So I'm a petsitter/housesitter out here in the boonies. It's a nice quiet job where I can get my schoolwork done without too much distraction, and I love hanging out with animals and taking care of them. I've watched a lot of cats and some dogs prior to my current gig, but was suffering a bit of a dry spell when I caught wind of an ad that hadn't even gone up yet at my school (I know a lot of the housekeepers). I met the woman and thought she was totally cool, even though I was a little intimidated by the slew of animals she keeps (several dogs and cats, some horses and guinea pigs and even a turtle- it's a handful). Anyway, she's from NYC, and just the right kind of zany that I relate to her a lot better than I do the hicks around here... or so I thought. Don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic to have this job, because she goes away regularly on business in the city so there is plenty of opportunity to work, but she's kind of got a knack for making me feel like shit when I've disappointed her. She gets this princess whine about her tone of voice that sounds like even though she is assuring me that she appreciates what I've done, it's just not good enough. She left the house a total pigsty- food everywhere, a sinkful of dirty dishes, two dogs without their collars on them (one of which hated me and wouldn't let me come near her for four days, so she was running around without it for all that time), and then at the last minute, she asked me to wash her kid's bedsheets and bring in firewood..."if you have the chance." Then, she extended her trip from a week and a half to two weeks. Now I'm getting nervous, because I had already had to go to the grocery store and spend my last bit of money left on groceries for the animals (I had to cook breakfast for her dogs and make a salad for her guinea pigs every morning... yeah). I had just enough to feed everyone through the day after she got home (while I ate cheap, processed convenience food crap she had bought me to save the quality food for the animals). Then she extended her trip another day. We had NOTHING the day she got home, and I had plans to visit my sick grandmother in the hospital that day, which I had already postponed a week to work for this woman. I told her the state of things and warned her there was nothing left to eat in the house, but I was sorry, I had to go NOW, because I was running very late (my dad ended up having to wait for me for like half an hour while I got ready when I finally got home). She said that was fine and that wasn't my problem and she would take care of it. I had managed to do her daughter's laundry, make her bed, clean the house (do all of her dishes, the animals dishes and mine, scrub the crusty stove, sweep and vacuum, make her daughter's bed with freshly-cleaned sheets, and I even stripped my own bed and took the sheets and towels I used home to wash them and bring them back) and do all of the daily chores with the animals so that everyone would be all right while I was gone before she got home. I left a note detailing what was done and what wasn't and once again reiterated what we were out of and my apologies for not having the house restocked for her return. She also had me get directions (handwritten, she had no printer) to a theater where she was taking her daughter to see a show (which was an hour and a half away- I don't know who gets off a 7-hour trip and then gets right back in the car to make a 3-hr roundtrip drive to sit in a theater for 2 hours with a 5-year old), and she pestered me every day asking after what was in the mail and then was nasty to me when what she wanted wasn't in there. I left in a hurry, left a few of my own things there, but everything of hers was in order. I visited my grandmother, was put at ease concerning her condition, and returned home, ready to finally relax. Then my cellphone rings. She was running an hour late and wanted me to go to her house and start a fire in the woodstove and ready the house and the animals for her, adding that little guilt-tripping phrase: "would it be too much to ask?" I sigh, say no, I'll be along in a few minutes, we were heading out that way anyway, which was true, but we were only going over to buy some sub sandwiches and coming right back home. We got a late start and just as we were leaving, she called and said she was only a few minutes away and told me to forget it, but I could still come by to get paid. I got there about an hour after she got home and she was running around her house in a tizzy fussing about the fact that she had no groceries (which she said she would get on the way home, but apparently didn't) and that the house was cold (her woodstove only burns for three hours- I had been gone considerably longer than that- not my fault) and that she had wanted me to bring in firewood ("but that's okay, I guess you were busy"- even though I DID but we had a cold snap and I used a lot of it), but she had to do it in the dark and she tripped over the wagon that I had put there ("but that's not your fault, you didn't know I was going to go that way"), and basically needling me with these little comments that just made me feel like a complete turd. After all I put into that place for longer than was expected, after I spent my last few bucks on food for her animals, after I left her house looking better than when she left it and everything else she wanted me to do... And then she gave me a purse that she had bought me in the city and hugged me and thanked me and called me an angel and asked me back for a few more jobs this coming week and another long stay in May. I have never been so conflicted on how someone felt about me or my performance at a job or felt so bad about myself after working so hard... I have been trying to chalk it up to her exhaustion after the long trip, but it just left such a bad taste in my mouth... Like when she got home, she obviously didn't want to deal with anything (understandable, but grow up, you're a big girl now). She was even telling her little kid to leave her alone, all the while complaining about what hadn't been taken care of for her and acting like she was going to have a nervous breakdown because she came home from work and had to actually go back to doing her own chores. Yes, it's a transition, yes I empathize, and yes the trip was long, but that's no reason to make me feel like shit after I left my own house and my own animals for my family to care for while I moved in with her animals and kept her house for two weeks and bended to her every whim, jumped when she said so, while still trying to juggle my responsibility to my schoolwork and my family. Quite frankly, I think it's bullshit, and she needs to get some perspective about her other than her own. She probably won't, though, and I won't say anything to her face, because I need the money for loan payments and my cat's tooth operation, and I will only have to deal with it for another month or so (before I graduate and move out), so I am saying it here. And to my mother. And to my fiance. And to anyone else that will listen and not blab it back to her. Heh... Anyway, if anyone is still reading after all of that, anyone have coping skills to share? Or maybe their own stories of nightmare bosses that essentially want you to wipe their ass for them?
Well,it sounds like you're very responsible and took care of her and her menagerie quite well. You just can't tell about people until you get close to them. I've been thinking about trying to get some house sitting ---uh- maybe not. Your coping skills made you write this and so you have coped. Lesson learned for down the line.
Was the purse empty or full? Did she compensate you for what you spent of your own money? This Princess syndrom is well known in NYC. the only way to deal with it is like the city folk do, raise your rates. Get enough extra to let you go hit the hot tubs/sauna and relax. "Combat Pay" LOL
The purse was empty, but it was really nice. She did compensate me for groceries, but next time, I think I'll ask for her to leave me some before she goes so I can stock the house properly. I don't have a lot of disposable income with which I can buy 10 tons of dog food every 3 days... that or she needs to stock the house with enough for the actual amount of time she is going to be gone and maybe a bit more just in case. I hope she has learned something to that effect from this as well. She's hurting for money right now. This was her first week back to work all winter. She's been out of commission and in and out of therapy to cope with her husband leaving her. I can't really justify asking her for more money right now, but at the same time, no one else is stepping up to help her. I'm really all she has at the moment, but she's making me feel like I'm totally expendable. I don't want to hold her over a barrel, but the attitude just kind of kills me. I'm trying to take the high road with her... and the low road here by talking shit just to get it out of my system, lol.
Hahaha, nooooo that's quite all right. She was perfectly fine two days later. I babysat her kid most of the afternoon and then I brought my stepdad over to fix her washing machine and she bought us all a feast of Chinese food and then sent it all home with us. Been sweet as pie ever since. Gets a big whatever from me. We'll see how it goes. I won't get too comfortable, though, me being expendable and all.
Is a condition called 'jet lag'. When diplomats etc fly from thUS toJapan they put them up in a darkened hotel room to rest for 24 hours if possible before letting them talk to anyone.
I thought jet lag had more to do with different time zones... Although I see your point. I probably should have just stayed away and saw her the next day. I have absolutely learned that lesson for next time.
Time zones. However travel in general can have a tiring effect on some folk and if you;ve ever spent time in NYC, YIKES!!! I've never been able to handle more than 72 hours there and will not try it again! lol
