Dog sitting a bunch of 15 year olds

This is a long one, I’m sorry. I just have to get this out because I feel like what happened is irresponsible and wrong but the parents are so nonchalant about it, it’s making me feel crazy.

I, 30f, work from home. I dog sit on the side as a way to make a little extra money, switch up my work environment, and spend time with animals. I used to do Rover, but I mostly sit for friends, family, and share clients with an older woman who has become my friend. We’ll call her Carol. Carol has a wide network of high paying clients. She likes to keep the clients in her circle, so she passes the gigs she cannot do to me and we tag team that way.

I arrived yesterday morning at 7:30 AM to meet this client for the first time before they left for vacation. Upon arrival, they informed me that their 15 year old daughter would not be joining them on vacation, and that she would be spending the day and night with me before leaving the next morning (today) for a tournament of some kind out of state. Immediately, I was disappointed at the lack of consideration, heads up, discussion of what my role would be for her, and lack of transparency, but knew that this client is also apparently close friends with Carole, so I decided I would try to make the best of it. Her dad made a comment about not letting friends over, because before you know it, she’ll have 30 kids in the basement. Her mom said oh stop, you’re exaggerating, she can have some friends over.

All day, she had boys and girls coming in and out of the house, but it’s summer, and even though it was distracting during work, I decided to not let it bother me. They were all gone by 5. Fast forward, I finish a HORRIBLE day of work, set out to find my first meal of the day, and ask this girl if she would like me to pick up any snacks for her and her friends tonight. She said yes and was very appreciative about it. Around 7:30, her girl friends start to show up. Just a few. Then a few more. 9:00 pm comes around and she tells me a few more friends are coming over, that her parents know these friends and that she talked to them about it, and that they “won’t be drinking or anything like that”. At 9:30, the moppy headed boys show up. Everyone has moved to the basement, and they are very, very loud. I didn’t count, but there were at least 12 of them.

At 10:30, I start to realize that they aren’t planning on winding down any time soon, as things get louder and louder. I’m going back and forth about checking in with her parents about it. This girl is supposed to leave early in the morning for the tournament so I start realizing they might not know her friends are over so late. I sent a quick, casual text saying I’m sure they’re already aware, but she has friends over and that I would kick myself if something happened on my watch so I just wanted to make sure they knew. 5 min later I hear everyone go silent. Then the boys start shouting, “SHE SNITCHED! SHE SNITCHED!”. One by one the moppy headed boys and girls walk up the stairs and leave. The girl chats with me. I tell her I hope she understands and that I didn’t mean to crash her party, that I just wanted to communicate with her parents and that I didn’t mention that any boys were over. She was very grateful for that last part, which was confirmation that they weren’t supposed to be over in the first place. She tells me she’s going to get food with her girlfriends and then her girlfriends are going to come back, but just the girls, and no one is sleeping over. I chose to trust that, like an idiot.

11:45 comes. I’m in my room with the door closed as I was planning on letting her and her girlfriends chill without me around, after I crashed her party. I hear boy voices and girl voices. Not everyone, but at least 6 people. And VERY loud, not even trying to be quiet. I wait a bit to see if they just stopped in for water or to use the bathroom and then leave. 20 minutes pass. I start hearing glass bottles clanking but who knows what it was, there all sorts of drinks down there, both alcoholic and not. I’m panicking and not sure what to do, I’ve never been in this situation before. I texted her parents and said I would feel more comfortable if they handled this, as I wasn’t comfortable or prepared to go down there myself and reprimand a ton of teenagers. This time I told them I heard boys voices as well.

At this point, I’m finally letting myself be mad. I knew from the start that I was being taken advantage of by the parents, and that they deliberately withheld information so that I would babysit their daughter and prevent her from throwing a party at their house, for free. I tried not to let it get to me all day, but at this point I’m so tired, and really upset with them. Yes, their daughter lied to and manipulated me, but her parents are the irresponsible morons who left their daughter with a (thankfully safe and kind) stranger.

I texted the girl to ask if everything was ok around 1 AM. I didn’t mention the boys or the noise, just said “is everything ok?”. She said yes, that everyone left. Around 2, the dog woke up and I went to take it outside. I could still here her friends downstairs. It didn’t seem like boys were there anymore, but since I wasn’t down there, I couldn’t verify. This morning, the girl left. As she was leaving, she let me know that her friends were still sleeping in the basement but that they would be out by 9. It’s 10 AM and they’re still here.

This was a perfect example of people who don’t realize the level of responsibility and boundaries they are crossing by assuming someone can just “cohabitat” with their kid for a bit. It’s not why I was hired. It’s not what I signed up for. It’s not what I agreed to. And the thing is, even if things went perfectly smoothly, it still wouldn’t be ok. Or am I overreacting?