To think "let yourself into the garden" does not mean "feel free to wander into my house"

[FutureNannyOgg]

A bit odd really. This really got me on the back foot today and I am not sure if this is normal or not.

I was expecting a window company to come and replace an outside pane on our french windows. When they came to do the quote I nearly missed them because I was in the shower, so today I decided to avoid missing him while bathing DS by leaving a note on the door, along the lines of "if I don't answer, I'm sorting the baby out, let yourself in the side gate and I will be with you asap". I unlocked the french window because I knew he might need to open it to fit the pane.

Typically the doorbell rang when I was up to my elbows in soapy toddler, but secure in my note leaving, I finished washing him, then bundled him into a big towel to go down and talk to the window guy. When I got downstairs I bumped into the window chap (who wasn't the one who did the quote, I'd never met him before) in my dining room, he had a complements slip type thing in his hand which I assume was a note telling me what he then told me, that it was too wet for him to set up his kit and he would have to leave it until later.

AIBU to think that it's not normal to wander into someone's house uninvited, and that a door being unlocked so you can do a job is not an invitation. I am sure he could have posted his note through the letterbox, in fact I am not sure where he was thinking of leaving it.

I'm not feeling particularly suspicious about it or anything, it just seems a bit of an odd way to go about things. Oh and he left the bloody gate unlatched so it is slamming in the wind, and it is chucking it down out there, and if DS sees me sneaking out in the rain to shut it he will want to go out and play in puddles, I am far too pregnant to want to deal with that right now. (I think I might BU for that bit)

I wasn't actually going to put that bit in

Would the plumber reference not have made them think you were making a bad porn movie?

I am probably being a little extra skittish about it all because a) DH keeps going out of an evening when I am putting DS to bed and not locking the front door behind him, then I hear the cats downstairs and think we have intruders and b) one of my friends recently woke up to find a strange bloke climbing out of her bathroom window who had let himself in through the back door that her houseshare people had left unlocked.

It could have been worse - my landlord cheerfully told the builder I was 'home all day so no need to ring and sort out a time', and I looked up to see him merrily opening my bedroom window! It was quite a shock as we're on the second floor and he'd put a ladder up ... I don't expect to see someone's face there, thank you very much!

I can understand you feeling nervous given what happened with your friend. I think I would probably have left a note saying something boring like 'I can't unlock the door right now, will be down in ten minutes, but let yourself into the garden'. He doesn't need to know you're in the shower! But it's easy being wise after the event.

'Let yourself in the side gate'

I unlocked the french window because I knew he might need to open it to fit the pane.

So you knew that he would have to come into the house. He did come into the house instead of waiting in the rain, as he understandably assumed he had been invited to do, and was writing you a compliments slip in the warm and dry.

Unfortunately, if someone knocks at your door who has been pre-booked to come and do work for you, you answer the door. You wrap baby in a towel, answer the door, give instructions and go up to carry on the bath.

You do NOT expect someone to wait in the rain just because you are in no hurry, especially when you knew, and by the unlocked door he knew you knew, that he would probably have to enter the house.

YABU