Needy Neighbors

I love my neighbors. Most of them.  I do not love all of my clients neighbors.  Some are very nice and quick to help out, some think you are a psychotic burglar, and some just like to take advantage of the fact that their neighbor is away.  Over the summer I was cat sitting for a regular client and her nextdoor neighbor has her key.  She knew that my client was away and also knew that I was coming in to feed the cats.  Her daughter was getting married and she had a TON of family at her house.  Now, I totally understand how hectic weddings are.  HOWEVER, when your neighbor says that you can use her space in the front of her house and you inconvenience the pet sitter, you are just taking advantage.

To get into the house, there is a gate, and then a front door through the gate.  This is what I came in to.

She told her family that they were allowed to put their bags behind the gate.  You can see the top left corner of the front door.  I couldn't get in to the house to feed the cats, I couldn't move peoples luggage (who knows what was in there, and there was alot of it!)  So I had to wait to find the neighbor and have her tell the family to clear me a path.  This all took up about 20 minutes.  Again, I know things were hectic, but this is really inconsiderate to me as well as the family that had to move all of their crap out of the way for me.  

This was my path.  Couldn't lock the gate because people might need their stuff. My job is to lock the gate and keep my clients house secure.  The whole thing was a mess and the neighbor isn't even that nice to me when I see her on a regular day.  The whole ordeal was beyond my control, but for all of you that think that what I do is smooth sailing, easy peasy work - think again.  Even an extra 20 minutes can throw my whole day off when the schedule is full.