Care to share the oddest thing house guests have done in your home this festive period?

[CharlieWeasleysWife]

We've had many guests over the festive period and most have been an absolute delight. However, have just waved off a few of DHs friends and they:

Removed phone chargers and toiletries left in the guest room/bathroom and taken home

Used (a used!) dish cloth to wipe their face then replaced on the sink

Complained we won't allow scary/violent TV until our young children are in bed

WTF?

Edited for typos

It didn’t happen this festive period but a couple who came to stay decided to have a bath together and filled it so deeply that when they got in it overflowed and water came cascading through to us in the kitchen below. . Twats.

I don’t get this apparently brilliant wiping advice at all. It’s leading me to think I need to ask…how else do people wipe, if not reaching behind with one hand?

OK, the door handle. It was an honest mistake rather than an accident, and it wasn't at Christmas.

I live in a Victorian terrace which still has all the original interior doors and door furniture. It's also the style of house where one room leads into another.

A relative had an appointment in my city and came to stay while I was away on a work trip. They were on their own in the house. Like another poster's FIL they are quite heavy handed. In particular, and I had noticed this previously, they open doors by grabbing at the handle and kind of yanking. They don’t turn the handle all the way down.

I'm sure you can see where this is going...

It turns out that antique door handles don't deal very well with this type of treatment. Relative found themselves in my living room with the door mechanism completely jammed. At this point, they are in a pickle. They can leave by the front door, but they can't get into any other room in the house...

So they trot around and knock on all my neighbours' doors, until they find someone who they borrow a screwdriver from, then come back and unscrew everything from the door until eventually they get it open.

I came back a couple of days later to find the mechanism in bits on the coffee table, and no explanation of why.

Suffice to say the door has never stuck before or since, and I don't let them stay at mine on their own any more...

I have no strong feelings about flannels.

How does this make any difference to using your right hand??

Weirdest thing a guest of ours did: when we called guests to come and serve themselves buffet style one kept hanging around outside the serving room as they "didn't want to get in the way". By not coming in to get their food they were actually getting in the way. Why not just come in and get your food?

Same. And I know the left hand thing is a cultural thing but not sure how it’s relevant in this context re better wiping.

I have never used a face flannel in my life . I use my hands .

I do too. One pile just for my face, and a separate pile of flannels for pits and bits 🤷🏻‍♀️

Me!

But I’m just about to order a 12 pack of flannels/face cloths from Amazon 🫣

My DS aged 5 came into the living room telling everyone he had cleaned his sister’s potty. Some time later I asked him what had he used to clean it . “Daddy’s face cloth “ came the reply .

Crikey! I do feel sorry for her, it must be hard for her.

I came down for breakfast, dressed as is the custom, in the PIL house. MIL looked at me and asked if that was what the dog had previously slept on.
And she genuinely meant it in a mean way that my bought carefully in the sales from upper end brands looked like the dog's Dunelm special blanket.

They were my baby clothes that were stolen from my parents - can see how that's not 100% clear from my post. I'm now in my 50s. I only found this out as an adult when the family rift had been long mended so was completely unaware of it or the theft. My DP wouldn't have called the police on a family member though, as tempting as that might be!

I wouldn't expect them to be provided but always wonder how people have a wash without one? I shower every morning but often just wash before bed, I get washing your face with your hands but can't get my head around washing other areas. The water must go everywhere!

I just wash other areas in the shower, not separately iyswim. So no flannel needed.
Sometimes the shower is very quick if it’s an extra one. Our shower head isn’t fixed so I can just use it like a hose and no problem not wetting hair. I don’t always like the fixed shower heads that I sometimes see in hotels etc, bit more awkward to have an extra quick wash then.

I used to work in market research and we did a project for a loo roll company. Not answering your question, but amusing to learn that the majority of Germans fold their toilet paper before use, the majority of French scrunch it up to use and Brits were about 50/50.

My mum has reminded me it was actually the bassoon and it was more like 5am 😂😂. Paaaarrrp!

Oh thank fuck. I've read all of the flannel shit just to find this. 17 pages of it.

Thank you

Do you think she'd like to come to lunch at my house?

You might be able to colour this in with red nail varnish. ❤️

Whoever wrote about new house and their aunt coming for lunch and cleaned the house top to bottom. My aunt did the same and cooked the lunch too. I was shocked but bloody proud to boot this was 1985 she did this.

she’s now 99 and still thinks she can clean her kitchen floor bless her we do leave her to some of it and yes she’s still at home with her daughter.

love the bones of her.

Yes. This is also the usual custom in the Middle East and Islamic custom.
The right hand is for eating, handling food, and social interactions like shaking hands.

How do you remove your hosts door handle by mistake?

For anything damp going into your toiletry bag/case, use the towel you've been using to wring the flannel/sponge/costume out, then put in a sealable bag.

I've got to say if not one person ate a thing than you should consider if your home is clean and hygienic enough and how good your food hygiene is, I can't imagine not one person eating otherwise, sorry