I've had my business in my area for almost 15 years and with that comes a lot of experience in hiring and trust from the community I've only had this happen to me as an employer once, and it was early on. I hired a friend of a friend who came with good references, but she was tipping from being an alcoholic into pain killers. This customer had cameras and she knew it....and still couldn't help herself. I confronted her...gently, because anyone who has gone down this road is struggling. She admitted it. I counseled her to get some help. I knew the customer really well and told her the story....no charges or anything were filed. I sent the customer a big gift basket with things for her pets, and I still have that customer to this day.

I'm sorry you feel violated, but I completely understand that. I would say to look for someone who has been doing this for at least 10 years and has a good reputation. Anyone working in my world that long is not a thief....because in this world now where there are literally cameras everywhere, we'd never make it that long .

I also know people who have hired plumbers, electricians...etc, and are "home" but don't think to take things out of the medicine cabinet...etc. Prescription pain killer addiction is a huge, huge problem in our country. If you have it in your home....my advice, is to lock it up somewhere. It's just the safest best all around. I mean, it's so bad that local newspapers won't list the cause of death in an obituary, because if they print that a person "died at home surrounded by family after a long illness"....to an addict, that says..."there are drugs in that house." So...better safe than sorry all around!

 

[dvcgirl67]

If she never opened the medicine cabinet, I'd be on board with this theory.

110%....she was looking for drugs.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

If she never opened the medicine cabinet, I'd be on board with this theory.

Well like I said I'm not saying feminine products are what she was looking for but if you'd open my drawers you'd find that stuff there. The first aid part, to me is because I could see band-aids and the like stored there, in the drawers and under the sink too especially if it was a larger first aid kit. I'm not excluding the pill theory but nor am I like "nope that's all she was there for and she's a drug addict" either.

 

[Living42Day]

Why would you entrust someone with your pet that you trust so little you feel the need to check bathroom security cameras?

Probably because "I'm not equipped". You are searching for something that is not here.

Though I am curious on why you are reading more into my words than what was originally stated in the post. Freudian?

 

[GAN]

This is what I do for a living....the type of business I run and have had up to 6 people working for me. My advice is to let the business owner know if she works for a company. If she's a solo operator, then I'd ask for my key back if she still has it, and that would be the end of it. This sounds like someone with a problem to me. She likely saw the cameras and still was going through your medicine cabinet and drawers looking for prescription drugs. I tell everyone who works for me that they should always assume that they are being surveilled at all times, because they likely are in many of the homes we work in.

I'm wondering if you checked her level of experience, references and if she had insurance? Those are all of the things that I tell people to look for when hiring professional pet-sitters. Sadly, with apps like Wag and companies like Rover....they will literally let anyone work for them and so I hear about more and more of this. And with social media in general, anyone can just go on Facebook and say..."hey, I'm a pet-sitter, or a dog walker...hire me!" I've had my business in my area for almost 15 years and with that comes a lot of experience in hiring and trust from the community I've only had this happen to me as an employer once, and it was early on. I hired a friend of a friend who came with good references, but she was tipping from being an alcoholic into pain killers. This customer had cameras and she knew it....and still couldn't help herself. I confronted her...gently, because anyone who has gone down this road is struggling. She admitted it. I counseled her to get some help. I knew the customer really well and told her the story....no charges or anything were filed. I sent the customer a big gift basket with things for her pets, and I still have that customer to this day.

I'm sorry you feel violated, but I completely understand that. I would say to look for someone who has been doing this for at least 10 years and has a good reputation. Anyone working in my world that long is not a thief....because in this world now where there are literally cameras everywhere, we'd never make it that long .

I also know people who have hired plumbers, electricians...etc, and are "home" but don't think to take things out of the medicine cabinet...etc. Prescription pain killer addiction is a huge, huge problem in our country. If you have it in your home....my advice, is to lock it up somewhere. It's just the safest best all around. I mean, it's so bad that local newspapers won't list the cause of death in an obituary, because if they print that a person "died at home surrounded by family after a long illness"....to an addict, that says..."there are drugs in that house." So...better safe than sorry all around!

Exactly....

 

[Living42Day]

Thanks everyone for the genuinely helpful replies. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, and thought of a million things she could have been doing besides snooping. Maybe she was looking for plastic bags? Except they were right next to the litter box. Maybe she needed the cat toys? No, they're in the living room. But maybe she needed some hand lotion? No, it was on the counter. But, but but....

There was nothing for her to have cut herself on and feminine hygiene products were clearly visible under the sink but she came out of the bathroom right after she dug through the cabinet (after also searching the medicine cabinet and peeking in each bathroom drawer). I have things baby-proofed for when family comes to visit, so I'm not really buying that she cut herself either. She passes by my dresser, and the motion detection cuts off. So I don't know for sure whether she went into anything else in the bedroom.

I reviewed a few of the other videos, but stopped once I found that she also opened the closet off the main hall and went into another bedroom. Maybe she was looking for the cat? Sure, but he was sitting right in the hallway and she passed by him. I don't want to see anything else, even though I have a couple other videos because it makes me sad that my privacy was disrespected.

I will not be confronting her because this is taking too much energy already. Though it goes without saying that I will not be having her pet sit again.