Sometimes I Lose My Shit

I'd say I get along with all of my clients, even ones with little idiosyncrasies and what they expect of me. Julie the cat lady took me over the edge this past weekend though. The 5 kittens that were born the day after I was there last (over Christmas) are about 7 weeks old so they are still inside with their mama (named Robert). Robert's daughter (Jellybean) and one of her kittens are still there and 4 of Julie's own cats. The orange boy Fuzzball that she repaired the tail of, is the one she stresses about.

He will come in at night but it's usually not until 9 and takes a lot of coaxing, even for them. If we could just hold the door open for an extended time it wouldn't be so bad but all 12 of the others want out! That freaks Fuzzball out when we're trying to hold the others back and he runs away.

Julie got a Ring camera for the patio so she can see if he's by the door and then lets us know to try and get him in. I originally gave these drop ins (but charged her for overnights b/c it was cheaper) to Faith because of my pending surgery, but last Sunday I got home early enough to go with her. Julie had messaged at 5:15 to say that he was at the door and said she didn't know if Faith had been there or not. Faith replied that she was eating dinner and would be leaving soon. 

After our visit and both of us trying to get orange boy in to no avail, Faith did an update to tell her so and we went home. Julie acknowledged her message but a full hour later, she asked if everything was alright. We were watching TV and looked at each other and said WTF is she talking about? I was so pissed and wrote back saying I didn't really understand her question since an update was done. She said "Oh I know but I saw that Fuzzball was outside and I got worried." 

This was me losing my shit in the nicest way possible: Julie, I'm growing a little uncomfortable here. We don't work 'on demand'. Faith works 9 hours a day at her job and usually doesn't get off until about 6. We have other clients and a family and I try my best to make everyone happy. We can't just drop what we're doing to run up to your house when Fuzzball is at the door. We both tried and he ran away. If you feel like we're not doing what you expect of us, you might want to cancel our next sitting job to find someone who can.

Within a few minutes she sent 4 different apologies. I admire her so much for taking on these neighbor cats but cleaning 5 litter boxes and feeding 13 cats is a lot of work, and her being so worried about the one outside just adds to the stress. It's not as cold as it was, there is a warming mat and the entire patio is covered and he sleeps under the grill with blankets. He also has food and water. 

Maybe she was drinking because the conversation was so strange (it was Superbowl). The rest of the time went fine and Faith finished up with a morning drop in. A few minutes after she left, Julie left a 5 star review and a tip! At the end of next month, I'll be doing 5 days of drop ins; I'm already not looking forward to it. I have always felt a little inferior with her; I'm not sure why. I really do like her but she has a way of adding extra instructions/work at the last minute. We love kittens and we love her cats, but dang woman just let us do our job; we're doing our best. Maybe things will be different now; sometimes people just need a nudge to 'check themselves'.