Having followed this thread since the beginning, I would like to point out that the 70 beers didn’t belong to the OP, they were brought in by the pet-sitter or his friends (OP, correct me if I’m wrong). I believe there’s a post that explains this, but being relatively new to this forum, I haven’t yet figured out how to quote, reply directly to a post, or reference a poster. Sorry.
It’s true that the young man should have followed the rules of not having friends over, but at the end if the day, nothing was stolen or broken, and the house was cleaned up, save for a couple of towels that he or a friend may have carelessly (or surreptitiously ) discarded. Eating food and drinking a few beers that were offered (“help yourself”) doesn’t strike me as a failure of duties or an abuse of hospitality. I’m not surprised that he had friends over and consumed a few cases of beer over the weekend; a lot of decent, careful young adults would do the same. I am surprised that the OP went through the effort to count out 70 empty beer bottles, though. Anyhow, it doesn’t seem that he shirked his responsibilities towards the dog, and everything was tidy. I wouldn’t have mentioned these issues to my friends, his parents, but I wouldn’t hire him again, either.
Even if you take the master bed out, the rest does not paint a pretty picture. Especially the lost key and strangers having access to the property. It is a security issue, and not a small one.
The fact that the house was cleaned up even though a bunch of strangers might have rummaged through it does not put the kid into the “responsible” category for me.
That is how I remember it, doschicos, thank you for pointing that out(post 119). Some not-so-careful readers may be confusing other stories of housesitting with the one presented by the Op here.
I strongly agree with Tempemom(post 117), with the key phrase being “as I define it”.
Trouble is here, that the OP did not define it for the house sitter. The Op just said- Help yourself-.
As I said, even if the bed is out, the rest still makes this kid look immature and irresponsible: lost key, suspicious cleanup (why clean when only one person was there over a weekend?), bunch of drunk strangers, disconnected TV, dirty towels shoved into a closet corner…
Finally, you agree with me, Bunsen, on something. I agree this kid wasn’t fully responsible. The difference between the Op and me(and some posters) is that knowing he was 21, I would not have expected him to be fully responsible. I would hope for it of course, but I would not expect this.
No, I don’t agree with you that it should be expected that an average 21 yr old would be irresponsible like this kid. I would not expect such behavior out of the 21 yr olds I know because this is not how they behave. Maybe your experience is different.
.In post #60 OP says, “No, we didn’t have over 70 beers in our home! We left maybe 4 or 5 beers in our kitchen fridge, and there was a 12 pack in a small garage refrigerator. All were consumed, and judging by the empty boxes in the trash, they bought a 30 pack and 3 12-packs of their own.”
I count 83 beers. That’s worse. I think someone’s got a binge drinking problem.
OMG Bunsen, are you just looking for ways to try to disagree with me? I said we agreed this kid was not fully responsible. Your post 124 said the kid wasn’t responsible, and gave some examples of why. The Op has given us examples that indicated he was responsible(in many areas). By very definition, meeting some responsibilities but not all would be- not fully responsible.
So I say he wasn’t fully responsible and you disagree? The only way for you to be correct if is he was in fact 100% responsible(but we know he wasn’t) or if he was 0% responsible(we know that isn’t true either)
Look at it this way, Bunsen. The Op has enlightened you. You have learned from the OP that not all 21 yr olds are as responsible as the ones you know. My compliments to those you know, but now that you have learned about this particular 21 yr old, you now know some at 21 may fall short of being fully responsible and you will no longer expect every 21 yr old to be fully responsible for his actions.
It’s the, presumably, looking around in the garage etc for more beer that creeps me out. Did you check your liquor cupboard?
Lol. “Enlightened” No, I do not plan to move into the OP’s neck of the woods and hire that kid. I’m sticking to my responsible ones.
Maybe. Or he might have had a lot of friends over there during a weekend period. Neither is okay, but we really don’t know that the guy has a binge drinking problem.
I probably would not hire that kid either.
I don’t care whether you move or not. I’m glad you associate with fully responsible 21 yr olds. That doesn’t change how the Op has broadened your perspective about not all 21 yr olds behaving as responsible as the ones you know. You seemed to expect every 21 yr old to be fully responsible because those around you are. You may continue to associate with only those you know, but now you have learned not all are responsible as they are. Now you know not to expect every 21 yr old to be fully responsible. The key words there being “expect”, “every” and “fully”.
Learned? I was not born yesterday. 
I know very well that there are some very irresponsible kids out there… But you are implying that statistically a 21 yr old (especially the one you have known for a while) should be expected to exhibit such behavior. Disagree.
No, but you are close.
I am not saying or implying a kid 21 is expected to demonstrate behavior as this one did.
I am saying that I would not be surprised if one did. I have said that repeatedly.
I have even referenced the Casablanca movie to demonstrate my point.
There is a difference.
We all aren’t expected to drive 66 in a 65, but we know some do, as there are laws and penaties out there for those that may disobey.
It is not clear to me that the kid was told explicitly that he was not allowed to have friends over.
I live in a beach town with a lot of second houses that are house-sit by responsible grownups. The house next door to me is being housesit by a 50-year-old high school teacher right now who has lots of dinner parties, with wine and beer flowing. I sure he buys his own supplies, but unless someone told him he can’t have guests or can’t serve alcohol, one would naturally assume that guests are permitted.
I’ve been to some of those dinner parties and many people are drinking 3-4 glasses of wine at a single meal (equivalent of three or four beers) over a three or four hour period. While uber is necessary, no one is drunk or loud or disrespectful and the dishes are washed and kitchen left clean. With 6 or 7 guests for dinner, the number of drinks add up but there are no drunks at all. That is how a perfectly responsible grown up acts when house sitting.
It would never occur to my neighbors who own the place to complain about the teacher’s having guests or to count the empties in the trash. It is one of the perks of housesitting at the beach house. In fact, that particular housesitter has made friends with all the neighborsh because he is an excellent cook. We joke with the absent owners that they are missing the best dinners served at their house.
So unless the OP specifically told him NO GUESTS, in my view it is not entirely unreasonable to assume that the kid would invite a few friends over, which is entirely different from an Animal-House style party.
Yes, as I recall OP said, “No guests,” and sitter agreed and sitter’s mom reinforced.
It sounded to me line the kid’s mom told him there were to be no guests. Which OP wanted but it wasn’t clear to me that she herself told the kid that.
Kid should have complied even so. But it might have seemed less line a real rule coming from his mom. Particularly if his mom tends towards treating her kids as younger than they are (which sounds kind the case).
I agree that the mom shouldn’t have been as involved in this discussion as it seems she was. Maybe check with her about kid’s availability and/or get the kid’s number then talk with him. Heck when I’ve hired my friends’ high school kids to pet sit, I’ve dealt with them after the initial contact.
We also generally use adults who have worked for us in other capacities to housesit, and we are often gone for long periods of time. However our house sitters do not stay overnight, they just come once or twice a day depending on if the pets are with us. We have them check the house and alarm systems daily, collect the mail and if our pets are not with us, they attend to them as well. I would not want someone throwing a dinner party in my home - just doesn’t feel right to me.
I think we have not hired teenagers or young adults because we know that they may see it as an opportunity to throw a party. And yes I agree that many of us did likewise when we were teenagers. So while I can’t get too worked up over the scenario described in the OP since things didn’t really end badly, I would just rather avoid the whole scenario of taking that risk.
When we travel, our neighbors get our newspaper, mail, look after our yard and plants, take our trash/recyclables to the curb, etc. We always bring them back a small consumable from our travels. Our house is too messy for guests and entertaining.
We aren’t fans of other sleeping in our bed but it wouldn’t cause us to buy a new bed.