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I have a lovely repeat guest, working locally Mon-Fri on a regular basis. I couldn’t find my keys last night, to go for a pint with Mr Joan, (back from working in London and a Brit, he was already propping up the bar) so she had to let me out of the house. Half an hour later she came into the pub with my keys. She had found them in the kitchen rubbish bin, much to everyone’s amusement.
Now there have been occasions over the years when I have found my specs in the fridge, or two pairs on my head, whilst being laughed at for looking for them; a shoe in the linen cupboard and another in the oven. I have sat on a London bus with a pair of specs on and another pair on my head. oh, the foolish embarrassment… But this?
So, fellow hosts, help me feel less foolish please, and share your moments.
I don’t lose things (yet) but I do mis-speak on occasion. Last night I explained to She Who Must Be Obeyed that I had put the leftover cat in the garage, rather than the leftover pizza in the fridge.
I also can’t remember, LOL, but I did just recently check some guests in on my lunch break from my “real” job as my husband was out of town.
I was trying to hurry and in the process of showing them where the sheets for the sofa bed are kept (on the shelf in the coat closet) I inadvertently set my phone down on top of a locked cabinet we installed in there to keep supplies. The cabinet comes to just below the shelf and well above my height challenged line of vision.
Sadly, I didn’t realize this until I had left them. I had to go back, knock on the door, ask them if they’d seen my phone, ask them to call it (unfortunately I’d turned the ringer off), and help me look all over for it (including the parking area) before I finally found it. Very unprofessional and they’d had a long day of travel and the woman’s husband had gotten ill before their trip and was not in the best of shape. Here I am bothering them when they are trying to relax and settle in.
They gave me a 5 star review and left me a nice note; maybe they felt sorry for me? They were no spring chickens so maybe they could relate.
I just remembering my most mortifying moment. I heard a noise out the front of my house but couldn’t see anything out my front window. The guest room has the most front-forward window. So I run into the guest room to look out that window, completely momentarily forgetting that I had airbnb guests. Lucky for me they were out for the day but as soon as I opened the door and saw their things I gasped and shut the door again without going to the window. I’d like to think that if they had been in the room another part of my brain would be activated and I wouldn’t have opened the door. After that I installed a lock on that door that the guests could use. And now I have a second door between me and the guest room door, in effect creating a walk through closet in the hallway. Hopefully I’ve sufficiently protected myself from me now.
Hmm…talking about keys. Our bedroom doors have keyed locks so that the guest has the feeling of extra security, which they do. Now…about 11pm I get a call, new guest couldn’t enter room because it was locked. Realizing I had accidentally locked the door only to realize I had also locked in my only set of master keys in the same bedroom. So calling handyman at 11pm, with 3 20’s year old from oversea’s who spoke little English. So can relate…some days are just like that. You have to just laugh…
OK so here’s mine…from my early hosting days. I allowed guests to drop off their luggage early. All good, did the house tour, gave them the keys, off they went joyously for their day out with a full itinerary. It’s hot and sunny and everyone is happy!
So I get to preparing the room and giving the bathroom and kitchen the weekly deep clean. I used to iron all the bedlinen when I first started, actually I still do a quick run-over with the iron in situ for the bad creases. Anyway, back in the day, I used to set up the ironing board and make it a work-out routine. Put the ipod on, dance and stretch while you’re ironing, you know? Honestly, it’s a good routine, I should market it…
So you know where this is going… yes, me in my bra and pants with headphones on singing loudly (and oh so very very tunelessly) to Florence and the Machine and the guests return after an hour because… well, I have absolutely no recollection why they returned. They just did.
I don’t know how to end this story. It still makes me blush. I have never taken anything for granted since,
I was in the middle of a turnover and needed to use the bathroom. I’m not much of a door closer when I’m at home alone…
Yup, I heard voices in the living room, my guests had walked in, 2 1/2 hours early (I’d also left the front door unlocked). Don’t think I’ll make that mistake again.
I often get stopped in the street by complete strangers. They are always so friendly and want to stop-and-chat, and I’m bewildered until they mention they’re heading back to the flat, see you later… This happened again tonight. I think it’s called face blindness!
