On the fence about sitting again in dirty home
Hey all, looking for some advice from fellow petsitters.
I just finished a 2-night, last-minute house sitting for a very sweet cat. The owner had a family emergency that was taking longer than expected, and her planned overnight sitter also had an emergency so she contacted me. As far as I understand there was another sitter doing drop-ins for several days before I came (I picked the key up directly from that sitter, so i got a chance to meet the cat and see the apt).
Staying at the apartment i noticed it was a little dirty but not too bad. What i mean is dirty floors (dusty+dried cat food stuck around food area+a mysterious hallway stain), used bedsheets, 2x bathroom mats covered with cat litter pieces, general clutter on most surfaces (kitchen was spotless tho). It definitely felt like i walked into someone's house who wasn't necessarily a slob, but didn't get the chance to clean up. From my side i understood and assume the client rushed out quickly due to the family emergency and didn't consider overnight sitting at first, and im not a neat freak myself. She video called me telling me where the clean linens and cleaning cupboard was (she didnt tell me to clean, i just asked where it was) and I just swept and mopped and made do. She didn't say anything like "excuse the mess" at any point though, which didn't sit totally right with me.
Now to my dilemma - yesterday before she came back she asked if I'm free later this month, to which I automatically said I'd love to but I had a trip planned and wasn't sure when, and would update my schedule that evening. Well, after confirming I was indeed free, I didn't update the client. And now it's the following evening and I still haven't replied to her, except to heart react her message that she's back home and thanks again. And I think I'm in two minds because of the dirty apartment. While I get why she might not have had time or foresight to clean, it's more the fact she didn't address the mess at all and I'm worried it might be messy the next time I stay there, too.
Another issue is the alternative to overnights in this case would be 2x a day drop-ins, which would be 2hrs travel per day and I have a 9-5, so it's not really an option. What would you do if you were in my shoes? I also have to hand her back the key in 2 days so continuing to ghost isn't really an option either lol, and I already feel a bit shitty for it. :(