WWYD? Re: Pet sitter

[Disney Doll]

I would have done the same thing you did OP.

I don't know when teenagers became these little delicate flowers who can't have anything unpleasant happen to them regardless of what they do.

You hired the kid for a job. You gave the kid specific instructions that she didn't follow. You have every right to speak with her about that, tell her exactly why you are displeased and explain what actions of hers have caused her to lose her job. No wonder no one has a sense of accountability or responsibility.

And let's be realistic, it's very seldom that the security cameras fail. I have had them in my home for 2 years and I think they've "failed" about 5 times in 2 years. The chances of it failing at the exact time she claims she was there at night are slim and none. She came over right after the football game? Doubtful. Right after the football game her buddies were going to the local burger joint and she went with them.

 

[Kellykins1218]

I Think you totally overreacted. She took care of your dogs just did not follow your exact timeline. You should've just paid her & then not used her again.

 

[CarolAnn856]

16 yr old girls are still quite irresponsible and stupid at that age.

That's quite a broad brush you're painting with. It's a shame that you don't know any responsible and intelligent 16 year olds. I know many teens that age that I would trust to do a good job and follow specific directions.

OP, I would have let her know why I was unhappy with her work, but I wouldn't have gone the route of trying to catch her in a lie. That comes across as a power trip. I would have opened with the fact that you received alerts and know that she missed one walk and didn't do two others at your specified times. I also would have said that you saw the video feed and know that she brought someone with her. Then, I would have paid her and explained that I wouldn't be hiring her again because she didn't follow your instructions.

I know confrontation makes many people uncomfortable, since I'm one of them! However, especially for a teen learning to navigate the world, giving this feedback could be very valuable and I wouldn't hesitate to do it. Paying and not saying anything is, IMO, a cop-out.

 

[PollyannaMom]

She did what you wanted, just not at the times you specified. I doubt the dogs really suffered. At least she showed up..

But I think they did suffer. I would never expect an animal to go from 5:30pm to 9:30am without being able to go to the bathroom! (It's one of the reasons we have cats instead of dogs.)

I don't know when teenagers became these little delicate flowers who can't have anything unpleasant happen to them regardless of what they do.

You hired the kid for a job. You gave the kid specific instructions that she didn't follow. You have every right to speak with her about that, tell her exactly why you are displeased and explain what actions of hers have caused her to lose her job. No wonder no one has a sense of accountability or responsibility.

I agree, and I think you were right to explain exactly why you wouldn't be having her back. My pets are very important to me, and I cannot enjoy vacation time if I'm worried about them.

 

[DawnM]

My friend had this happen, in a somewhat similar way. She had a neighbor (adult) watch her dogs. She doesn't have security cameras but they have an alarm and it shows the time someone punched in the code.

The adult did text her to ask if she could let her teen daughter do it instead of her because she wanted to go out for dinner with friends. My friend agreed.

But the code wasn't punched until 11pm, when the dogs needed to go out at around 8pm.

She told her friend what the daughter did and said to please not use the daughter again.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I don't think you were too harsh. She's 16, not 12.

She was slacking and probably thought you wouldn't find out(not saying she's a bad kid, I did the same thing at my job when I was a teen). She didn't do what she was hired to do. You (OP) are paying, so you get to set the guidelines, however regimented they are. The girl is lucky you payed her the full amount. Maybe she'll learn from it.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Long post.

I hired a new pet sitter (16 y/o that lives in the neighborhood that I didn't know). I view it as a complete disaster.

Had her over three weeks ago so I could meet her, she could meet the dogs, and I could explain exactly what I would need done for some up coming trips.

Emailed her a few days later and offered her her first job. In the email I explained the four times she would need to come over for a short trip and exactly what she would need to do.

Had her over on Thursday to see the dogs again, do a quick recap of what needed to be done, and to give her the key. I also went over the schedule with her and had it written down on a note on my table. I also left notes taped around the house for reminders (blue bowl for one dog, green for the other, poop bags in here, etc).

Her job:
Friday: Between 5- 6pm feed and walk both dogs
Friday Between 10 - 11pm let the dogs out in the yard for a quick pee
Saturday (today) - 8am Feed and walk both dogs
Saturday 1pm - Walk dogs

What she didn't know is that we have security cameras.

Here's what she did:
Friday @ 5:30: Arrived at the correct time and did exactly what she was supposed to do!
I sent her a text and asked how it went and she said "Everything went great. The dogs were really good!" Excellent!

Friday between 10-11pm: Based on my security cameras, she never showed up.
I didn't sleep well. I wasn't sure if it was a glitch in the system or she didn't come over.

Saturday: Didn't show up at the scheduled 8am. At 8:30, I sent her a text. This was our conversation:
Me: How are the dogs doing this morning?
Her: Good!!
Me: How'd they do last night when you came by to let them out in the yard?
Her: Great! They both went.

So now I am thinking maybe my security cameras simply weren't working properly. They worked because I could get live feeds, but I wasn't getting any alerts that she had come over. I was able to relax a little until...

9:30am: I receive an alert. She is just arriving to feed and walk the dogs. I am pissed! She lied this morning about the dogs being fine. She hadn't even been to my house.

Her last scheduled visit was supposed to be at 1pm. Instead, she showed up at 12:15. Since she came late this morning and early this afternoon, instead of five hours between visits it was less than three hours.

In addition, there is some other girl with her on the video! I made it very clear that the dogs needed to be walked individually, but the new girl took one dog while the pet sitter took the other dog and they went out together. My dogs are very well behave, but they feed off one another if another dog is out. You need to know how to control them so that is why I always have pet sitters walk them separately.

We got home at 6pm. In addition to all of the above, the first thing I notice is that she didn't throw any of the poop out where it belonged. She picked it up and threw the bags in a pile in our yard instead of the community receptacle that I showed her.

The obvious is that we will never, ever use this girl again.

Curious what you would do?

Husband: Let it go. Pay her, don't say anything because she lives in our neighborhood, and move on.

My kids (21 and 19): Do not pay her a single red cent! Tell her everything she did and tell her she doesn't deserve a penny.


What I did: I sent her a text that I was home and to bring back the key and I'll pay her.
When she arrived, it went something like this:
Me: I need you to be honest with me about a couple things. When I sent you a text at 8:30am asking how my dogs were doing this morning and you responded with "good," you didn't actually know they were good because you hadn't been over to my house yet, right?

Her: Um....I...well, I think I....

Me: I have security cameras.

Her: Oh. I think I got here at 9.

Me: No, you got here at 9:30. I hired you to be here at 8am.

Her: Oh.

Me: You had no business telling me that my dogs were good if you hadn't even been here yet. And then you came back at 12:15. They really didn't need to go out that soon since you got here so late this morning. But the part that bugs me the most is that you brought someone with you.

Her: Oh, that was my....

Me: I don't care who it was. It doesn't matter if it was your sister, your mom, or your best friend. You let a stranger into my home. I didn't hire that person to walk my dogs, I hired you and only you. You had no right to allow someone else into my home. I specifically told you I wanted the dogs walked separately and you ignored that by having someone I didn't know walk my dogs.

Her: Sorry.

Me: One more question. I didn't see any proof that you came by last night to let them out for a quick pee.

Her: I did. I swear. I went to the football game and came over as soon as it was done.

Me: Strange that my cameras glitched at that exact time. Anyway, I am not remotely happy with the job you did and I will not be using you in the future. Here is your money (handed her the full amount and showed her out).

Your response was reasonable. My hope is that the sitter learns from this.

In the future my advice to you is to tell people you have a security camera so your dogs are well cared for since that is your goal.

In addition, as far as your schedule, you might have to "loosen the times" meaning, you do cut them slack for exactness since they are not living in your house during your absence.

 

[usnuzuloose]

She did need to hear how she did. It is no worse than this young lady having a regular job and being held accountable for the job. This is how they learn. She needed to hear that what she did right and where she went wrong. You don't bring your friends to a job you work at. IMHO, the dogs did not know the other person. Sometimes you don't know what a dog will do to someone they don't know and vice versa. Just like someone I hired to clean my oven , they certainly don't know what that meant. Now I am having to clean what they did not.

Hopefully she will take this as a lesson learned.

 

[MrsDuck]

I have no problem with how you handled that situation; you still paid her and were nice enough. It's a learning experience.

 

[5kidsmommy]

My son regularly walks dogs for the neighbors and dog sits for them. It's a job and if he lied about doing his job or did it half A$$#% I'd expect them to call him on it.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Me, too. Hopefully, she'll learn from this experience and grow from it. By not telling her, you don't give her the chance to learn a good lesson.

They would learn the same thing on a regular job.

 

[Poohlove]

I would have paid her and told her that her services would not be utilized in the future. If she asked why then I would have been happy to explain. If she didn't ask that would tell me she knew it was because she didn't do the job properly. I recently had a similar experience and it just isn't worth my aggravation to have more than a here is your money, best of luck to you in the future kind of conversation. I know she needs to understand that she didn't perform her duties properly but chances are she already does which is why she is lying.

As for the camera/alarm alerts I wouldn't put too much stock in them being 100%. A friend of mine has one of those systems and it doesn't always alert him the way that it should but does have some kind of a recording sn he can go back and look at what was recorded. On more than one occasion there was something he should have been notified of and wasn't.

 

[nkereina]

I really don't think it was micromanaged in the slightest. The cameras are always on. They weren't on for specifically for her. It's simply the way the system works. I get an alert if a door or window is open. I got an alert while we were at dinner the first night. No clue why because I wasn't even slightly aware of the time. I was happy to see that it was her. I never thought twice about her or the dogs until we got in that night around 1:30am and I realized there wasn't an alert. Admittedly, I had a "feeling" but I did manage to let it go. When I confirmed with her in the morning that everything was good, I was fine until I realized she lied. I have owned dogs for my entire adult life and have only used pet sitters who come into my home. This is the very first time I have ever had a problem.

Ehh... I'll agree to disagree. You used the cameras to take note of the times she came and what she did while there, and then used that to call her out on it when it didn't live up to your specific instructions, even though the dogs and everything else were fine when you returned home. If you didn't have the cameras, you wouldn't have known the difference and it would have been no harm, no foul.

In any event, what's done is done so I wouldn't worry about it anymore and just look for alternative options going forward. I still think taking your dog to a boarding facility may be a better, easier option for everyone involved.

 

[mummabear]

Ditto. I would have just paid her and not used her again. I would have told her she didnt show up on the times you discussed with her but By you interrogating her She måy just spread the word amongst her friends and any future teen walkers.

Spread the word about what? That OP expects them to do the job she hired them for and they agreed to?

 

[morgan98]

I think you were more that fair. You still paid her the entire amount, even though it does not appear that she came for one visit.

I don't think what you did was mean. She was not doing her job. I too don't understand those that say no big deal and you shouldn't have talked about it. She is old enough to understand she was wrong and to know that if she is going to accept the responsibility of a job, there are expected performance standards.

I also agree that maybe you could be a little more flexible with the exact times of the visit. But let's face it, it appears that she did not come for the visit at night at all, and who knows when she would have been there is the morning had you not texted her to check up.

 

[mrsstats]

Just an FYI. We always have the dog sitter call us from our home phone when they get to the house. This was we know the sitter had shown up and our dog is being taken care of this. We learned this lesson the hard way having hired a sitter (from a pet sitter site) and the sitter never showed. We were 5 hours from home, planned to stay over night but returned home. Thankfully we had family in the area to go let the dogs out.

I would have paid her and just not used her again. But I don't like confrontation and always worry that there will be backlash if you give them a hard time.

 

[wishesuponastar]

Spread the word about what? That OP expects them to do the job she hired them for and they agreed to?

I just meant that other teens will hear that OP interrogates you if you take the job. The teen was wrong though for not walking dogs properly but she may put her spin on this to friends.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

I just meant that other teens will hear that OP interrogates you if you take the job. The teen was wrong though for not walking dogs properly but she may put her spin on this to friends.

Based on her conversation, she didn't interrogate the teen, she gave her a chance to come clean, the teen didn't do it, so she gave the teen some much needed reality checks on how to work. Do what you've agreed to do the way it was agreed that it would be done. Don't slack off and then wonder why you aren't ever going to get another job with them.

 

[MinnieMouse84]

I would have told her that I knew from the security cameras that she was lying, paid her two thirds, not used her again, and warned people not to use her.

 

[ols386]

I Think you totally overreacted. She took care of your dogs just did not follow your exact timeline. You should've just paid her & then not used her again.

The timeline was part of the prior arrangements.