Just "Sittin'" Around

I do a lot of sitting: house sitting, dog sitting, cat sitting, baby sitting, couch sitting, barstool sitting...you know.

I'm pet sitting this week. These people are paying me to stay at their house and play with their pets. Since I'm willing to do it and actually quite good at it, it's a win-win: I get paid to play with pets (which is fun, since I don't have any of my own) and they have the peace of mind of knowing their pets are looked after.

But the whole concept of a pet sitter is a little foreign to me. Growing up, my family had pets (cats: Max, then Oreo) and anytime we were out of town we'd either leave a large amount of food and water for her (overnight/weekend trip) or we'd ask the neighbors to stop by and feed her (longer trip). In return, when they were out of town, we'd return the favor.

Don't people have friendly neighbors anymore? Or do they just have high standards of care for their pets? Or maybe this is only true in Seattle, where people are nicer to dogs than they are to other people? Whatever it is, just because I don't understand the system doesn't mean I haven't learned to operate within it. Kinda like gravity.

For those who've never "sat" for others, here's a brief rundown of the pros and cons:

Pros:
- kegerator
- stocked fridge (sometimes even homemade mac & cheese...thanks Conan!)
- cash ("sitting" money has sent me to France and Peru)
- kegerator
- good tv (bonus channels, DVR, DVD collection)
- stocked bar
- access to washer/dryer that don't require quarters
- unsupervised access to peoples' homes (the Nosy Nellie in me LOVES this)
- kegerator
- sometimes even cars, hot tubs, pools, grills and decks

Cons:
- get clawed in the face by an angry kitty
- cleaned squishy, cold dog poo off the floor (it's way worse when it's cold and squishy than when it's warm and fresh...I promise)
- sleep in a strange bed/couch
- share strange bed/couch with large dogs
- share pillow in strange bed/couch with angry kitty
- share water glass with angry kitty
- consume lots of allergy meds

In general, the pros FAR outweigh the cons. Especially the cash and the kegerator. So I "sit".