If you’ve never hired someone before, it can be tricky to figure out what is considered a reasonable workload for someone and fair compensation for their work.
But sometimes, we can come across a list of demands so unreasonable that it’s hard not to suspect that the person making them is intentionally trying to be as difficult as possible. And yet, whether they’re planning a wedding , entering a rental agreement , or trying to find a nanny , they always seem genuinely surprised when we turn down their not-so-generous offer.
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And that seems to be how things unfolded for one woman who struggled to imagine how a dog sitting offer she received could seem even remotely worth it.
Following the recommendation of a friend, the woman we’re about to hear from got in touch with another woman who need her diabetic dog looked after for a week.
And since the text logs she shared in an Imgur post made it clear that this owner had experienced some disappointment with sitters in the past, she felt it best to lay out some terms first.
The first was that she was not willing to negotiate a higher rate than $110 for the whole week.
As she put it, “You are there to make sure Junie is fed, watered and medicated, that is a fair price.”
But while that wouldn’t necessarily be a deal breaker depending on the circumstances, it’s worth understanding just how much a potential sitter would be expected to do.
For one thing, she was expected to spend 90% of this week watching the dog. This was apparently in response to a previous incident in which the owner’s air conditioning went out while a previous sitter was at work.
She also demanded that the sitter keep her phone on loud so no attempt to reach her goes unanswered while also reminding her that the owner’s house has frequently-checked cameras in case the sitter tries to bring everything else over.
But while this may seem like a lot for $110, it sounded like there’s a chance the sitter would actually lose money by accepting this offer.
That’s because she would only be paid if the owner doesn’t notice the dog showing any anxiety within 24 hours of her return. So if Junie is visibly concerned about anything (whether it’s related to the sitter or not), she presumably gets nothing.
But as the owner wrote, the kicker in this whole arrangement is, “Any emergencies you will pay for out of your pocket.”
So if something happens that requires medical treatment, that would almost certainly leave the sitter in the hole for far more than $110.
Yet while it may not be surprising to us that the woman didn’t accept this offer, the owner soon asked which part was “too hard” for her.
In response, she said that she works full time at a different job so she wouldn’t be able to be there 90% of the time as asked. She also said that $110 wasn’t going to be enough for a week’s work that includes checking the dog’s blood sugar and administering insulin.
And while that shouldn’t be so surprising to you since I mentioned the dog was diabetic, the fact was that the woman only knew that because of her friend.
In other words, the owner was just going to drop that little piece of information on the sitter once she started.
Sounds like even she knew this was a bigger job than $15 a day.
h/t: Imgur | Ladykryptonitex
