With all the partying and gaming going on, did he remember to let the dog out? The pinesoiling maybe due to the doggie accidents… Just another theory. 
@ENsMom, sounds like you’ve actually had pretty bad luck with house sitters.
I’ve always just boarded my dog. He likes where he goes (out in the country with lots of room to romp, is owned by our vet and has on site vet as well). I just don’t like the idea of strangers hanging out in my home. Even if none of what the OP has described had happened, I wouldn’t like it.
Nrdsb4, I suppose you’re right! When I see it in black and white, it does kind of seem like pretty bad luck! But you know, that kind of stuffed never really bothered me all that much (obviously), and I know and like all of these “kids” so perhaps I cut them some slack. But one thing I can’t stand is feeling like I’ve been taken advantage of, and lied to, especially by someone I like, trusted and whom I thought respected us. So I guess this is why this got under my skin so much.
And for years we took our dog to a doggy daycare where she had plenty of outdoor time to run and play all day and she LOVED it. But she is old now, and the last couple times we took her there, despite our instruction that she was only to have an hour playtime in the morning, and an hour playtime in the afternoon, she came home barely able to walk. She has developed arthritis and other joint issues and just can’t handle that level of activity any more. So it has seemed kinder to allow her to stay in her own home, with someone to feed and walk her and provide some companionship, rather than stuck in a small kennel all day by herself.
@ENsMom, that is sad, poor pooch. But given your past experiences with house sitters, seems like there needs to be a better solution. Family? Of find a foster family type deal with people you trust to give her the proper care in their home?
The beautiful lady in my avatar got old and couldn’t go to the boarding facility anymore. So our vet would board her at the animal hospital. Pricey, but the only decent option. She needed twice a day insulin and was physically rather weak towards the end. 
I think you need friends with better kids! 
Like I said earlier, my boys hardly touch the food that was bought specifically for them by the pet owners. One client tells one of them what room is his, but he doesn’t want to mess up their sheets and so chooses to sleep on the couch. He does laundry of any towels he uses, always washes dishes, waters the yard, etc. I say keep looking for a responsible kid who really needs the money.
As for the doggy, there are services where your dog can stay with a petsitter family, and and they will follow your house rules. You can choose a place where your dog is the only animal, allowed on couches, etc. I am not OK with kenneling my dog, so this is all I use.
In this whole story, that’s actually what bothers me the most. I would be livid if a sitter did something to stress out one of my animals.
That is what we are looking in to now for our dog, and hope to find just the right place for her. We are going out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday, so I’m afraid it might be a little late to find a good place for her. Hopefully we can work something out.
I am betting that it was not the boy who showered and used the towels. Maybe his girlfriend or a random person who was there and may have spent the night. I would think that if he is a neighbor he would just go home to shower. And he would know that you would be looking for the towels since you pointed them out to him. Someone else most likely used them and threw them in the closet. Even the boy didn’t see them and he forgot about them.
@HarvestMoon1, I agree. I had the image of the friend/girlfriend in Risky Business who comes over to Tom Cruise’s house when he learns Tom’s parents are out of town. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn the OP’s house was used for a tryst or two. Yikes.
My sister’s young adult son was in charge of the house when the rest of the family was out of town. He had a party, and cleaned up pretty well. Unfortunately, sis noticed that her/hubby’s bed had been slept in. Her son had washed the sheets, but had replaced the fitted sheet wrong–that’s how she noticed. Her son admitted that he’d had a party, and that his friend and gf had slept in the parents’ bed. (Who has the nerve to do that?)
Ick.
I think the house-sitter in this situation was just plain rude/clueless. What kind of low class idiot has a party in someone else’s house and drinks ALL their beer? ( Bad enough if he had brought his own beer.) Wow. No re-hire. (I tell my kids not to touch or even look at anything in someone else’s house, and never allow anyone else in the house if they are house/pet sitting). It was polite for the homeowner to offer “help yourself,” but I wouldn’t say that to someone staying in my house without a clear limit. What kind of parents does the young man have that he thinks it is OK to have a party and completely clean out the fridge/cupboards? I would never have that much beer in my house. If I did, and I had a young man staying there while I was out of town, I would store it somewhere else.
Hmm. I don’t think drinking up 4 or 5 loose beers in the fridge is too bad. But the beers in the fridge in the garage are a different story, unless OP specifically showed them to him.
If I were going to house-sit, and the host told me to help myself to food/drink in the frig, I would interpret that as meaning I could have what I wanted from food/drink in the frig. I would NOT interpret that as meaning I could drink only 2 of the 9 beers, or eat only 1 of the 6 hot dogs.(my example).
If the host wanted to limit the number of host’s beers I could drink, I would expect host to tell me I could have 2 of the beers or that I may have 1 hot dog(my example again). Without such a limit, I would look at eating/drinking foods I was invited to consume as part of my pay. I would think this particularly if I was 21.
At a party, if a tray of snacks came around, no, I would not take the whole tray even if I enjoyed the snack and was invited to help myself. In that instance it would be obvious there were other guests right there that likely might want some of the same snacks. Not so if I’m in an empty house.
Sitter was absolutely wrong to invite other guests, though, specifically contrary to host’s instructions.
With many young people, and sadly, many adults too, we have to be very careful when we give instructions or they seek a loophole to escape guilt. We tell a little kid not to run up steps, they invariably still do and sometimes get hurt. They then “explain” they weren’t running, they were “hopping” or “skipping” or “walking real fast”, any number of euphemisms. So as adults we learn rather than telling them not to run, we say they must walk up the steps. This eliminates the loopholes.
OK so this would put me over the edge. Take all my beverages, food or anything else you desire but sleep in my marital bed with your boyfriend/girlfrined? That’s too much. I would buy a new bed. Really, I would.
You might also want to stay out of hotels.
Lol.
Younghoss, the problem with your approach is that “eat what you want” was directed at the young man. It was not a blanket invite to his friends to come and devour whatever there was in the two fridges. I doubt the young man could finish that much stuff all by himself.
Hunt - there is something different about my personal master bed v hotel bed.
Most people who say “help yourself to the food/drink” or as one friend puts it “my fridge is your fridge” usually mean it as a welcoming gesture to not be reluctant to take anything. However, most IME would also feel those invitations aren’t a license to eat/drink the fridge to the point it’s near/completely empty assuming the fridge is a typically reasonably stocked family fridge. Especially if it’s one’s family or friend.
Another aspect where this housesitter’s judgment is questionable is the idea it’s ok to drink alcoholic beverages while “on-the-job” and invite guests who are doing the same.
Especially when the purpose was to watch over and care for an elderly pet. Talk about misplaced priorities and major distractions which could easily detract from performing his main duties and worse, endanger the pet and place the homeowner in a possibly dicey legal situation.
Don’t know…but the times I’ve apartment/housesat for other families/friends, I treated it as a job where some vigilance and attention to detail are crucial. This means assuming it’s not ok to invite friends over unless the homeowner/employer says otherwise, not leave messes in the house, and to not imbibe alcoholic beverages while housesitting.
Op complained that house sitter drank more of the beer than host expected, despite invite to “help himself”. At no time did I even hint housesitter would be permitted to share host’s food/drink with guests. That’s why I said in my post 92, that if I were invited to help myself, I would interpret that as meaning I could have what I wanted from frig. “My approach” as referred to in post 96 DOES NOT include giving contents of frig to others. Isn’t that clear?
I have already stated it was wrong to invite others in, contrary to instructions, I even used the phrase “absolutely wrong”!
What part of “my approach” indicates I think it’s ok for sitter to invite guests over? Or for sitter to extend a “help yourself to frig” invite to those guests?
I’m thinking about what I might do or not do if told to “help myself” for the weekend. I guess I might drink up the quart of milk. I don’t think I’d take a roast out of the freezer and cook and eat it. If there was one frozen pizza in the freezer, I might eat that. I don’t think I’d drink all five beers in the fridge and then go out in the garage and get more from that fridge. I wouldn’t go in the basement and get a bottle of wine. If there was a bagged salad, I might eat that up. I don’t know what the principle is, exactly.