Cat sitter bringing her grandchild

[Mseddy]

We've paid someone to cat sit for us for the week. Not used her before, was recommended by another cat sitter/dog walker who my friend uses as she was full. Not cheap, but that's irrelevant really.

Came and met us and the cats before we went, chatted to her for a while, she mentioned she looked after her grandchild who lived local, nothing more mentioned about GC in regards to visiting. One of the cats is on medication which he takes happily off a spoon, she was fine with this.

Qué first day we are away and she says cant get cat to take medication because he won't come near. Long story short this goes on for 3 days and my neighbour has had to step in to do it. My neighbour knows the cats well and usually does feeds/meds for us if we are away, but she's had major surgery recently hence outsourcing so to speak! I spoke with my neighbour and she said she wasn't surprised cat wouldn't come as woman had a child with her playing in the garden.

We've looked on CCTV in our garden tonight and her 4 year old grandchild is chasing after the cat and even screamed at him when he meowed at her. My 2yo DD has a lovely little wendy house that is mine and her pride and joy, we love it and it's special. She's just turned 2 the day before we flew on holiday so it's got a fair few new not yet played with toys in there. The cat sitter and her grandchild have been playing in the Wendy house completely without our permission and I honestly feel a little bit violated! I paid this women to come to our house, feed the cats and spend half an hour sat with them twice a day. Not to use my house as a play cafe for her grandchild.

So aibu for wanting to message her and telling her to leave the key and the money that would cover the remaining days and piss off out of my house? My neighbour is having to come daily to give the cat his meds anyway so she could throw some food in their bowl and I'd rather spend the remaining money on her!

If I'd essentially paid someone to scare my cat I'd be absolutely bloody fuming.

I have a cat sitter booked soon and I'm going to have to find a way of checking whether she has a grandchild when I meet her...

Spoke to neighbour this morning. She's more than happy to take over for the last few days we are away. She's also annoyed on my behalf about the Wendy house/DDs toys and offered to check they've all been left tidy. She's a good egg. Owe her lots of cups of sugar so to speak!

Messaged CF cat woman. She said given "she was an easygoing person" she didn't think it was a problem, but understands. Maybe I am the uptight to her easy going, but I don't care. My priority is my cats and their welfare, her presence is now stressing them out because of the bad start and that's all that I need to know to end the agreement. I asked her to return the key through the letterbox (didn't think it was fair for neighbour to have to talk to her). I didn't mention the money because honestly I just want her gone, she can do what her conscience decides regarding the last few days money. But did tell neighbour if there is a pile of cash on the doormat then to treat her and her DH to a meal on us!

oh 'easygoing' is she = rude and lacking normal social boundaries to others. She was being paid for a professional service, but took her grandchild to a strangers house and used their things. Who does this. And letting the child tease an animal is disgusting. She is not fit to be near animals.

Easygoing seems to equal cheeky and unprofessional.

It is definitely not OTT, this woman is beyond cheeky!

OP YANBU. What a cheeky woman. I wouldn't pay her.

She can be as easygoing as she likes in her own home and own time . If someone is paying for a service then that’s what you should be doing , not childminding at the same time . It is no different to anyone else taking their 3 yo to work and that wouldn’t be allowed .

I'm sick of feckless people congratulating themselves on being 'easygoing' while trampling over other peoples reasonable boundaries.

I'd follow up with a text providing your details for a bank transfer. She has no business being paid for this performance.

Well done @Mseddy for getting rid of your cat tormentor!
I hope your cats are the forgiving type, or will it be extra Lick-e-lix all round till they come round?😻

Exactly. “Easygoing” my arse.

You can’t be easygoing on behalf of another person either, or decide that their boundaries aren’t there.

Imagine being paid to look after a cat and then doing something that actively upsets the cat.

Exactly! The Wendy house, the toys and anything else of OP's is not there for the grandkid to use. The "cat sitter" had no business bringing her in the first place, and letting a child play with other people's property is outrageous, even before the matter of letting her torment animals.

Well done Op, sounds like you handled this perfectly and so pleased you have a nice neighbour you can trust!

Gary (pretty outing for a cat name, but hey ho) will spend a good 24 hours just looking down at us from the top of the stairs seething that we had the audacity to leave him in the first place. He does this after we've both done a 12 hour shift sometimes, just to let us know who's boss. The other one according to the cat flap has spent a grand total of 40 minutes in the house in the last 24 hours, standard warm weather behaviour from him. He's much more of a lone wolf kind of fella.

Thanks for all the replies and helping me double check I wasn't just being pina colada induced precious!

She's not easygoing. She's feckless, irresponsible and unprofessional. She obviously doesn't give a shit about the welfare of the animals she's being paid to care for, or for other people's property in their homes. I'm so glad you've got rid of her, and kudos to your lovely neighbour!

OP i can see this is resolved but to hopefully add to your peace of mind. I run a cat sitting company and my staff are explicitly told to behave as if they were with a client when in a clients home. They must respect the home and it goes without saying that respect and care for the cat is paramount!

That said, most of my staff have children and when we initially meet clients we discuss whether they are happy for the sitter to bring their children along. If they say no then we adhere to their wishes of course, as we are only in their house with permission which comes with conditions. The children either sit on tablets and wait whilst the work is done, or (more often) are anjmal lovers and help the sitter with feeding/petting/caring for the pets. If any of my staff or their children behaved in the manner you've described they would be issued with a formal warning, it's completely unacceptable to breach the trust of a client and disrespect their home and their pet.

Oh and my neighbour just messaged to say she's been in the wendy house and it was a total mess! CF is obviously too easygoing to tidy. She's sorted it out for us, honestly I'm never moving house ever! So lucky to have such a lovely neighbour.

You have to click on the 3 dots on top right of post and you can use the quote option.

Also agree with @SunRainStorm 100%

Quote has been moved to the the dots above the post, to make it more difficult to find make room for the little hands icon, it's a pain in the arse.

That is outrageous, I'd be fuming! I don't think you're being overly precious about the wendy house either, you didn't open up your private property as a kid's playground!

I found my catsitter on cat in a flat website and she's been absolutely fab, couldn't get a personal recommendation but the lady I found is dbs checked and had 100s of postive reviews and rebookings, as well as visiting to greet the cats before we agreed to sitting and everything, really recommend the site.

Will you tell the contact you got the referral through? Think it important you say something like "I wanted to let you know it didn't work out with XXx. Without telling me she brought her grandchild to the house, who chased the cat around and screamed at them, which made my cat (who is very nervous around children) too scared to take his medicine. They also played with my daughter's toys and left them in a complete mess. I have terminated our agreement early as I do not feel I can trust her"

Agree @readingmakesmehappy , it's important the contact knows what a dud referral that was.

Yes I'll be letting the contact know when we get home, as well as my friend who uses the contact so she knows what she could possibly end up with if her usual dog walker/cat sitter is away. I'll be stealing your phrasing @readingmakesmehappy thank you

Glad that has been sorted out.
CF letting the child play in the wendy house and even worse letting the child chase and scream at the cat. Shouldn't be catsitting if she doesn't know that is entirely inappropriate.
If she'd mentioned that she would need to bring the grandchild because of childcare issues and that said child would sit quietly and wait while the cat was fed/received medicine etc then at least you could have decided beforehand if that was acceptable.
But no, she thought is was fine to bring a chld without asking, the child didn't know how to behave around cats and then they made a mess with toys they shouldn't have been touching.
Unbelieveable.

Had she left any money, OP?

I highly doubt she will leave any money behind, she sounds far too easygoing entitled for that. Glad your neighbor could help you out!!

Not that I can see. Watched her on the doorbell post the key. Then neighbour messaged an hour or so later saying she had been in to sort the wendy house and move the key away from the door. No money dropped through. Unless she's left some in the kitchen and only been taking each day as she goes (which would be odd really) then no. Shes clearly decided she sees fit to be paid the full week despite not covering Thursday - Sunday. I don't want to cause animosity with her given she knows my house is empty for another 4 days. I'll likely message when we are home and ask if she feels she would like to return the funds via bank transfer or in person when I'm 100% sure she's taken the money.
Have also sorted a bouquet of flowers and a big bar of thank you chocolate to arrive at neighbours tomorrow given she can't treat herself with the left money!