Head-scratchers

[Pat271]

Something that has surprised and baffled me since I started hosting is how many times I’ve scratched my head over certain conditions, configurations, object placements, etc. that I have found after guest departure. In my wildest imagination, I can’t envision the reasoning or scenarios for some of the things I’ve  found. Off the top of my head, I’ve found:

1) Dining room table scratched *under* the glass

2) Bleached, half-moon shapes discoloring the fabric of a dining room chair

3) Various Mystery Substances on sheets, towels, counters and the floor

4) A slightly bent ceiling fan. (What were they doing, swinging on it? Drying their clothes on the blades?)

5) Furniture moved to completely nonsensical locations

6) Knife scratchings in the wax of our flameless candles

…and my personal favorite

7) Footprints on the walls near the ceiling. Yes, you read that right. The ceiling!

Given enough time to go through my notes, I can probably find 20 more “head-scratchers”.

How about you? What have you found at your place after check-out that wasn’t necessarily or specifically evil or negligent, but that you couldn’t for the life of you figure out the guests’ thought processes, no matter how hard you tried?

[Pat271]

@Laura2592 

Peeling potatoes - sure, who says that can’t be done in the shower? 😏 Or maybe they were using the knife to fish hair out of the drain.

The Banishment of the Lamps…hmmm. Indoor football game, to prevent breakage? Wanting to get rid of “the bad light”? Were the lightbulbs LED or incandescent? 

[Pete69]

My guest headscratchers are more mundane.

1. Guest taking shower (or bath) at 4:20 AM for 40 minutes, then a while later anther 25 minute shower, then a while later another 25 minutes shower, then a while later another 20 minutes shower.

2. Little cuts all over glass desktop. After that, I now leave a wood chopping block in the room. Even though there's no kitchen, gets have indeed cut up this chopping block.

3. Room reeks of perfume or cologne for days. Finally, time to bring on the rug doctor.

[Anonymous]

@Pete69   Guest (1) took a lot of amphetamines, resulting in sleeplessness, compulsiveness, and hyperthermia.

Guest (2) was cutting lines of coke or speed with a razor blade.

Guest (3) was either trying to cover smoke odor or just had a weird sense of hygiene.

[Pete69]

1) I think this guest was dying their hair in multiple colors.

2) I had some guests who owned a floral shop.

3) Yes, they probably were trying to mask the smell of smoke.

[Anonymous]

@Pete69   Our theories are different but not mutually exclusive 🙂

[Pat271]

@Pete69 

1. A very, very successful night of carnal activity?

[Anonymous]

@Pat271  Four bottoms at an afterparty.🍑🍑🍑🍑

[Vickie105]

Laura2592

I allow dogs and they have scratched thd crap out of my $1,000.00 vinyl plank floors ..I had Boxers in my house for 15 years on vinyls and no scraches...

Then my last review the guy said wrote my mattress had a hole in it..I stripped the bed...No hole...I had it completely covered with plastic mattress cover ...He wrote "she had this old mattress"..It's a brand new mattress...

Then he called and wanted to know where the outside trash can was..It was 6 feet from him..

Big green trash can...then he asked if I could come and get it..even though the trash can was right there..plus it was one of those small bathroom trash bags...

I hate my floors are ruined...

Sometimes I wonder after paying all the taxes -County, Federal and state and wear and tare on my brand new apartment  is all this worth it...

[Pat271]

@Vickie105  Your last sentence is definitely food for thought - I wonder the same thing sometimes. Yes, I come out ahead if I’m careful, but with all the time and worry involved, my pay is about 1/10th of what I make in my regular job.

I guess it’s fortunate that I enjoy hosting, for the most part. 😏

[Sarah977]

@Vickie105  You probably kept your boxers' nails trimmed. Those floor scrathes are going to happen if you allow dogs, because many dog owners don't attend to nail trimming.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Vickie105  I think your guest knew very well where the trash can was, it was an excuse... in fact he just wanted to see you again 😉

[Ann72]

@Pat271  Combining (4) and (7), I imagine a guest training for American Ninja Warrior and making a running leap to grab the fan and then push off the wall to land on the bed.  🙂

Our hydrangeas were trampled.  We finally figured out the guests had brought a camper and pulled it up close to the flower bed to use the windows over the hydrangeas to run cords into the house.  Getting in and out of the camper they simply stepped on the hydrangeas as they pleased.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Jesus @Ann72  this would wake up my killer instinct in a second 😞

Btw how long are these cords usually? Just checking the possibility...

[Ann72]

I don't know what they were charging @Branka-and-Silvia0.  I don't think it was the camper itself but devices in the camper.  The current guest is charging his car, but he has appropriately brought an extension cord that reaches to the exterior outlet in the back of the house.  He asked permission first.

I definitely wanted to kill these guests!

[Lawrene0]

@Ann72 , all that's needed for the review is "Guest trampled the hydrangeas." 

Every host will know they are monsters.