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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Stealing coat hangers from hotels

34 replies

MonkeyJungleConga · 05/07/2011 09:32

My DH has got this weird thing going on whereby he always takes a coat hanger from any hotel he stays in except those ones that have detachable hooks.

This really pisses me off because IMO it's theft.

This weekend we stayed at a lovely hotel and when we got there I asked him not to nick one this time. When I came to pack my stuff (he'd already packed his) I saw that he'd taken one. So I told him to put it back and he refused and went off to pay the bill taking his case with him.

So I had a go at him and said I'd send it back. He thinks I'm being ridiculous.

FFWD to getting home. DH unpacks as soon as he gets home (which is a first because IME he leaves the case lying around on the floor for weeks until I finally crack and unpack for him) and has managed to hide the coat hanger somewhere in the wardrobe. WTF?!

He thinks I'm being unreasonable (every one does it and it's a low value item) and I think he's stealing and acting immaturely and deceitfully (I quite liked the look of the cotton wool ball holder, which was probably equally low value but nonetheless I didn't take it).

MN jury please decide.

OP posts:
LindyHemming · 05/07/2011 09:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

worldgonecrazy · 05/07/2011 09:40

Next time you go away, pack a spare coathanger and leave it in the hotel.

It does sound a bit of a weird obsession/trophy hunting thing.

sausagesandmarmelade · 05/07/2011 09:41

How weird................

Send it back to the hotel...and make him pay for the postage.

Not sure how else you are going to get him to change his behaviour.
It's definitely not normal.

TheOriginalFAB · 05/07/2011 09:41

YANBU.

Coat hangers will have to be replaced and that puts the rpice of a hotel stay up for all non thieves of us.

Original poster
MonkeyJungleConga · 05/07/2011 09:42

What is his motivation for this? - A very good question. He says he does it by accident - just chucking everything in a case. But I can't see how this is. If that were the case then he'd be packing all his items on their hangers wouldn't he, not just the one. It's utter bollocks and I can't fathom it.

In every other aspect of his life he's law-abiding and honest so it's so out of character.

I kid you not when I tell you that I have got enough hangers that he's nicked to fill a whole under-bed drawer. He only uses half of them too - when I cleared the wardrobe out of all the hangers he'd nicked there was so much space (coz these are wooden ones that take up quite a bit of space) that he genuinely thought I'd thrown a quarter of his clothes away.

OP posts:
MaryBS · 05/07/2011 09:44

Everybody does it? No they don't! He's the first I've ever heard of that does it. It IS stealing, even if it is a low value item. I could almost understand if it was something useful like a sewing kit or cotton wool ball holder... Wink

ApocalypseCheeseToastie · 05/07/2011 09:44

YANBU

Blush
Yeni · 05/07/2011 09:45

YANBU! It is because of this that hotels install those annoying captive hangers which are useless, so his behaviour is impacting on everyone who uses hotels. Are they just ordinary wooden hangers? You can get them anywhere quite cheaply these days. I don't understand his motivation for stealing them.

Original poster
MonkeyJungleConga · 05/07/2011 09:46

FAB - I said that to him. He seems to think the hotels expect it and it's already included in the price.

I know this sounds stupid but it's upset me quite a bit this time. Probably because I asked him not to do it and he did it anyway. There's a sense of entitlement, arrogance and defiance that pisses me off.

OP posts:
Potplant · 05/07/2011 09:47

Strange to pinch coathangers, although I can't sit in moral judgement as I always take the toiletries and the tea and coffee stuff. My BIL always used to pinch towels that had the names of the hotels in them. He used to have quite a collection.

Reminds me of the episode of Friends when Ross checks out of the hotel with a suitcase full of stuff like light bulbs and towels.

Original poster
MonkeyJungleConga · 05/07/2011 09:48

Yeni - no. Quite posh, wooden ones with broad 'shoulders' (hence so much space in the wardrobe once I'd culled them). Shiny wood. You know the things I mean.

OP posts:
Original poster
MonkeyJungleConga · 05/07/2011 09:50

OK so how about this to try and 'cure' him. Shall i contact the hotel and ask if they'll write to him to ask if he'd return the hanger? Do you think they would do that? Maybe it will make him think twice about it.

OP posts:
Original poster
MonkeyJungleConga · 05/07/2011 09:52

Or is that going too far...

I feel I'm on the verge of getting rather obsessive about it now.

OP posts:
MaryBS · 05/07/2011 09:54

You could fake a letter from the hotel...

mummytime · 05/07/2011 09:55

I would be tempted to get him to the doctors, this sounds like some weird OCD. It is definitely abnormal. Does he know how cheap they are at Ikea? £4.99 for 8.

If it was a child, I would take them back to the hotel to apologise an return the hanger, but I guess you can't do this with a DH.

GrimmaTheNome · 05/07/2011 10:03

YANBU. I hate those un-stealable hangers most hotels use nowadays to stop this sort of behaviour. No, everyone doesn't do it. Taking consumables is one thing - the hotel expects to have to replace these - but taking hangers, towels, bathrobes etc is theft.

Some hotels are smart enough to print notices inviting guests to take the bathrobes - with the price that will be charged printed. Grin

Hullygully · 05/07/2011 10:04

I thought it was de rigeur?

My df used to take anything not nailed down and tell me it was expected. Was he LYING?

zandy · 05/07/2011 10:09

Next time you go to a hotel, pack several of his stash in your case, and when he steals the one from the room, replace with stash ones.

TotemPole · 05/07/2011 10:10

I think it's what Euphemia has suggested, a souvenir and a bit naughty.

It isn't a bad as collecting road signs. An ex used to do that and his bedroom was covered in them. In the middle of roodies I'd get flashes of STOP, GO SLOW, NO ENTRY and MEN AT WORK.

sausagesandmarmelade · 05/07/2011 10:37

I think taking hangers is something very different to taking some of the toiletries (which are complimentary anyway).

The hangers belong to the hotel and are probably quite expensive if they are those heavy wooden ones.

Taking bathrobes is also very cheeky and bad mannered...and it's good that hotels are now charging for these.

wicketkeeper · 05/07/2011 10:37

Those 'unstealable' ones are irritating, but what else should the hotel do, if ignorant people think they're entitled to nick them? We stayed at a nice hotel not long ago, with 'normal' hangers. My first comment to DH was - 'isn't it nice to stay in a place where they don't expect to have people that steal the hangers?' I don't think you're being unreasonable at all - it is stealing, it shows contempt for the hotel and the other people who stay in the hotel, it shows a total disregard for your opinions/feelings, it results in all of us having to pay more, etc etc etc. It's also totally uncool. Don't let him do it.

Insomnia11 · 05/07/2011 11:12

Sounds like mild kleptomania.

coccyx · 05/07/2011 11:16

Thief!!!!!

eurochick · 05/07/2011 11:18

Your husband is the reason we have to deal with those stupid hotel hangers then. I hate those - they are so fiddly when I am in a rush (which is nearly always).

Toiletries and emery boards etc put there for your use are fair game, particularly because once opened the hotel will not reuse them, but anything else is stealing.

Tchootnika · 05/07/2011 11:18

Yep, it's stealing.
VERY bad form.
Send the hanger back.

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