AIBU to tell people 'house rules' before they come & stay?

[MirandaGoshawk]

I want them to enjoy their stay and I want to enjoy having them, but am a bit anal about some things - three spring to mind that have been a problem in the past:

1. The (newish) carpet in the bedroom - I can't bear outdoor shoes in there. Wet mud was dragged through
2. Putting the loo seat down. We can see through to the downstairs loo when eating in the kitchen and it drives me nuts if the seat is up. My lot are trained but visitors do it.
3. Putting mugs down on the polished dining table when there are coasters available which has also happened in the past.

So WIBU to tell them by email or phone before they come? Or should I wait until they get here? Make it a House Rules thing or just an off-hand request to the adults? Or not say anything and just seethe?

I don't want to get into the whys and wherefores of shoes off/on or loo seat up/down as they have been done to death on MN & they are a matter of preference, it's just whether or how I say anything.

TIA

Wine it was a spoof email

You know how to behave, yes, but one of the people who is coming has previously trailed mud through the house & marked the table, as you would have known if you had RTFT

No head banging needed, op. Not everybody has the time to RTFT and it is easy to miss stuff skim reading, especially on a tablet where the op's posts are not highlighted.

As for the spoof mail, I fell for it, it was only marginally worse than your original idea of house rules after all.

It's perfectly possible to highlight OP's posts on a tablet and if you don't RTFT don't get snippy when you get the wrong end of the stick.

reni you believed it?

What, even the bit about getting food poisoning (twice) and yet tehy still want to come? And me putting mineral water bottles in the beds instead of hot water bottles? really??

Brilliant.

I thought I'd made it too obvious but seems it was pitched about right.

thx bear

I have one house rule :

"Make yourself at home"

Friends are more important than carpets or polished surfaces.

Love this! Well done for being such a good sport op!

Well done Miranda - I love a thread that proves that people don't bother reading it- a bugbear of mine.

Yes Miranda I thought it possibly real, simply because the original post was so outlandish that this was barely worse.

reni The OP was a bit bonkers - as the OP has very graciously conceded but there is no way that her ridiculous jokey pretend email was anyway comparable. It's SO obviously a joke.

jessym, love that rule! I shall remember that.

I love your unsent email, OP.

But it seems to me that if you're that bothered about dreadful loo germs, you wouldn't be satisfied with just putting the lid down. After all, the germs would be all over the inside of the lid waiting to jump out over the next person. So you'd have to make a rule that, every time someone goes to the loo, they must put the lid down, flush, put disposable gloves on, open it and thoroughly disinfect every surface before putting the lid down again, making sure to disinfect any areas on the outside you might have touched with those now germ-laden gloves. You might have to make them put on a second pair of gloves for that purpose. And of course, you would have to carry gloves and strong disinfectant around with you wherever you go because of course in public loos or your friends' bathrooms you'd have to disinfect every surface within 6 feet of the loo before sitting down.

Or you could just conclude that clearly no-one is dying in the Western world from loo germs, that building up a bit of resistance can only be a good thing, and that life is too short.

I haven't RTFT. For

1. lead by example, don't wear shoes inside, have a clear space where to keep them by the door
2. notice on the inside of the loo door, even saying why
3. I think this is a bit much and is let it go

Lol MargoReadBetter. Probably best to read the thread in this case .

Poor old OPs head must be bruised and battered by now.

:) I thought she might still need advice 19 pages later.