It’s not easy entertaining guests. It’s a task that involves equal amounts of preparation, commitment, and flexibility. Oftentimes the effort is worth it, but sometimes houseguests have a different plan in mind. Check out these ungrateful guests folks had to kick out of their houses.
“People Like You.”
“When I was in my 30s and moved into my first house (as a couple). I waited to re-paint, decorate and have locks changed and things fixed and restored, then I had a party/BBQ in my new house and invited some relatives. The party was on the patio with access to the guest bathroom and I placed sticky plastic runners on the new rugs. A couple of the relatives (the younger ones) brought some friends with them (rude to not clear it with me first) and a good thing that I have a tendency to cook way more food than I need (Nana taught me well).
I was a little hyper-aware of everyone’s comfort and whereabouts when I notice that two female friends of friends were missing. I knew that only one person at a time would use the bathroom so I went into the house. They were both trying the door to my bedroom (‘Maybe it’s stuck’) which I had locked along with the two guest rooms and I went casually behind them and asked softly what they were doing.
They both whipped around startled. One of the women said ‘The door’s locked.’ I actually did that because I didn’t want one of the kids to accidentally let my cats out. I didn’t say anything and they exchanged a look then asked why I had the door locked. I drew in a breath and asked them ‘Why do you need to go into my bedroom?’
‘Oh we just wanted to look at the house,’ they said.
‘I think you’ve seen enough, now go outside or leave,’ I replied.
They went outside…to complain. Why are there doors locked, why is there plastic runners all over the house, did you know there’s nothing in the medicine cabinet and the only thing in the vanity is an extra roll of paper (I did that on purpose).
I cleared my throat and said, ‘The why is because of people like you.’ Their friends (our relatives) just chuckled and kept their heads down.”
Trash Attitude.
“A former family friend was visiting our home from out of town and staying in our spare bedroom with her husband. Her adult children were also guests in our home that weekend. She is one of those narcissistic people who always need to be the center of attention and is snotty and rude about everything, out of jealousy and insecurity.
We had recently bought and renovated our first home and we were very proud. She arrived at our house and picked everything apart, judging and critiquing all of our choices, from our paint color to our choice in countertops, etc – the night she had arrived, basically from the second she walked in the door.
The next morning I woke up early, being the hostess I am, and started making breakfast, despite being annoyed at her lousy comments the previous evening. I made a big spread: bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, toast, and fruit.
She dishes up her plate and starts complaining that I don’t have the type of jelly for her toast that she would prefer. I had a few selections available in the pantry that wasn’t set out, so I ask her what type she was like. She ignores my question and keeps loudly complaining to everyone at the table that I only have jelly she doesn’t like (like so petty and ridiculous). So I ask her again what she would prefer, and she again ignores me. So I sit down at the table at this point to start eating my own food since everyone was plated and she clearly was ignoring my offer to get her another kind of stupid jelly for her toast. As soon as I sit down she asked why I don’t have vinegar out for the hashbrowns. I told her that I’ve never had anyone request vinegar for their hashbrowns before so I didn’t think to put it out.
She then goes on a rant to our other guests and my husband about how first I don’t have the jelly she wants and now the vinegar and if she was going to make a meal for house guests, she would at least have the correct condiments for it and blah, blah, blah and was being just generally rude after I had spent over an hour making this huge breakfast (and not that it matters, but I had grape, raspberry and strawberry jelly set out to use, which was apparently not good enough, but I digress). She was just being loud and obnoxious for attention. So I picked up her plate, walked to the garbage and scraped it all into the trash. And told her if this meal was such garbage, I wouldn’t force her to eat it. The look on her face was incredible. We’ve had a big falling out since then about other things (a bigger story for another time) – so I won’t have to worry about not having the correct condiments ever again.”
She Was At Her Wit’s End.
“We had just acquired two puppies. They were both two adorable four-month-old bundles of joy.
My lazy, obnoxious sister-in-law came for a visit. As always, it became 24 hours of a living nightmare.
As always, my sister-in-law regarded her brother’s house as 100% her house where she could do as she pleased whenever she pleased. In her mind, I seem to be some kind of pest who interfered in her relationship with her brother. She was the most sour-faced person I ever saw (divorced three times).
So she got there on a weekday early afternoon. I was home that day and had to accommodate her. The weather was beautiful that day. She spent much of the time waiting for her brother by smoking on the back patio – a habit I abhor.
She worked for an airline so she enjoyed a completely flexible flight schedule. At first, she said she was leaving at 9 am the following morning. Whenever she came to our state, she always shopped at a Trader Joe’s and stocked up on her favorite flan and pretzels and other junk and crammed our refrigerator full of her stuff that she would take with her when she left.
I love to cook and carefully prepare balanced, attractive, tasty meals; especially for guests.
I started cooking while she was at the store. I think I prepared chicken for the bbq ( I made the bbq sauce myself) plus probably some kind of baked vegetable and a rice dish and a salad.
My sis-in-law got home. I had pretty much finished getting everything ready to cook in the kitchen so that dinner would be fresh and hot (bbq’d by my husband). Dinner would be at 6 pm.
It was about 4 pm. I heard my sis-in-law doing something in the kitchen. I went there and discovered that she had microwaved potato and prepared it with butter and sour cream. My sister-in-law has a weird habit of standing up while she is eating. There she was standing in my kitchen stuffing her face.
‘We’re going to have dinner in two hours,’ I said.
‘I’m hungry now,’ she said. (Sis-in-law was in the mood for baked potatoes – more later).
By then I was becoming agitated – so agitated that I went to my son’s room and raided his pot stash, went out back, and took a few tokes.
The husband came home and started the bbq and dinner was served. I tried so hard.
Halfway thru dinner, sis-in-law got up and microwaved herself another potato! She bought it to the table and put it on her plate!
I was now getting ticked off. I said I was finished with dinner, got up, and left them.
Sis-in-law had another odd habit. When everybody else went to bed, she liked to watch TV until very late. My husband put a spare TV in the guest room just for her. She slept with the set on and the sound on loud all night. She was an avid Fox news addict. OK. Whatever. Nothing like lying in bed all night waiting for 9 a.m. to arrive.
Next morning. Her flight out was scheduled for 9 a.m. Sis-in-law slept late. The husband finally went to work. Sis-in-law dragged her fat behind out of bed and parked it. in the kitchen. I let her find her own breakfast. I didn’t even make coffee for her
‘So…did you reschedule your flight?’
That morning, my sis-in-law rescheduled her flight twice. I called my husband. ‘You need to come home at lunch and get her gone.’ He agreed
The hours dragged on. Finally, she got her luggage packed (all that food). I helpfully moved her bags to the front door. The husband would be home soon.
Our house was on a quiet street but just five houses down from a bustling street
My husband got home and my stupid sister-in-law opened the front door and left it open.
Our precious puppies ran out and headed straight for that dangerous street. I stopped them LITERALLY five feet from running into traffic.
I lost it. I took them home.
‘Get the HECK out of my house right now.’
She talked back.
I threw her bags out of the house onto the front porch.
She still did not get out of my house.
‘You get out of my house right now or I will open your luggage and dump it all in the street.’
That got her out the door. That was seven(?) years ago. I have never seen her since.”
A Trainwreck At His Funeral.
“At my father’s funeral, I saw all types of mad behavior at my house. My family knows how to grieve and just as equally know how to go crazy. Our driver had just dropped us home and all of a sudden from my room I see an uncle I had never met tearing down the fence poles to use the logs for the bonfire he wanted to make. This man destroyed a series of paddocks that took three years to make because he wanted to roast meat! Our dairy cows went ballistic and even got lost for almost three days because the fencing was gone.
Next comes a crazy lady who came the same evening and demanded food, it was after supper and she talked me down for saying there was no food left. She really gave me a piece of her mind and after I made a plan for her and she was full I asked her how long she had known dad and she said ‘I only met him once and the reason why she came is that she saw all the cars from the highway and didn’t know that he had even passed away!’ How do you come and attack the bereaved children of a stranger at his funeral over a meal? Maybe I should have offered her a snickers bar.
Our driver in his moment of madness came and took the car and raced across the fields and crashed the vehicle into a ditch in full view of the grieving public. It took him and five other men to pull it out. Last but not least are the bees, they lived in a crack next to the laundry room and the presence of 600 mourners made them lose it. I can still remember hearing the dull buzzing before all heck broke loose. They stung soo many people, I guess the bees considered them loud, rude, and unwelcome.”
Bending Over Backwards.
“A friend from high school I hadn’t seen in many years, let’s call her ‘Janet’, reacquainted herself with our group through Facebook; our group is made up of HS alums who had been in contact continuously since graduation. We welcomed her into the FB group. She was very friendly at first, calling weekly to gab, so I didn’t suspect anything. Then, she said she would be in the area where I and another alum live, and made it seem like it would be inhospitable of us not to put her up for two days each. Being friendly types, he and I agreed to have her visit. What a mistake!
She was a guest at his house first, then took the train to my house. She called me from the train in a panic, saying she needed to eat right away. ‘I have to eat fresh foods!’, she explained, so I suggested a place that had all kinds of salads, including a delicious one with salmon. ‘Oh, no!’ she exclaimed, ‘I couldn’t possibly have salmon!’ and went on to describe overfishing and other reasons why salmon was a no-no, with an offended tone, as if I should have known better than even to suggest such a thing. She hadn’t even gotten off the train yet!
I picked her up and took her to the restaurant, and throughout the meal, she complained bitterly about how she had been ‘mistreated’ by our friend. But the things seemed less like the mistreatment and more like not having her needs magically met: he didn’t provide her with bottled water, and there were no healthy snacks – minor things. Then, finally, he was in a hurry to drop her off at the train station. I was beginning to see why.
Upon entering my house, she immediately said, ‘Oh! When was the last time you changed the cat’s litter?’ and began to lecture me on the health hazards that dirty litter poses to cats. I had changed it the day before, but the cat had dropped a few land mines while I was at work, which didn’t smell that bad to me. . . . Still, if I were to find myself in that situation, I would’ve kept my mouth shut for fear of offending the host.
The next day and a half were filled with my catering to her every whim, I’m sorry to say: rushing a white over- garment to the ladies’ room to try to get a stain out, buying extra ‘fun faux’ jeweled rings that she liked, and turning around and picking her back up from the airport after dropping her off because her flight was delayed for four hours and she ‘simply could not sit around the airport waiting.’ Having a narcissistic parent makes obedience a reflex for me, the logic being, ‘If I’m nice to her, maybe she’ll be nice to me.’
Nuh-uh: takers gotta take.
I sent her the extra rings I bought, and got a call from her a couple of days later – scolding me! The rings weren’t the colors or shapes she liked, and was I even paying attention? At that point, I told her that I can’t do this anymore, it was exhausting, and I’m very sorry . . . she argued with me, but I stood firm.
The next day, I got an email from her ripping me a new one for all my ‘selfish, inconsiderate behavior.’
I’m glad she’s out of my life, and, in fact, hadn’t thought of her until I saw this question.”
You Won’t Be Coming Back.
“I managed to endure a week’s worth of rude behavior from an old friend and her daughter.
My husband and I lived, at the time, in the extreme suburbs of a major metropolitan area. My friend and her daughter still lived in my very small, very rural hometown in the literal middle of nowhere about 500 miles away.
Knowing she, as a widow, had little money to spend on vacations, we invited her and her daughter to come to stay with us during spring break for a couple of days. My husband and I both arranged to take time off from work to chauffeur them around and show them the touristy things our city had to offer.
The first morning went great. We went to a large state park that had many attractions. We had a great morning seeing the museum, walking the beautifully landscaped grounds, and riding the narrow-gauge train. The trouble started when we spread out our lunchtime picnic. The daughter (age 12) began to whine about the food. Loudly. Her mother did nothing. Not my child, so the hubs and I tried to ignore her ever-increasing volume and ate our lunch. She continued to complain and whine as the afternoon wore on, and into the evening as we watched the laser show and fireworks.
On the second day, my friend wanted to go to a mall. So off we went. (The hubs were relieved of duty.) We got no farther than a high-end department store’s clearance racks, where they spent three hours and spent nearly $500.
That night, we ordered a couple of pizzas for dinner, as that was what the daughter wanted. We only ate one and put the second one away for later. The next day, I take out a slice for lunch and find that the daughter has removed all the toppings, eaten them, and left only the crust.
Day three was devoted to seeing two large museums downtown. We get there, and my friend mentions to me she left her wallet at the house. So we pay their way in. While we are in the museums, the daughter proceeds to touch everything labeled ‘Don’t Touch’ and tries to grab anything she wants. My friend does nothing. Finally, a security guard approaches and tells me that if the daughter doesn’t behave, we will be asked to leave. Mortified, I tell the daughter to behave herself and stop touching stuff. She doesn’t and we are asked to leave and led to the sidewalk.
On day four, I am told by my friend that they are out of money and can’t go anywhere else due to their spending spree at the mall. I say OK, we can just hang out at home for a day before they depart for home. I am informed then that they won’t be going home for another three days. Their tickets are non-refundable and have no changes.
For three days, we are cooped up at home, watching Christian children’s movies and cartoons. My friend asks my husband to wash all their dirty clothing so ‘I won’t have to do any when we get back. He, being the polite Brit he is, had it halfway done before I found out to stop him. They ate us out of the house and home and the daughter turned up her nose at every meal and complained bitterly. She refused to eat anything but cheese and peanut butter sandwiches the entire time. I told my friend to make anything she wanted in the kitchen, but the disaster area she left in my kitchen was so horrifying that I ended up making all their meals.
The hubs and I breathed a huge sigh of relief on the way back home from the airport. That is until we saw the state of the guest room. Apparently, my friend does not remove her heavy makeup before going to bed. That cost me an entire set of stained sheets.
They were not invited back the following year, despite my friend’s broad hints.”
All Rank, No Class.
“I have always prided myself on being a good host. Even when I was single, I could host great dinner parties. Not a lot of straight men knew how, but I grew up in the business. Now realize my age; I’m now in my late 60s, so when I was in my 20s, it wasn’t unusual for a dinner party to have the meal served by courses. I was raised to know how to do it – with style. Anyway, I had planned a fancy dinner party for a very close and dear friend who had recently married.
Her new husband thought he was ‘all that and more.’ Even today, after almost 50 years, he thinks the world is really impressed with him. His claim to fame? His father was a colonel in the Army. We live in a military city; you can’t swing a cat without hitting a colonel! Anyway, they were supposed to arrive at seven pm. At 7:10 pm, I get a call from my friend saying she thinks they might be a little late. I told her they already were late; she said, ‘Well, I think Bill is about to start getting ready now… I let her know that I had everything ready.’ At 8:30 they arrived. Chipper, upbeat, no apology. I was totally steaming but said nothing.
We got through the first course, I served the main course- roast beef, steamed asparagus, baked bread, and baked potatoes. As we are eating I asked if they needed anything, and Bill pipes up with ‘No, but my baked potato is overcooked.’
That was the limit! I looked at him and in a strong but measured slow tone said ‘Well… it was perfect – at 7 o’clock when you were supposed to be here!’ He looked dumbfounded, my friend only said, ‘Are you upset we were late?’ I told them not to worry about it, it was my problem and wouldn’t be a problem again. She asked what I meant, I changed the subject, rushed desert, and said I had to be at work early the next morning. I have seen them many times since, but NEVER have I invited them to my home for dinner. Not even when my wife and I have an open house type come-and-go party.”
Try To Do Some Housewarming And This Is The Thanks I Get?
“I have never been accused of having a good eye for decorating.
My dad once said that my sister could hang garbage on a wall and it would look beautiful. On the flip side, I would say that I could hang something beautiful on the wall and it would look like trash.
We had a big party at our home one summer before we started our remodel. The party was outdoors, but the bathrooms were just inside the back door, one located on the main floor and the other just down the basement steps.
Since we planned to tear out walls and who knew what we would get into, I hadn’t considered window coverings yet.
I ran to Walmart right before the party to grab some cheap curtains.
We live in the country and the bathroom windows didn’t reveal anything, so I hadn’t worried about covering them until this party.
As my luck goes, the selection was poor, they were mostly long panels and kitchen curtains.
I chose the least annoying of the panels and a couple of spring rods.
I folded the panels in half and hung one in each window over a spring rod. I even steamed the wrinkles out.
That was the last thought I gave to my ‘half-assed‘ curtains.
Until….a woman came out of my back door yelling my name.
‘Why would you hang those half-assed curtains in your bathroom?’ she yelled. Then she continued to tell me they looked like trash.
I started to tell my curtain story and then realized how mad I was. I turned to her husband and thanked him for coming.
Then I told him to take his loud-mouthed idiot wife home. He did.
I then was forced to drink her share of the Bud.
Dang.”