High Competition for Sits Full of 🚩🚩🚩

I guess I just don't get it.

I'm looking for sits and a notification popped up for a sit in Portugal during my open window and so I checked it out.

4 applicants already. Must be a good sit, I thought. Darn, I probably missed out.

Starts off normally enough, but the first red flag was the person insisting that you book a time with them for an interview via or they will not consider you. Weird and potentially a little controlling but I might have let that slide.

As I kept reading, the verbiage was throwing red flags like crazy. "Don't even bother applying if..." kind of stuff. Phrases insisting on extreme cleanliness from the sitters like "I leave my home in pristine condition and expect it to be such when it's return." Yes homes should be clean upon exchange but the phrasing felt perfectionistic and demanding.

I checked out their previous reviews. Pages and pages of previous reviews! Some sitters casually in a read between the lines kind of way insinuated that the home was not clean and that the dog was mean, taking off a star here or there but nothing crazy. Ofc the owner responded to each one of these "you were here for x number of hours before I left. Why wasn't this addressed at the time?" And "I assure you it was clean bc I have a professional sitter come weekly" okay 😒

As I went further back there were some bolder sitters docking several stars, Calling the house "disgusting" mentioning horrible dog smell, blankets matted with hair (owner responds: x is a dog, of course there is hair), and saying that the owner says weird confrontational things and makes the sitters uncomfortable.

Another sit I was checking out somewhere in the Uk mentioned, tucked away in the listing, that another house on the same property, so like right next to the house, was a holiday rental and that sitters needed to be courteous of people renting and be prepared to answer questions from them about the property. Again, 4 applicants!!

How does this person continue to get sitters?? Why are people applying for this?? In short, what the hell? Do people lack common sense or are they just not really reading?? Bc all of this screams horrible, very bad time, to me.