Disrespectful guest

[Heather18]

I have a couple staying with me and they raded my kitchen last night. They polished off a pan of brownies and a huge thing of gummy worms and left everything sitting on my counter for me to find this morning. They are staying two more nights. Help!

[Momi0]

@Maryam-Al-Fakheer0    Holy smokes...are you kidding me!!?!?  Thanks for making another assumption about "Americans!"

Clearly you didn't read my message on this post from the beginning because I clearly wrote that I can't read anyones profiles because my new Mac Air doesn't allow give me the link to do that from the community updates of comments...but thanks for accusing me of something I didn't do.  And I did not write DUTCH in caps on purpose, my computer did that as it puts ethinic names in CAPS..(yes I wrote CAPS in CAPS).....but wow..now I know why so many people do the things they do because they have to do deal with others making assumptions like you just did about me.  I am so offended and don't want to write to you anymore.  I can see your parents raised you to accuse people of things they didnt' do.  Duly noted.

I am so offended by your post that I wish I had never written that funny last post saying it was nice to get to know ALL of you....thanks for taking everything I wrote and twisting it to be something offensive (I DID NOT SAY ANYTHING BUT NICE THINGS ABOUT YOU) and yet you write such mean awful things about me!!!!  You clearly have no clue what being respectful is about and I will make sure when I do visit my 33rd country, its NOT JORDAN!  (yes I wrote that in CAPS)

For the record, I am a lawyer.  There is nothing I hate more then to have someone accuse me or my clients of doing something I or they didn't do.  You should be ashamed of yourself.  And for the record, the other persons to completely soil my beds were from CHINA and GERMANY.....End of Story.

p.s.  but good to know its ok for you to use CAPS in your message to me.  Typical.

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

I just going to bring a breather to the conversation.

I think we need to remember that we are part of a global community here, there is no tolerance for negative comments made against different nationalities. The Community Center is a great place to bring people from all over the world together and as outlined in the guidelines, it should be a welcoming place for everyone. I welcome your views here, but please provide your comments in a respectful manner and remember why we are part of this community. If we keep this a positive environment, everyone will be happier for it.

Going back to the original post, @Heather18 have you spoken with your guests about this at all?  

[Maryam-Al-Fakheer0]

@Momi0 - Wouw, what a coincidence, I am a lawyer too. Sorry to see you take everything so personal. I was amazed to see a Mango Tree in your accounts pictures. Never seen one before. Wish you all the best.

@Maria-Lurdes0 - I don't think that any guest who rent a room in your house is entitled to just take anything from you or your home what is not clearly specified. 

@Heather18 - I think you should at least tell your guests you are missing food and why they thought they just could take it, and ask them if they are willing to pay for it. 

[David-and-Fiona0]

I must be missing something. I thought we opened our homes to others because we are in the 'hospitality and tourism' industry and to make some money. Sure some guests, sometimes step (marginally) over the line. This can be due to cultural differences, language barriers or upbringing but it never ceases to amaze me that some hosts see their homes as fortresses and guests as annoying interlopers. I have nothing but praise for our guests and I want to do everything possible to make their visit to our island as joyful and pleasant as possible. Carping at each other for deemed offences in posts is just childish and not overly constructive lets not turn what is a wonderful resource into, dare I say Facebook! : (

[Maryam-Al-Fakheer0]

@David-and-Fiona0 You are right, as we are in the "hospitality and tourism" industry. But that still doesn't mean that guests can behave disrespectful, don't you think?  And just TAKING what is not theirs is very disrespectful to my opinion. A guest should behave as a guest and not a take-over of your home and belongings and thinking that everything they wish for should be delivered for free or use the host as a door mat. 

[Momi0]

hi @Lizzie

Thank you for taking the time to write that.  I decided to walk away from this continued conversation even though I posted THREE funny replies in the hopes it would "diffuse" the situation but some people were bent on continuing the insults, accusations and condescending remarks.  If I any way, contributed to that, I send you and everyone my deepest apologies.  It actually saddens me that I was just letting Heather know that HER feelings were valid and that anyone taking things from a host kitchen isn't acceptable and offered a suggestion to @Heather18 with humor, then wrote to @Heather18 again letting her know that HER post had gone from one topic to another hoping that humorous reply would make everyone calm down and laugh.  Sadly it was not appreciated.  

I would like to know, how does a host remove their post should they later decide its not something they want kept in the thread?  I tried to remove it, even tried to edit it but it wouldn't let me 10 mins later.  Is there no way to do so?  I am not proud of letting others get to me with their responses.  The hard part for me was that I actually agreed with the majority of the hosts and yet, some of them read my replies completely wrong and turned on me with such nastiness.  I never turned on anyone nor did I accuse anyone of anything.  And I certainly didn't add my two cents to question how anyone approaches their guests with Aloha, but sadly others did that to me. 

It hasn't felt good to me to be accused of something I absolutely didn't do within this thread.  IF anyone else was to read ALL of my posts, they would clearly see that I am the ONLY one who attempted to add humor to the thread but not sure it was appreciated. At least @Jeet0 was kind enough to write me back in kindness.  Thank you for that.

For everyone who added to this thread, I wish you all the best.... @Maryam-Al-Fakheer0 @David-and-Fiona0 @Jeet0 @Maria-Lurdes0 @Claire2  (Lizzie would you please  make sure that is the right CLAIRE...who lives in California...who also wrote in on this issue.   Its not allowing me to tag her for some reason even though she wrote a few times in this thread.   Why is her name not on the list of people?

Aloha means ALOT of things....mostly Thank you, Hello, Goodbye, Take care....and even Forgiveness.   I wish you ALL a big Aloha.  

ME KE ALOHA 

[Heather18]

Hey guys! I just wanted to update: my roommate asked me not to say anything until they did it again. I waited but they came home at 1:30 am and ransacked the kitchen again (thankfully they didn't find anything they wanted) so I clearly left a note telling them that the kitchen is not to be gone into and if they need something to ask.. since speaking to them is nearly impossible. I think they are on drugs because upon meeting them, they were normal but now they just mumble. He thinks he's making sense and it's not like I'm having trouble hearing, he just can't form words now.
Sorry if that was a run on paragraph, I didn't get much sleep 😞

[Jeet0]

Heather,
You have an option to report these guests to Airbnb and get them out of your home. There's no need for you to entertain guests who are on drugs and barely able to speak. It's a major violation of Airbnb Policy. Contact Airbnb and they'll make sure that you don't need to have them at your place for another night. This is in case their stay is still remaining. This is quite unfortunate. Atleast make sure that you write a detailed review for them and send private feed ad to Airbnb as well.

Good day
Jeet

[Heather18]

Well, newest update. Last night they left the door open to the room while they both went in the bathroom. My pup ran into there room so as I went to retrieve him I saw a spoon and three needles. I immediately called Airbnb to find out my rights and had them removed from my home. They won't be eating my brownies anymore. Thanks guys!

[Robin4]

@Momi0 @Maryam-Al-Fakheer0 @David-and-Fiona0.....Gosh!!!! Was yesterday a quite day on the physical front that I missed!....Momi, you must have spent 76% of it at your keyboard on this thread......hahaha. Maryam, lovely to read of you again...I so hope all is well in Jordan, even if the guests are a bit sparse. And David & Fiona, what a great comment.

Sometimes you guys we tend to harbor a bit of a grudge over some issue that we felt could have turned out better for us. But you know, we are all the lucky ones! We see so much more of humanity and truly, it does make us better people.

My wife Adrienne has had Multiple Sclerosis since 1978! It's been a battle over the years but hey, we are still here and still going. Last week I had to sit next to my youngest daughter as a Neurologist in the Canberra Hospital told her, she also has Multiple Sclerosis!....So, here we go again....it felt a bit like 'Groundhog Day' for me. I feel I really did have something to grizzle about!

What I am saying is, I have learnt not to 'sweat the small stuff'! If a guest mis-understands something, we sort it out with a smile and a pat on the back and move on! Sometimes I feel a bit abused but, I have enough serious issues in my life to cope with on an everyday basis and I make a conscious decision to always look for that silver lining in every situation......

And, do you know what, in just about every instance there is one....cheers.....Rob

Sorry @Lizzie....I know I am getting off the thread!

[Maria-Lurdes0]

It should not feel at all awkward to communicate with your guests.  Simply say "oh, I'm sorry if it wasn't obvious, but the food in the cupboards isn't for guest use".   They were a bit entitled, but by not mentioning anything, you're allowing them to think that it is normal that they can help themselves to whatever they want while in a hosts home.

If they were considerate after I'd spoken to them I would not include mention of the incident in the review.  If they were put off by being told about the incident then I'd say something like "guest will benefit from clear house rules and expectations"