Pet Sitting Rant and Pricing Question

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A friend of mine asked me to watch her dogs while she went out of town for the week. She offered to pay. She didn’t say how much, and I didn’t ask… I just assumed it would be an ok amount, but not a huge amount, since we are friends. So I watched the dogs… They are huge, they have bad manners, they drool on everything, and they fight with each other over food. They really make me appreciate my dog, but they are a pain in the ass to watch. On the day that she was coming back into town, I was working late, and I texted and called her a few times while I was at work, trying to find out if her plane arrived ok. Phone went to voicemail the first few times. No reply. Hours later, I got out of work, I called and texted again several times. Phone rang instead of going to voicemail, so I assumed that meant she was no longer on the plane. Still no reply. She should of been home for about 3-4 hours at this point. I wasted time for about 45 minutes, sitting at Target for a bit, because I just had a nagging feeling she was home. I eventually sent a last text to please let me know that she’s home, otherwise I’d stop by again to let the dogs out, assuming her plane was delayed or something. 10 minutes later, as I’m driving to her house, she finally says she’s home, I reply back with a thank you. I don’t hear from her again until I text her almost a week later, letting her know I gave her key to her son, to give back to her, since I hadn’t heard from her.

She paid me today and after subtracting gas and tolls to drive the 30+ minutes to her house several times a day (I couldn’t stay there because I have my own pets that need medicine twice a day, and she knew this) I honestly felt slapped in the face. She said she would of liked to pay me more, but she spent too much on her trip. This was like putting salt on the wound. If she really felt that way, she could of offered to pay me at a later date or something.

I doubt I’ll say anything to her about it, unless she ever asks me to dog sit again. Then I’d decline and probably say that it’s too much travel for me to do it. I don’t like conflict, and I don’t have that many friends, so I’ll probably just sweep it under the rug. But my feelings are hurt.

I guess I might feel different if she lived around the corner, and she had easy to care for pets.

I watched someone’s ferret for over a week, and I didn’t want any money because they brought the cage to my house, so it was easy. And the ferret is super cute.

So after that long rant… How much do you charge for pet sitting? Does it matter how many pets? What kind? How far you have to drive?

Do you never charge friends because they are friends, no matter if you spend your own money to drive there and back? Maybe I’m a jerk.

Here’s an unrelated photo of some adorable otters.