We have a single occupancy private guest room in our home and majority of our guests have been exchange students for an entire semester. We allow kitchen use and while there has been different levels of cleanliness, nothing we couldn't live with or tolerate for 4 months. But our current guest is really pushing us to the limit.... she does things that are considered a safety hazard even though we've asked and reminded her NOT to, and just simply disregards basic hygiene and common courtesy.
All we ask of guests is to clean up after themselves after using the kitchen and respect the fact that shared spaces are SHARED. We don't mind if they cook meals like they would at home, as long as they clean up and do the dishes. We make it clear we are their hosts, and our job doesn't include cleaning up/picking up after their messes, so if they don't like kitchen cleanup, they can always get take out or eat out. Like many typical Korean homes, we don't have an oven or a dishwasher - this is clear in our listing description.
Our current guest has been with us for about 6 weeks now.... and is really driving me and Henry crazy.
She keeps storing her leftovers in the microwave (making the microwave stink) or leaves a plate of half-eaten food out in the open, on the kitchen counter.
She puts metal or aluminum dishes/containers/cutlery in the microwave - we told her this could break it or even cause sparks and start a fire so DON'T! We've had to remind her 4 times already. We even once found a plate of chicken and rice leftovers with the knife and fork together IN the microwave which was presumably sitting in there for about 10 hrs.
She never wipes any of the sauce drips or splatters from the counter tops or stove top.
She never wipes the table after eating her meals - she leaves drips and crumbs from her meals as-is on the table.
She never does her dishes promptly..... always piles up 2 or 3 days worth and does them all at once just about when Henry is on the verge of complaining that we are running out of clean dishes and pots and pans. - In week 3, we asked that dirty dishes are washed and cleared from the sink AT LEAST once a day since the kitchen is SHARED and that nothing should be left in there for longer than a day. It's gotten a little better.
She leaves her personal stuff (mostly books and notes) all over the place - on the sofa, on the coffee table, in front of our front door, in the hallway, on the kitchen counter.
She leaves used napkins/Kleenex laying around on the sofa, on the table, on the floor.
She (used to) have really really loud and noisy conversations at the kitchen table or while in shared spaces. It happened once at midnight during week 2 so I told her to keep all phone conversations in her room and regardless of day or night and reminded her of quiet time. Overall noise level improved for a while then Henry had to remind her to be quiet again last week at 11pm.
She leaves her laundry (that is dry) on the drying racks for days on end.... until we tell her we need to use the drying rack for our own laundry and to please clear her stuff.
She uses generous HEAPINGS of the cooking oil and condiments we provide.
She keeps asking us to print stuff out for her, even though we've explained very clearly the printer is for our personal use and not for guests. It's not a lot of pages, but it's clear she assumes she can just take advantage of our home printer.
We paid for some things she needed to order online the first 2 weeks and she told us it would take another week or so to open a local bank account to make cash withdrawals without having to pay an exorbitant fee. It's pretty clear her account issues are resolved, but she keeps "forgetting" to pay us back every time we remind her - we've reminded her 3 times already. (She clearly has money..... she goes out to meet friends and seems to do a lot of shopping. She's just really dragging her feet about paying us back.)
Overall, she's a slob and really lazy. She puts off doing stuff till the last minute then comes to Henry or me asking for help.
She leaves half-eaten energy bars or bags of chips in the guest room, on the desk or a shelf.
We make it clear we give guests 1 shelf each in the fridge and freezer. Right now, our guest has taken over 3 shelves in the fridge, 2 shelves in the freezer and the guest pantry shelf is chock full.
Guest bath sink is totally disgusting - covered in soap scum, toothpaste globs and makeup residue.
Henry has become afraid of letting the guest be home alone in our home - says the moment we let our guard down, she' probably start a fire in the kitchen or break something. Still 2.5 months till the semester ends and she checks out..... sigh~
It's like she hasn't been house trained..... at all.
