My best friend is a pet sitter. It is definitely a rough job (no pun intended
)
She is up early (usually before the sun shines) to make visits and she works some late hours. She has not had a vacation in years and she works essentially 365 days a year, including holidays which are some of her busiest days. She is a vet tech by trade and is insured and bonded. She does have access to peoples homes and has their keys. It is definitely a must to be bonded (if someone accuses you of stealing something, you want to make sure you have coverage). Like the OP said, she has had to deal with not so nice clients, bounced checks, sick animals (even one passed away while the parents were on vacation), locks (or pass codes for alarms) changed and setting off alarms, spouses forgetting that the pet sitter is scheduled and they come home early from business trips, kids who throw parties while their parents are out of town because they don't know the pet sitter is coming over, she deals with poops and pee, throw up and let's not forget about the weather - the pets still have to go outside in the rain and snow and heat.... That said, she does get to wear sweat pants and doesn't have to worry about wearing make up or fixing her hair (the pets love her regardless of what she looks like). She offers watering plants, bringing in newspapers and mail, alternating lights in the house (to make it look like someone is home) and she even does overnight visits (not sure how her hubby feels about those....) but she has been doing this for over 10 years and loves it! If you can get past the bad points I made above and think that this is still something you want to do, I'd say go for it and good luck! I have helped my friend in the past when she's been busy, but I can honestly say, this is something I don't think I would want to do on a daily basis. Good luck to you!