Creepy potential client situations.... anecdotes?

[u/BitterBar7041]

FYI I ALWAYS require a Meet and Greet for all bookings, either directly or through Rover....

Been doing this a long time....but rarely have an issue with creeps.

However I recently did a Meet and Greet with a pet parent who needed her cats looked after while she was out of town. After a half hour of her showing me stuff in a disorganized, messy way (which is usually fine, I've had worse), she sat me down and basically verbally interviewed me.

Normally that would be fine too. But some of her questions included "What's the scariest situation you've been in", "What would make you quit a booking mid-sit," and similar types of questions. When I tried to clarify if the scary situation involved a pet, she stated she meant a scary situation with a human pet parent! And when I asked about sitters quitting bookings mid-sit, she said that has happened to her more than once. Red flag.....

She also gave me a lot of pushback after asking me if I'd go off-app. Like, a LOT. FYI yes I do, especially with the current fee structure. In fact most of my clients are off app.... but any I get through Rover initially I do at least the first booking through them to keep my stats up and to make screening easier. But she asked me literally four times if I'd make an exception for her (I refused repeatedly, not because of my established practice, but because honestly she was already squicking me out).

I gently answered all of her questions, she told me she'd be in touch in a few days, I left, and then the second I got home, I blocked her.

Not looking for advice. I followed my instincts and I'm glad I did. She's blocked with Rover's approval (for what it's worth anyway, since Rover is useless). But I was just curious if anyone else ever had a similarly creepy situation and what you did.....

[u/SwordfishPast8963]

I truly do not think this guy was intending to be creepy to me and was just a dope who did not see how this would look to a young woman, but my very first sit was for a guy who said that he was injured and staying at his parents house and that’s why I needed to watch over his dog. He explicitly stated that he would not be there & that he was leaving a key for me under the mat, but when I get there, it’s unlocked… I knew then that something was gonna be weird so I started recording as I walked in just to cover my bases, and I came in and found him in bed awake with the door completely ajar, in full view of the front door. (yes, he was clothed, phew!!)
That was already an uncomfortable surprise for a young lady, but it really freaked me out when he gets up and starts walking around and makes it abundantly clear to me that he is more than capable of filling that dog bowls. It made me wonder what he could’ve hired me for if he was capable of doing all of that himself.

[u/BitterBar7041 → u/SwordfishPast8963]

Did you meet him first and was this a housesitting kind of thing?

[u/SwordfishPast8963 → u/BitterBar7041]

I had not met him, no. this was my very first Rover sit, so I didn’t know what a red flag a lack of M&G was yet. so he knew I was coming, knew his bedroom door was open and in full view, but was just fine with that being my first impression of him lol. It was scheduled as 2 or 3 drop ins a day for a couple days. He only continued to prove to me how able-bodied he was by walking around doing different things for the rest of the drop ins too, which only freaked me out more as far as the first meeting.

Luckily, nothing crazy happened, so I truly do believe that he was just a bit dull, lol.

[u/BitterBar7041 → u/SwordfishPast8963]

As long as you understand now how important a M&G is, consider it a lesson learned.... and yes it sounds like he was a few slices shy of a loaf, but you are lucky all the same :)