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Original poster

Ok. Be honest.

87 replies

Namethecat · 26/09/2018 18:50

I've just been having a chat with a friend and she surprised me some what ,so I thought I'd ask for you lovely lot what you would do. Be honest !
I've been looking after a friends house for the last few weeks whilst they have been away. Checking post, watering house plants etc. I usually go in twice a week. This is what I do. Open door, pick up post, put it to one side, walk to kitchen, check plants to see if dry, water if needed. Leave house. Lock door. Go.
My other friend has asked if I have a good poke around, go upstairs, look in cupboards/ wardrobes etc and was surprised when I said I didn't. So question - Do you if you have keys to someone's house ?

OP posts:

Prokupatuscrakedatus · 26/09/2018 19:22

I regularily take care of NDN' cats - feed, clean, cuddle, I water the plants and check for vomit and remove it, of course.
But opening drawers, is like reading other people's postcards. It's not done.

IncyWincyGrownUp · 26/09/2018 19:22

Nope. I cat sit for a friend and other than looking for carrier bags to sort out the litter tray with I don’t look for anything.

HemanOrSheRa · 26/09/2018 19:24

Absolutely NOT! Funnily enough this comes up occasionally at work.

We visit older people in their own homes and have master keys to all the properties. We have to check if they don't answer the door or we just let ourselves in to some if they want us to. We very often check round properties where the person is out. At no time are we eyeing up people's 'stuff'. We are literally scanning each room for a person!

The most 'nosing' we'll do is checking things like a TV guide, whether a kettle is warm etc if they have not been home for a couple of visits.

YeTalkShiteHen · 26/09/2018 19:25

No chance, I’d be really upset if someone did it to me and I’d never do it to someone else.

Making yourself a cup of tea when babysitting is totally different, BIL and my Dad make themselves coffee/food or have biscuits or something when they’re babysitting for us, I always tell them to help themselves!
But ratching around upstairs, especially in bedrooms is really invasive and a horrible thing to do.

RandomMess · 26/09/2018 19:34

Cat sit for a neighbour that is a good friend. She was happy for my DC to play in their garden whilst I was there. I used to clean her kitchen if cat was AWOL and not demanding cuddles

Apparently I did a much better job than her cleaner. Def no poking around though!

Original poster

Namethecat · 26/09/2018 19:45

Phew ! You are all obviously my kind of people ! And my other ' friend ' is . Same as all of you it didn't enter my head.

OP posts:

Lauren0rder · 26/09/2018 19:46

No I don’t

But there are reasons why no one has a key to my house.

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 26/09/2018 19:47

I have been upstairs, but only to check where the cat is and that there haven’t been any ‘presents’ left. There was, on one occasion, so could be cleared up without it hanging around and causing an aroma.

Notsohorriblehistory · 26/09/2018 19:48

Absolutely not and not even in the slightest bit tempted

Jlynhope · 26/09/2018 20:02

Upstairs yes, to use the bathroom or check for cats. I've never looked in their stuff though. That's creepy.

MsHomeSlice · 26/09/2018 20:09

I'd look in a bathroom cabinet for sure, if I was having a pee, but that would be it....no cupboards or drawers! That's rude.

AnyFucker · 26/09/2018 20:10

Being honest ?

Loopytiles · 26/09/2018 20:11

No way. Might sit on a sofa or at a table for 5 mins though, and enjoy the peace!

As a teen we had a good thing going with babysitting for lots of families. One friend in the circle often snooped around in kitchens and desks, and we’d all then gossip about what she’d found! One couple had only ultra healthy food, which we all moaned about as other houses had naice snacks: the snooper was convinced there’d be a stash of trashy food somewhere and did eventually find it, but daren’t eat any!

WallabyWay · 26/09/2018 20:12

I used to have a job thst involved being in other people's homes and I never snooped. It never even occurred to me. To be honest the job really made me dislike being in other people's , also the novelty very quickly wore off and the last thing I wanted to do was investigate further.

vampirethriller · 26/09/2018 20:13

No. I never did when I was a cleaner either- just did what was needed and left. I had a friend who stayed at mine one night to look after my dog and got back to find she'd been through my bedroom drawers and tried on clothes, and she actually admitted to reading some very private papers and asked what they were for!
I never left her alone in my house again.

serbska · 26/09/2018 20:13

Nope.

But I would totally look through kitchen cupboards to get a mug and a tea bag if I was babysitting.

MrsJane · 26/09/2018 20:15

Nope! No way! I’d hate it done to me so would never do it to others.

PhilomenaButterfly · 26/09/2018 20:16

No! Why would I?

CakeNinja · 26/09/2018 20:17

I had to break into a neighbours upstairs window (using a complicated system of a ladder borrowed from another neighbour, some rope found lying in their garden and hooking a smaller open windows handle so I could get the bigger window open!) because they had given me a key to go in and feed their guinea pigs while they went away only for me to discover the key didn’t work
Thank god they had left a small window open.
I ended up roly polying through the window onto their bed
Felt so bloody intrusive but i jumped up and off as though the bed was made of fire and ran downstairs to feed the pets.
Then took their back door key and used that to let myself in and out for the next week, thankful for the first time that they hadn’t replaced their fence panels that had blown down in the wind meaning I could access the back easily!
I felt so guilty about it all (entering via their bedroom) but it was that or potentially dead pets when they got home and i was out of their room so bloody quickly I couldn’t tell you anything about it other than that they had a bed against the window

NonaGrey · 26/09/2018 20:17

No I don’t t snoop, it’s a terrible invasion of privacy.

This is however the reason that my PILs no longer have a key to our home.

delphguelph · 26/09/2018 20:17

I'd look in the fridge is all.

MaMisled · 26/09/2018 20:21

I know two close friends who fell out because one DIDN'T poke around the others home. He was away working for a month and the water tank leaked, wrecking very expensive built in wardrobes, suits, bed and carpet.....and no home insurance!

Truckingonandon · 26/09/2018 20:28

Nope. I'd have absolutely no interest whatsoever. Everyone has the same shit, give or take.

TimeIhadaNameChange · 26/09/2018 20:29

Not unless it was necessary:

I have opened kitchen cupboards to find a glass so I could get a drink of water (but I knew the friends kept their glasses, so not really poking around)

Took a load of washing out the tumble so I could dry the wash I’d put in to the washing machine (at their request). Thought I’d better hang his work shirts up, so went hunting for hangers. Couldn't find any in the kids' wardrobes so did look in my friends'. But only for empty hangers and didn't actually look through what was in there.

The incident I felt guilty about was when cat sitting for my old boss. I hadn't seen one of the cats for two days and as she was elderly I was worried. So I went upstairs and searched both bedrooms for her (as much as sticking my head round the door counts as 'searching' - but I did find her, thankfully). I was hugely apologetic when they returned but they couldnt have cared less, and, in fact, showed me the wardrobe in their bedroom that she was prone to hiding in, so I'd know to check in there next time.

But, as I said, I wouldn't go poking for stuff just out of nosiness.

billybagpuss · 26/09/2018 20:30

Hell no, I did have to venture upstairs once when the cat brought a bird in and felt awful like I was intruding.

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