I have had a pretty crappy year and I think I might be being a bit over emotional about this so I need level headed MNers to give me some advice.
DD (19 months) and I went to a holiday cottage over Christmas with our dog. Had a lovely time except the owner, who lived nearby, was a bit of a PITA. Went through our recycling to "check we had done it properly," and lots of little reminders / comments about not taking food and drink into the playroom etc (I didn't, by the way so this wasn't a polite hint or anything).
XH (DD's father) came over for Christmas Day, and the owner knocked on the door to complain that his car was parked wonkily. It wasn't blocking anyone, it wasn't in anyone else's spot, it wasn't on the verge or anything like that, it was just "not straight, and it looks funny out of my window." He also said that he'd checked XH's car tax and that it was out of date. It wasn't ... But I thought that was a bit weird.
But anyway, we had a nice time.
When it came to leave, I stripped the beds, cleaned the loos, sinks and bath, washed, dried and put back all the cutlery and crockery, and hoovered. I asked for a mop to go over the kitchen floor (muddy paw prints from the dog) and was told I must only mop the tiles, not the rest of the floor. Fine. So did that too. And emptied the rubbish, put dirty linen and towels in the laundry basket (as requested) etc.
FYI the dog only went in the kitchen, he did not go anywhere else like the carpets, sofas etc.
I get home and received a pissy email from the owner saying that it took him 7 hrs to clean the house (it was not a big cottage so I really don't believe this) and that he was very upset with the state in which we had left it. He said that if he had used cleaners, it would have cost him close to £100 ... but that he will return my housekeeping deposit anyway.
NB he didn't mention anything in particular that was dirty or not left in the proper place.
I am, and I am not sure why, really upset by this. I cleaned up pretty well, I paid an extra £35 as a cleaning surcharge for having a dog even though I cleaned up after him anyway, I didn't break anything, as far as I know I put everything back where I found it and I can't work out what he's talking about.
Do I ignore him and put it down to him being a bit nuts? Or do I stick up for myself and risk an lengthy email debate about what is an acceptable state in which to leave a holiday cottage? I mean, FFS, it was pretty expensive too as it was Christmas and I paid a cleaning surcharge ... What more does he want???
Or do I just accept I am a slattern?
Thanks for reading!