Until she comes into the court house demanding compliance of course

4, that would not work in their favor because 1) they'd be interrupting a court proceeding and, if they were ordered to stand down but didn't, they could likely be jailed for a time and 2) OP and the mother's friend do not have a contact so they likely wouldn't force OP to housesit.

The joke just went right over your head didn't it? No wait, more like it went orbital

Ok, yes. Your mom shouldn't have put you into this kind of commitment without your consent, and I know is kind of disturbing having all these messages coming in because you was not able to drop off jury duty just to meet that woman, but on the other side, you are living in a foreign house for I don't know how long, eating their food, using their wifi, watching their Cable, no paying any kind of rent and still you are bitching out about not being paid?

This

Gusrick, who peed in your socks this morning? This woman is clearly a manipulator and thinks jury duty can be dropped for her royal ass. If this bitch went through a service, they house sitter would expect to be PAID, food or no food. Also, you are only assuming there will be cable, wifi, etc. You seem to have a very skewed view of the world. Grow up.

Why be polite?

She is one of your mother's friends, no telling what the future holds.

1 pets that need attention 2 if they are gone a significant length of time, robbery could be a concern. However, that does not excuse the actions of th person wanting a house sitter

It's not really housesitting if you look after pets plus they only need attention once a day if they are bound to the house. Robberies can even occur when you are there and sleeping or when you are gone to buy groceries. If they want to rob you they will.

I house sat for a friend a few weeks ago. Four days before she was due to return, an electrical issue caused her power to switch off. If I hadn't been there, she would have come home at 10pm to no power, no hot water, and rotten food in the fridge and freezer. It's rare that a house sitter needs to do anything. But shit can happen.

If there's no pets or plants to take care of, house sitting becomes kind of like a security job. The person is there to keep an eye on things, guard the place. Make it look like someone is home, so thieves are less likely to break in.

They also collect the mail/newspaper. Additionally, if house sitting for someone in the winter you keep the driveway/walkways clear of snow, make it look like someone is home (tire tracks in the driveway), make sure the furnace doesn't go out, make sure the pipes don't freeze, make sure the basement doesn't flood, etc. We used to house-sit for my grandparents' home when they'd go to Florida for the winter.

Isn't this a bit hysterical? Why should e.g. the basement flood? And how does it make a difference if OP is out for work or the lady is out for shopping? If there is mad rain you should go check but not every hour or day just in case. Regarding burglars: If you live in your own house there are also neighbors who know you and can look out for suspicious things. I mean did she watch too much Home Alone?

Melting snow can result in water intrusion just as much as rain. If a sump pump fails it doesn't take long to get ankle deep water. I've also seen foundations crack during spring thaw on newer construction homes that resulted in flooded basements. Lastly, if your neighbors are also snowbirds there isn't anyone around to look after your house. When we watched my grandparents' place we also looked out for their neighbors' places too. Unless there was several days of snow on a row we usually didn't have to go over more than once a day.

Oh ok. I guess it makes sense if you don't have friendly neighbours (or any at all) or you leave for a loooot of time during seasons with the bad weather... Still weird to me though. But hey, Americans would probably find most of my daily routine funny as well. Probably one of those culture-related things I just don't get because I'm Polish :D

I guess it depends hardly on where you live and how you built your house because over here you have to **** up your house badly to have problems with melting snow for example. Plus we don't have that much trouble with burglars. If they want to get your stuff, they will also get it while you are sleeping or just away for getting groceries.

If you're basement floods while you are gone for three weeks, that can become serious damage. If someone is there, it doesn't prevent the flooding, sure, but it's taken care of quickly instead of left to fester, mold, rot, warp wood, etc.