Ignorance precludes a conscience.

My parents moved back to the mainland recently and hired a house-sitter for their place in the Gulf Islands. Technically, they didn't hire her, they actually provided her accommodation free of charge in return for watching the place. It was mutually beneficial. They needed someone to keep eyes on the place, she needed a new living arrangement fast. And so it worked.

Or so they thought.

Turns out, the house-sitter had some pretty funky ideas on how to care for a house. Apparently, letting her dog pee all over the carpets was deemed "acceptable". (no need to clean it up right away when you have carpet cleaners coming in a year!) Letting food rot in kitchen cupboards to the point of breeding a maggot colony was also deemed "no problem". And even though the house was furnished with antiques and clearly 'good' furniture, taking off for days at a time and letting her teenage son come in and rock the place with a good old-fashioned "the-parents-are-away-so-lets-get-all-boozy-on-Mommy's-beer-and-trash-the-place" was cool. Never mind that stuff got damaged and then hidden in back corners and dark closets to try and mask the damage, Mommy was there with a big fat chequebook, declaring she would simply pay for all the damage, and name your price. Never mind that she was there as a (now former) friend to look after an investment while also being offered sanctuary; she thought taking off for days at a time was 'cool', leaving the rural, sump-pump-regulated property to flood when the power kicked off and the sump stopped working.

So if you were offered a sanctuary in return for 'looking after the place', and said place was filled with moderate to very nice things, and there was no rent to be paid, how would you treat the opportunity?

Not, I assure you, as my Parents' dearest house-sitter did.