A Freelancer’s Pet Peeve

I do dog-sitting visits through an app. My friend — and I use that term loosely because we haven’t spoken in over five years, but we are connected on Facebook — reaches out through the Facebook messaging app.

Friend: “Hey, girl! I saw you’re on [App]. Do you like it?”

Me: “Yeah, it’s fun. I get to hang out with lots of pets, and the owners get to go do their own thing. Are you signing up? I have a referral code if you want to use it.”

Friend: “No, I was wondering if you could come visit my house this weekend.”

Me: “Oh, okay. Yeah, go ahead and put it in.”

It’s Thursday, which means any appointments booked for the next forty-eight hours (Friday or Saturday) are an extra charge per request per day. She puts the request through and my jaw drops.

She has six dogs and four cats.

On top of that, she has notes on each animal saying there are small animals — three rabbits, two lizards, a couple of fish, and a hermit crab — that need care, as well. I usually don’t charge for things that don’t require a lot of interaction like fish or hermit crabs, but the rabbits and lizards should be an additional few dollars per pet.

She wants one-hour visits four times a day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The total for the weekend as it is written is about $500. I do the math on the animals she only wrote in the notes and realize she is shorting me almost $100 across the three days.

Friend: “Holy f***, you are expensive! LOL, can you cut me a deal?”

Me: “Um… Well, you didn’t even actually add the small animals, which is giving you a good discount. I’m not even sure I can get all of these taken care of in an hour, to be honest.”

Friend: “I was thinking maybe, like, $75.”

Me: “$75 for what? The unlisted animals?”

I am considering this as a take-it-or-leave-it style offer, and then she replies:

Friend: “LOL, for the visits.”

Me: “For all the visits?”

Friend: “I’m a single mom! You do this because you love it, right? Help me out. I’ll tell everyone to hire you. You don’t even have kids; you don’t understand budgeting properly.”

Me: “I am familiar with budgeting and paying people appropriately. Gas is expensive, the address you listed is forty-five minutes from my house, and — again — you skipped listing several animals. All of those visits for one dog would be more than $75. I’m sorry. I am willing to cut you a deal if you pay in cash, but it’s going to be $400.”

Friend: “Are you serious? You’re a s***ty friend.”

Me: “We haven’t spoken in years, and you popped up out of nowhere to ask for a favor. You’re a s***ty person.”

I deleted her from my friend list and rejected the visit request, noting all the animals she listed as “care notes” as the reason for the rejection.