u/Responsible_Lake_804

Since length of relationship is required, bff for 3+ years and I’ve known the homeowner for around 6 months.

My best friend’s very close family friend (honorary aunt) has asked bff for help finding a dog sitter/house sitter. I have a dog and love dogs, and so bff suggested me. I love the dog, the house is really cool to stay in, and I had a peaceful time looking after things while the owner traveled for the holidays.

The owner asked me to stay one night recently and we called to get a refresh on instructions for house care. During the call, she told me she found that I broke her carpet cleaner and had to replace it. I used the carpet cleaner last time I stayed because one of us (me or the dogs, hard to tell) had tracked in dirt on her white carpet, which I told her about. I apologized at the time and told her I did my best to find all the spots and I’d be more careful. She didn’t mind at the time. **I know I put the carpet cleaner away properly where I found it**. Obviously if something happened with it, I would’ve said so, I was already admitting a mistake.

So yeah, for this recent trip she basically accused me of breaking it and hiding it, and I said I’m sorry that happened but that wasn’t how it was when I left last time. She said not to worry about it but I’m anxious because I would never do something like that. I’m not a maid, obviously, but it’s not too different from a maid getting accused when jewelry goes missing. I’m a professional and I take all of my responsibilities very seriously, even for a side gig like this.

I told my best friend about this accusation and how I’m mystified by it, and even though I know I’m not at fault I offered to pay as a gesture of goodwill, which the lady won’t accept. I have been more anxious lately as a symptom of some medical things coming up, but my anxiety has always been primarily social. So I feel sort of gaslit that my friend’s response was “You’ve been more anxious lately, don’t worry about this. She’s just the type of person who says things jokingly to catch people off guard.”

I have a financial arrangement with the home owner, and my friend doesn’t. I’m literally being paid to take care of her house and her things, so I have no idea how I’m supposed to take it as a joke with baseless accusations that I’m breaking things and hiding them. I don’t think it’s prudent to risk my reputation by continuing to housesit, but it’s not sitting right with me that it’s “just my anxiety” even if the lady is happy to breeze past whatever she thinks I do unsupervised in her house.

Should I continue housesitting? She’s asked me to a month from now. And how do I help my best friend see that my relationship to the owner is riskier than theirs?

TLDR; best friend’s aunt pays me to housesit, accused me of breaking things and hiding them; continues asking me to housesit and my best friend says I’m being too anxious and it’s fine.

I once read about a man who visited an industrial pig farm
And he reported that every facet of branding
About industrial farming was true
From PETA to Hillshire Farms

The farm was so large that it encompassed all,
Pigs suffering in filth, missing essential body parts, sore, deformed
Clean and happy and strong pigs playing mental chess with their neighbors
Middle-manager pigs in worn-down stalls, holding it all together for the most part

And our expansive nation is the same, isn’t it? 
Every story you hear is true, because between sea and shining sea
Someone is living just how you fear they might be

So, with this, I describe my love for you
You are the person I love most, with a reach far beyond what I imagined
And so I love you the best, with the most loyalty and fierceness
And so I love you moderately, as a tired duty
And so I love you the worst, the most overbearing and condescending

I love you like an industrial pig farm
I love you like an empire
I’m sorry
And
You’re welcome

Feedback:

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/z6pnlh2PdZ

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/jACTI5xL9o

I would dress for you on Sundays
Strapped in my purple vest and green boots
I wouldn't mind my cold feet
I wouldn't mind my shivering arms

I would dip my oar side to side
Rhythmically touching the bottom
I would push onward if you let me

I would slide forth into hidden places
Part the branches and curtains of moss
Yielding, scented green and brown

I would run my eyes over your banks
And sometimes find eyes staring back
Be still and observe, drifting closer
Not under my own power

You would blind me, sunlight dancing
Clouds passing over your rippling surface
Carry me with you all the way home

Feedback:
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/hPsGcqgZBX

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/jbqXkiLCLE

Can’t seem to find a place to ask very simple Reddit questions.

For a few months the bottom bar on mobile switches chat and notifications back and forth and I feel slightly gaslit lol.

In any case, is there such a place to ask very low-stakes questions about stuff like this? It’s not exactly a problem but I wonder if I’m the only one, if there’s a reason, etc

I think my best friend would benefit a lot from shrooms because they’re a very spiritual person and while I’m not, shrooms have opened up *something* godly to me. I want them to have a great experience, so I offered to babysit them on a low dose for their first time before we take a trip together later in the year.

I think for the most part I would know generally what to do but I will say my friend is very anxious. I am also hoping that shrooms will help them break through the “fear landscape” they live in. Even in that conversation we had about planning on them taking shrooms, when I got excited and said, “I think you’ll get soooo much out of this!” They wanted to check if I meant they’re inherently broken and require this drug to fix them. It’s unfortunate that’s their first thought, I’m glad they trusted me to alleviate the worry, but I understand from this interaction alone that their inhibitions will be lowered and I’m going to need to arm myself with some tools to be a good babysitter.

We are planning on having fresh fruit for snacks and some crafts, and I’ll drive them to the beach if they feel like it, just enjoy some sensory stuff. I’m hoping we can also sit down and plan a few things to think about (I’m a planner, I did this for my first few trips and it helped me a lot). My friend is pretty resistant to planning things but I’m hoping I can urge them to take advantage of the trip and clear away some of the fears and center the joys in life and realize some connectivity.

All tips, any tips, to help me be the best babysitter I can be! Thank you!