A Weird Pet Sitting Day

Generally speaking, I absolutely love my pet sitting job. It is decent money for a job that is pretty much enjoyable for me, is not stressful, doesn't take much thought, and does not emotionally drain me in anyway. So the only thing I may complain about from time to time is the occasional allergy flare up, due to the fact that I do have mild allergies to dogs and some cats. (It's really wierd, but I am not allergic to all cats just some of them. I can't explain it. It just is what it is.)

With that said, Thursday was the weirdest and possibly most stressful day I have had as a pet sitter, certainly as a pet sitter in Chapel Hill and maybe even in my entire pet sitting career (if you can call pet sitting a career).

1. Thursday afternoon I went to walk the dog that I walk three times/week on my lunch breaks from the law office. The walk was all fine and dandy until the dog goes number two and a stick comes out. Well, the stick didn't come all the way out, just partially and then was just sticking out of the dog's butt. It was so gross and weird and I didn't know what to do. I kept walking her for a bit, hoping that the stick would work it's way out or that she would go number two again and it would come out. No such luck, our walk was coming to an end and the stick was still there. Finally, I got another stick, lifted up her tail, and sort of scraped the stick out. Yuck. It's times like this that I don't at all feel guilty about the fact that these people pay the agency $18/walk.

2. I got an email on Thursday from a client who is out of town for a month and I am looking after her three kitties while she is gone. I go to her home everyday and give the kitties food and fresh water and scoop the litter. Everyday when I come, their food bowls are empty again and, due to the fact that the water bowl is so close to the food bowl, their water is quite dirty from the kitties getting food in their water. Apparently, the client was in town for the afternoon. She stopped by her house and found their bowls empty and their water dirty. She sent me an email basically saying that it didn't look like I had been to her house for several days (which was absolutely not the case). I responded via email and phone. I think the situation is resolved now, but it was very upsetting and stressful for me. (I can't stand it when I feel people are displeased with me).

3. Thursday evening I was to start a new job for a client who had to go out of town quite unexpectedly and in a hurry. So this client hired the agency to send someone to look after her kitty without meeting the actual pet sitter ahead of time. I did get to speak to the client over the phone, but I didn't get to go to the house or meet the kitty ahead of time. So I mapquested the address and went on my merry way. Well, mapquest pretty much botched it up. Long story short, mapquest had taken me about a 30 minute drive from where I should have been and I had to call the client to get verbal directions from her. Then, of course, I missed a street and drove about seven more miles out of my way. Finally, after an hour and a half of driving around, I found the place. I was so stinking frustrated by the end of the night.

After all that, I was very glad to have Friday off from the law office so I could have at least a little extra relax and unwind time. Last Thursday made me very grateful for all the days when things go as planned and aren't too stressful. :)