u/Alternative-Wish-592

As the title says. Looking for someone who can help with soft skills that are needed with this. E.g. negotiation skills, dealing with office politics, etc.

We had a pet sitter from Rover just do a house sitting gig for us. We have 3 cats and 1 dog. The cats are super low maintenance — basic feeding and litter box care.

Our dog is older and a big dog who doesn’t do much either. We typically walk him twice a day around 8/9am and then again around 9pm, around 45 mins–1 hour each time. Before y’all come at me, I’d walk him in the afternoon too, but he is a lazy boy and prefers hanging out on our balcony with the cats, especially in this heat.

Anyways, the instructions I gave the sitter were basically:
- Dog just needs 90 mins total walking time/day
- Walk times can be flexible as long as they’re not more than 12 hrs apart
- Please don’t be away from the house for more than 10 hrs at any given point

Meet and greet went great. She was really sweet with the animals.

She did mention she had a few work shifts from 5–10pm. I told her that wasn’t a huge issue, but because of that our dog would need 3 walks instead of 2, since it wouldn’t really be fair to him to go from like 4pm until the next morning. I also specifically said the later two walks could just be quick 15 min potty breaks and he could get his longer walk in the morning. She seemed fine with that.
I didn’t think much of it because she said it was a PT job with only 2–3 shifts a week and that she wasn’t picking up other house sitting jobs. We paid her asking rate of $80/day ($800 total).

Issues started literally after the first night (sit started at 7pm).

She lost our house keys.

Thankfully our apartment door was still unlocked and we live in a building, but we didn’t have spare keys (this part is on us too). I ultimately told her to just leave the apartment unlocked when she left because at least our dog barking would scare most people away and the animals wouldn’t accidentally get locked in somewhere. Obviously not ideal.
Then a couple days later we get a text from our neighbor saying our cat is locked outside.

We let the cats onto the balcony during the day but keep the door cracked open. Sitter was told this too, along with “animals are welcome on the balcony whenever you’re home, but please bring them inside if you’re leaving.”
Turns out she forgot she had let our cat out and left to go grocery shopping.

At this point we’re kinda like wtf, but it was only day 3 and we were out of the country and didn’t want to risk her getting upset and bailing while our animals still needed care.

The rest of the sit itself honestly went okay. Our return flight ended up getting canceled and she even offered to stay another night, which I genuinely appreciated.

Then after the sit she asked if I could leave her a review on Rover and said she hoped for 5 stars.

I told her I was happy to leave a review and be honest about how much she cared for the animals, and that we’d likely still reach out again in the future, but I didn’t think I could do a full 5 stars because of the key situation and the cat situation.

She pushed back and basically said:
- The key thing ended up being fine because no harm was done
- The cat being left outside was “just a mistake”
- She walked our dog 3 times a day and was exhausted from doing it
- She feels like all the care she gave the animals should outweigh “a few mistakes”
- She feels “really unappreciated”

And now I’m feeling weird because I’m not saying she’s a terrible sitter or trying to tank her profile. I’m not even saying I wouldn’t hire her again. But losing house keys on day one and accidentally leaving my cat outside while leaving the apartment feel… kind of significant?

Like am I being unreasonable here? Is this still a 5 star situation because the pets were okay overall, or are these exactly the types of things reviews are supposed to reflect?

TLDR: Paid Rover sitter $800 for a house sit (3 cats, 1 dog). She lost our house keys on day one and later accidentally left our cat outside on the balcony while she went grocery shopping. Rest of the sit was mostly okay and she cared for the pets, but when I said I couldn’t leave a full 5-star review she said she felt unappreciated and that mistakes happen. Am I wrong for not wanting to give 5 stars?

EDIT: Major appreciation to everyone who has reassured me I’m not a Karen lol. Since it was brought up a few times, wanted to add some details:
- Cat was out in the corridor, not the balcony thankfully.
- Our balcony is screened but only up to where the railing ends. Thankfully our cats have never expressed interest at going up on the railings, but this is a big reason why I emphasized to the sitter that the cats should only be allowed on the balcony if she’s also at home.
- We were considering hiring her again as the rest of the stay went well, she did really care for the animals, and she even cleaned up before leaving. Finding a pet sitter in NY is just AWFUL (IYKYK), so we’ve had to deal with much worse.
- After the last message from her, we’ve decided to not rehire her mainly due to her not being able to see that these were indeed major mistakes.