"A Meanness About Folks"

[Kelly149]

I was reading an article about the current state of students and education and this tweet reminded me of what I'm hearing from alot of you (and why I'm not looking forward to re-opening my barn).

"I feel like this pandemic has created something that’s going to take at least a year and a half (or probably more) to recover from in our schools. A meanness about folks. Exhaustion. Apathy. And it seems to be rampant."  Dwayne Reed @TeachMrReed 

full article: https://www.today.com/parents/how-help-teens-struggling-person-school-pandemic-t239720?cid=sm_npd_td...

https://twitter.com/TeachMrReed/status/1457533967469535234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed...

[Laura2592]

@Kelly149  thanks for posting! I just skimmed this but yes yes and more yes. 

Its not just teens with a mental health crisis. I am absolutely depressed and burnt out dealing with other humans. My day job is rough, my online business has been really nuts and you all know about the guests. I have retreated to painting a lot and not talking. I am not even kidding. I need that mental space to just re-set every day. 

Awareness of this issue is the first step. Its not imaginary. 

[Sandra126]

@Laura2592 , i misread it as panting. I thought it  was an unusual way to deal with stress, but i was prepared to try. 

Keep painting!

[Laura2592]

Another interesting article...

https://time.com/6099906/rude-customers-pandemic/

[Kelly149]

@Laura2592  That article references setting behavior expectations in businesses. I feel like I’ll be rewriting my listing before I reopen to consider this new normal. 

[Huma0]

@Laura2592 

That was interesting, but I'd love to know if it's the same case here in the UK because, in my own personal experience, it's almost the opposite here. I have no statistics on this, so maybe I've just been lucky, but I spoke to friend in Germany about it and he felt the same.

Once things started to open up here again, especially when the non-essential shops, people seemed more polite and friendly. Retail staff were so nice and attentive. I know it's their job, but that's not actually the norm in high-street stores as opposed to fancy ones. In the past, they mostly ignored you and it you had to hunt them down for assistance. They seemed genuinely relieved and happy to be back at work, not downtrodden and depressed by rude customers.

I have become much more close to my neighbours and not just the immediate ones. I have always known the few households closest to me and tried to be polite and friendly, but now we have formed much more of a bond, make more of an effort, check up on each other and offer assistance, even exchange gifts. It is something far beyond cordiality. It is a sense of community that wasn't really there before.

As part of my job, I normally have to go to a lot of events. In the past, you would meet friendly people and there would be others who would simply ignore you. You were just not important enough. Recently those events started again and I noted a distinct change. Everyone was super friendly. People who would have previously overlooked you were desperate to interact. Conversations that would have taken five minutes turned into half hour chats about anything and everything, full of laughs and anecdotes. 

I wouldn't say that people are more polite and friendly in all scenarios, but certainly I've noticed it in some. I wonder what other hosts from the UK think.

As for guests, I haven't noticed any change in how polite/friendly the guests that stay are. I have noticed a decline though in the quality of guests that contact me in general and their correspondence. I have to turn away a lot more people than before, but I'm dealing with an International market. The guests I've accepted have been very polite.

[Kelly149]

there's your answer @Laura2592 , run off to London and hang out with @Huma0 bc that sounds dreamy, right??

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Kelly149 @Laura2592 

I've been hearing from friends in every sector - particularly retail, health/medical, lodging, that people are impolite for no seeming reason these days. It is really hard in every public facing work situation. Everyone is burned out and it is contagious, so at the end of the day everyone is feeling worse. I'm doing my best to be extra nice, thanking everyone for showing up and doing their best. We really need to remember we are all in this together, and show up with that attitude. 

[Laura2592]

@Kitty-and-Creek0  it is absolutely contagious. More contagious than COVID. 

[Sandra126]

I find myself getting fractuous when I wear a mask.  It's harder to be understood,  harder to read faces.

[Amanda660]

I’m finding folks aren’t willing/able to follow simple instructions or absorb information it’s not just Airbnb, we have a martial arts school and they’re struggling too.   The older teen and adults students are fine(ish) but the parents are absolutely fried.  They want very little involvement with the kids’ progress - it feels like ever is just trying to get by without listing it.

I sold one of my long term rentals last week - not the smartest move business-wise but I just want to reduce ‘peopling’.  I’ve blocked my calendar from the end of September and deciding if I knock it on the head after summer ‘22.  Like many if you I’m just done in.

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Amanda660 

I think people have lost a lot of social skills due to the pandemic. In addition, due to being online all the time, many digital natives have never learned the social skills that we, their elders, learned and refined all our lives. 

We lost our STR insurance early in the pandemic, as our company stopped covering homeshares. Our county business license to operate as a short term rental requires us to be fully insured. We have been able to get coverage again, from our precious homeowners policy, but only as of the end of January 2022. We are reopening then, pandemic permitting. We are still firmly in the red tier here, and in our sparsely populated rural region our average daily covid cases are in the double digits, stress levels are very high. Our guests have always been superlative and well suited to our homeshare. Not everyone is a good match here, so quality over quantity is where we fit in. We trust that it will work out for us again, and we will be able to provide our guests what they are looking for. Covid permitting. 

[Ann72]

@Kelly149  When you open back up, you might notice guests start telling YOU when they're going to check in, which I find appalling and another example of post-pandemic entitled behavior.  Then I stayed at an Airbnb recently and guess what?  Airbnb tells the guest to tell the host what time they're going to check in WHEN THEY BOOK.  They write, "Message the Host.  Let the Host know why you're traveling and when you'll check in."  The tone of this tells the guests they have the upper hand.  It sets the whole experience off on the wrong foot.

[Kelly149]

@Ann72 not surprising and I do think often Hosts need to remember that many of our guest problems stem from purposeful choices from ABB more so than from Guest choices. ie hidden house rules, unclear messaging on what is a host decision vs what is a guest decision. There is some psychology at play in the ABB site and unfortunately, it is biased toward volume not toward quality

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Kelly149 @Ann72

One size doesn't fit all, is the underlying issue as I see it. Trying to make one policy for so many vastly different situations in a myriad of countries is virtually impossible.

Homeshare hosts and those who live far from their whole house rental have completely different situations. Our house rules are crafted for our unique home share situation here, so that we and our guests can co-exist, our guests can enjoy their best experience, and we can get a good night's sleep too. One size definitely doesn't fit all.