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I usually tell guests that if they need to cook they don’t have to buy pasta and spices and show them where both of them are.
But that’s it, I don’t give a free cheque to take anything they want.
Well, this guest wakes up in the middle of the night, open 2 previously sealed bags of pistachio and almond (both quite expensive, around 10% of this 1-night stay) and gorges on them (couple of them spilled on the floor as well).
Of course no mention to it when he checked out.
Needless to say, I didn’t particularly appreciate the way he treated stuff that’s not his coupled with his messy.
Would you leave said guest a negative review?
Or score him low on “house rules”?
If you feel it should have been very clear to him that he couldn’t touch your nuts, I would mention it in the review.
I must say that I think it’s an ambiguous situation: I can understand spices and oil, because these you buy in a much larger quantity than needed for cooking a few times. Pasta? Why do you give them pasta for free? They still need to go to the supermarket to buy things to eat with the pasta, so they might as well buy a small package of pasta themselves. Is there any advantage for you? Oil and spices I can see as a selling point, good for reviews, people appreciating it, but pasta…
Pasta is a bit like the oil and spices that you mention in my opinion: a pack is too much for a single meal (or even 2 or 3 meals).
Some of that past I offer is actually from previous guests who left it (and I’m Italian so I only use good pasta ).
And third, it’s cheap enough that I am happy to share it.
I can see how the situation might have been slightly ambiguous as I don’t say “you can’t have all the other stuff”, yet that’s not how people communicate and everyone else understood it.
If someone tells you “you don’t need to buy pasta and spieces” and shows you where they are while not adding anything else, most people would understand it’s not a free buffet.
I personally would not mention it because people don’t listen. When you opened the pantry to show him the pasta and spices that visual in his brain registered as “open pantry” and not “everything else is off limits.”
So it seems that this guest wasn’t breaking any house rules. Plus the host didn’t tell him what he couldn’t help himself to in the kitchen. So the review could read “xxx helped himself to two packets of nuts that I hadn’t told him not to” which doesn’t make any sense.
I’m not saying that guests are stupid, many of us here are also guests after all, but when people are away from home they’re not necessarily in the same mindset as they are at home. To blame a guest for using something that he wasn’t told not to use is a bit of a cop out. Far better to keep your own food separately and have a box for guest stuff clearly labelled ‘for guest use’.
LOL yeah, when he touched my nuts I really went wild .
Jokes aside, I don’t agree with the idea that as long as you didn’t say what guests can or cannot do, then the guest can do it.
Or at least, not as long as we’re talking about common sense stuff.
If you had to be that precise on everything, you’d end up with a 50 pages legal disclaimer and 2h of house rules chat.
Ie.:
you cannot leave the window open when it’s windy and stormy
you cannot smear the toilet and leave it dirty
you cannot take a shower without taking care that the water doesn’t end up outside the cabin
This is all common sense stuff that people know (he did 2 & 3 too, BTW).
And in my opinion, when you live in the house, it’s common sense that the food belongs to you (to who else?).
And albeit there might be some ambiguity on what’s shared as guests are free to use the kitchen, there isn’t that much ambiguity: almost a hundred people before him understood it.
IMHO you left yourself open for “nut theft” by not specifying “the only things you can have…” or “Everything else is off limits…”, or having a separate shelf/box for guest goods and saying “this is for Guests, nothing more”.
Guests generally do NOT have common sense. They’re mostly clueless, and they’re often not “most people would understand it’s not a free buffet”.
He sounds like a terrible roommate and a crummy guest. He’s probably about middle of the pack when it comes to taking care of other people’s things yet I can’t imagine a single host who would like to share their home with this guy. Yes, in order to prevent other guests from helping themselves to your food then you shouldn’t have it on display with other foods that they are free to use. There is no such thing as “common sense.” But that doesn’t excuse him. I’ve evolved to the camp of not listing a bunch of rules. And saying “it wasn’t against the rules so you can’t ding him in the review” doesn’t make sense to me.
If I had a guest like this when I shared my home it would be 5 stars communication (assuming that was fine) 3 stars cleanliness, 4 stars on rules (I don’t know what your rules are) and a “do not recommend.” In the review I would say he was messy, careless and helped himself to your snacks.
well, I had guests who asked “may I borrow one of your eggs?” Of course. ANother drank half a bottle of whisky but he bought it the next day for me. he was coming for a funeral, so I understood.
in this case it’s theft.
I’d mention in the review so future hosts know what he did. I’d put it in the house rules: pasta is free but if you use any of my food, you will need to pay."
Or have separate shelves for “host’s food”, “guest’s food” so they will know not to intrude.
This is a great idea, along with a clearly written note that specifies the supplies on this shelf/in this cabinet are for guests. But, it may not be feasible in smaller spaces, and it will be even harder if some of the food supplies for guests are refrigerated.
Yeah exactly, if people ask I am always happy to help.
The cool ones who take it and replace it (or offer compensation, which I would have even refused)?
They’re awesome, that’s the spirit of the flatsharing.
It’s taking as if it was yours and leaving crumbles like you couldn’t care less that’s not cool (+ the dirty toilet to seal the deal in case there were any doubts) .
I agree with those of you who said it’s only fair to flag people with this type of behavior for the community.
A low rating on “rules” and possibly a “don’t recommend” final vote.
And great idea some of you shared to put everything which is shared into a separate compartment.
LOL…so sorry about the missing munchies. I would gently mention it in the review. Such as “guest mistook some of my food as being available for use by our guests” however he was …if warranted give the positive. On a separate note… I threw away guests food as he had checked out (but returning in a few days) only to find out that he was returning to pick up food & luggage (pre-arranged). However, I honestly did not know that the food left in the refrigerator in an container was his. I did profusely apologize and gave him funds for my mistake. Sigh…sometimes stuff happens.
LOL the guests who come back for some scrap food or load up and stain their luggages not to leave a $0.99 soap bar, don’t you love those
One of the things I love about hosting is learning about people actually.
For example with this guest, I wasn’t surprised in the slightest he was going to turn out an ahole.
From his profile picture to asking right after booking if he could check in at 10am and check out at 18:00 (yeah sure, LOL) to then not even looking at me or listening to me as I explained the house rule.
When I get these people something I wished they’d ask me some tips on self-development and financial education instead of trying to save money stealing, buying and moving the cheapest food they can find.
Yeah my kitchen is off limits because of stuff like this. There’s no helping yourself anymore. I’d score him low on house rules, like 3/5 but I wouldn’t probably say anything in the review unless there’s something I’m missing.
I’m starting to feel sorry for this guest now. Evidently, it wasn’t in the house rules - the host just showed him where the stuff he could have was located and left him to assume that’s all he could use.
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