[Gpdd] Care: I Fired the Pigsitter...Wheeeek!

[leah.mcneil at wachovia.com]

Hello Piggies & Slaves!
A couple of wheeekends ago, I went back to Virginia
to celebrate my 15 Year College Reunion...Yikes! And
so the petsitter is a guy that I have used twice before
and I thought he was pretty good. Although he is very
Expensive. But, all of the petsitters here are pricey: it's
weird, they all charge the same thing: $17 per 30 minute
visit. So, whatever. I pay the price for the peace of mind
of knowing that my pigs are well taken care of. And I always
do 2 visits per day, because that's what my piggies want.
And he was supposed to let them run around (in my
sunroom, which I blocked off so they won't bite his ankles)
while he refreshed their cage, put in fresh veggies, etc.).

Sooooo, when I moved to my new townhouse (rental),
back in March, I decided that I was going to get an alarm
system. And I was able to piggyback off of my alarm
system at my house, which sadly has not Sold yet (where
ex-hubby lives). Sooooo, I was able to upgrade some stuff
for free. So, I got this touch-screen alarm panel, which I really
wasn't interested in, until the sales guy told me about a feature
it had. Essentially, you can check this log to see when the
alarm is Armed/Disarmed. Very Nice.

Well, long story short, the petsitter was supposed to make
5 visits: 1 on Friday night, 2 on Saturday (morning and
evening), and 2 on Sunday (morning and late afternoon).
When I got to VA Friday night, I called the petsitter just to
make sure he didn't have any problems with the alarm
system and to check on the piggies. And he said that
everything was just Fine and the piggies were Great and
blah! blah! blah!

Well, I got home on Sunday around 6pm and I could tell
just by looking at the piggies cage that the petsitter didn't
made a second visit. I was pissed, to say the least. So, I
check the alarm panel and discovered that he Never
stopped by Friday at all. He first came in around 8am on
Saturday morning and didn't reset the Alarm at all on Saturday
(Urrrrrrrgh!). And the alarm was turned back On, on Sunday
morning around 8:20am, and I was the next to turn it off at
6pm or so.

I'm sure you all can Imagine how UPSET I was. I was
absolutely LIVID. My stomach was in ruins, and I couldn't
sleep that night at all. So, the petsitter comes to my
neighborhood in the mornings because he walks one
of my neighbors dogs, so I had him come by that next day (Mon)
and I confronted him about the situation. I told him that I knew
that he did not make 5 visits and I simply wanted to know
how many times he came by so I could give him a different
check (I had already stopped payment on the original
check and I don't get charged for stopping payments at
my bank). So, he tried to lie and say that he swore he
made 5 visits. It was impressive that he kept the lie up,
but I could tell by his body language that he was lying
(I took a couple of Psychology classes back in college).

So, finally, I told him that I could tell because of my alarm
system. And I thought that at that point, he would fess up
and just tell me the truth. But, I guess the lie had gone too
far and he couldn't turn back. I would have respected him
more if he had just told the truth, to be honest. But, then he
tried to imply that my alarm system was faulty, but I told him
that that would have been pretty impressive if my alarm
system was only faulty when he was using it. And I check
my system periodically, and I even had it tested (thru the
alarm company a couple of weeks before that). And then he
nonchalantly admitted that he might have forgotten to arm
my alarm system. WOW. I was just Disgusted. So, I had pre-written
2 checks: one for 2 visits and one for 3 visits (since I knew
he stopped by at least 2 times: Saturday morning and Sunday
morning; but I couldn't prove one way or the other if he stopped
by Saturday evening since he didn't arm the system). So, I
asked him which check he wanted and he told me to give him
whichever. So, I gave him the lesser check (for $34 --> 2 visits)
since he probably ripped me off before, the previous times
I've used him.

What was odd about our last conversation was that towards
the end, he kept saying that he would understand if I chose
not to use his services in the future. Like, he kept repeating
himself, but it was obvious that he wanted me to give him
another chance. And I thought to myself, "What part of
'You're FIRED!!!' does he not understand???" So, he
planned to drop my key off later in the wheeek, on Thurs
since I work from home on Thursdays. But, after he left, things
just didn't feel right to me. He called my cell phone a couple of
times and left a message the last time and said that if I had a
landline phone at home, then when he made visits, he could
just call me from my home phone...like what the Heck?!?!? Why
should I have to 'Babysit' my Petsitter??? So, I just called the
Apt Complex office and had them change my locks later that day.
Then, I sent the pigsitter an email telling him to just throw my key
away since my locks were changed.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the evil petsitter did some things
to make me think that he had come by for 5 visits. For instance,
I left him 6 walmart bags (to put their waste into)--and he left 1 unused
bag on my kitchen counter. Also, he had to have thrown some veggies
out because if he had given them the amount that was missing
(an entire larger-sized tupperware container), then my piggies
would have soft poo's. Also, it looked like some hay was missing
from the hay bag, which shouldn't have been, because I gave
them more than enough hay to last them. So, you know, he did
some unethical things, but they were calculated--which makes
him Pure Evil, in my opinion.

Wheeee sure do miss our 'ole pigsitter, Mary in Virginia...sniff
sniff...she was Da BOMB-DIGGITY!!! :-)

Sorry my story was so long...

      Love 'n Wheeeeeeeeps,
Leah...Slave to Princess Snowflake & Bertie Pig (who hopefully
                 forgive their Slave for hiring such a crappy pigsitter) 
:-)