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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be annoyed by awkward visitors & guests

468 replies

ali444 · 14/04/2021 19:18

I'm a single mum, work part time and don't have a lot of spare cash for luxuries or anything beyond the basics for my DC and myself. We live well but I'm very careful with money.
Dreading the end of lockdown as friends and family will be visiting more often and expecting to be fed (not a problem in itself, as long as they are happy to eat the kind of foods and ingredients I keep in the house).
I keep my food very plain and simple, no fancy ingredients or condiments etc. Don't like mayo (neither do DC so I don't even have it in the house). A friend came once and I made a simple but perfectly find cheese sandwich and she like "have you got any lettuce, cherry tomatoes and mayo to put on it".. No! Someone else asked me for "skimmed milk" (don't buy it, ever!), another one asked for "brown sugar" in their coffee (as opposed to standard white sugar), someone else has asked for "pink rock salt" once when helping me make a salad for a party... The list goes on.
AIBU to find it rude and inconsiderate to be in someone's house and, instead of just gracefully accepting what is offered, start asking for stupid, random and sometimes completely obscure things that they probably knew from the outset I was unlikely to have.
If I'm in somone's house, I never make a nuisance of myself but asking if they've got any this or that... it puts pressure on the host and I find it rude tbh. Anyone else feel the same?

OP posts:
Rukaya · 16/04/2021 10:55

Honestly, people who measure niceness by what's in their cupboard for potential guests are massive fucking weirdos

Literally no-one said that. People are just inventing scenarios to get frothy about.

Seems to be 2 camps here: a)lunatics who think guests who they have invited into their homes are twats for gently asking if you have semi skimmed milk and
b) normal people.

6079SmithW · 16/04/2021 11:32

Is the OP ever coming back??

@ali444

6079SmithW · 16/04/2021 11:35

I wonder if you would feel less awkward if you took charge of the situation from the off? E.g. "I'm having a cheese sandwich for lunch. You're welcome to have one, but I don't have mayo/pickle etc because we don't eat it".

GlassBoxSpectacular · 16/04/2021 19:39

@6079SmithW

Is the OP ever coming back??

@ali444

After 19 pages and 454 comments, I’d say it’s unlikely.
JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows · 17/04/2021 00:22

@Rukaya

*Honestly, people who measure niceness by what's in their cupboard for potential guests are massive fucking weirdos*

Literally no-one said that. People are just inventing scenarios to get frothy about.

Seems to be 2 camps here: a)lunatics who think guests who they have invited into their homes are twats for gently asking if you have semi skimmed milk and
b) normal people.

Actually it was you who disregarded other reasons for a person being nice and insisted on people not having tea bags in as "unkind" Confused so yes, people (you) did say that.

Lol at your last paragraph, seeing as how upset you've got over random strangers not having tea bags in their house 😂

Mamamamycorona · 17/04/2021 04:25

I'm a "take what you're offered and be grateful" kind of person, so I'd never do that!
I do remember being a new mum and having hoardes of visitors who only drank decaf coffee/herbal tea/non dairy milk/skimmed milk/weren't eating carbs/did I have a snack for their (insanely fussy) toddler/turned up with their dog (I have an angry cat)/ brought their mate (who I'd never met on day 4 of first baby).
I'm usually very accommodating, if I know in advance what people like, but it does take the mick, when people just rock up and turn their nose up at your hospitality!

IbrahimaRedTwo · 17/04/2021 17:30

I'm a "take what you're offered and be grateful" kind of person, so I'd never do that!

Are you? You should have more self esteem. To afraid to ask for sugar in your coffee or mayo on a sandwich is no way to live.

wesowereonabreak · 17/04/2021 22:48

@IbrahimaRedTwo

I'm a "take what you're offered and be grateful" kind of person, so I'd never do that!

Are you? You should have more self esteem. To afraid to ask for sugar in your coffee or mayo on a sandwich is no way to live.

Don't be ridiculous. It's called having manners, which is much nicer than people feeling superior and entitled.
LouKelly · 17/04/2021 23:28

Oh my word ! What a pack of thoughtless greedy selfish ungrateful twats you get in your house ! Lock the doors and pretend you are out !

StillCoughingandLaughing · 18/04/2021 00:14

@IbrahimaRedTwo

I'm a "take what you're offered and be grateful" kind of person, so I'd never do that!

Are you? You should have more self esteem. To afraid to ask for sugar in your coffee or mayo on a sandwich is no way to live.

I don’t think anyone is saying ‘Eat/drink something you hate’ - more ‘Don’t complain when you turn up unannounced and don’t get a deli special’.
HikeForward · 18/04/2021 10:32

I'm a "take what you're offered and be grateful" kind of person, so I'd never do that!
I do remember being a new mum and having hoardes of visitors who only drank decaf coffee/herbal tea/non dairy milk/skimmed milk/weren't eating carbs/did I have a snack for their (insanely fussy) toddler/turned up with their dog (I have an angry cat)/ brought their mate (who I'd never met on day 4 of first baby).

People who turn up to visit a new mum and expect to be waited on are in a different category. Most people seem to realise you’ll be preoccupied with the baby and either bring food or help themselves?

I don’t understand why you didn’t just tell them to help themselves from the fridge/cupboard if you’d just had a baby?

Even if you weren’t holding baby it can be sore walking about and getting up and down, so why not say you’re sore/tired, please help yourselves?

I would have turned away the people with the dog; you don’t bring your dog into somebody’s home uninvited. Especially if they have a cat let alone a tiny baby.

Keeping tea, coffee, decaf and a few herbal tea sachets isn’t unusual. I’d just direct guests to the correct cupboard and fridge, say you can’t remember exactly what you have in but they’re welcome to help themselves. Maybe put some clean mugs and a biscuit box out if they’re the type to route through the entire kitchen?

If you don’t have non-dairy milk, just tell them. Most people don’t have it as a staple. I only buy it for dairy-intolerant guests I’m expecting well in advance, and only if they ask for it and specify the type eg soya/coconut/oat. My mum even carries little pots of lactose-free milk in her handbag! Plenty of types of tea (green, herbal etc) are designed to be used without milk. Visitors can take their tea/coffee black or have a glass of water/juice/cola or whatever you have in. I wouldn’t be making rounds of drinks if I’d just given birth, that would be DH’s job or the guests could make their own.

As for fussy toddlers, you could point the parent in the direction of the kitchen and invite them to prepare their child some fruit/cheese cubes/carrot sticks/crackers or whatever it is they eat. If you don’t have it in it’s not your problem, they can always take the toddler home.

I remember getting a take-away delivered for a group of hungry visitors who’d travelled a long way to see our first newborn. But I just gave them the stack of leaflets and they sorted out what they wanted with DH (while I held baby). It was Mediterranean type food they ordered so something for everyone even dairy free and gluten free. I can’t remember who paid but most of them offered to cover the whole bill, as did DH.

JollyAndBright · 18/04/2021 10:41

I definitely don’t think lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise, brown sugar, skimmed milk or Himalayan salt are “ stupid, random or completely obscure things”

I’d bet almost everyone has them in their house, ok a lot of people may not have Himalayan salt, but they should because it’s cheap, goes much further than normal salt and is better for you (because you need to use much less that normal rock or sea salt)

I don’t think it’s rude or unreasonable to ask for something that most people usually have in their house, I don’t think they are expecting you to buy they items in especially for them, I think they are just assuming you would have them because most people would.

I would say it’s unusual not to have those things in and it’s unusual to prefer to eat things like plain cheese sandwiches and serve them to guests, unless it’s children.

IbrahimaRedTwo · 18/04/2021 12:09

I don’t think anyone is saying ‘Eat/drink something you hate’ - more ‘Don’t complain when you turn up unannounced and don’t get a deli special’

Did you not actually read the OP at all?

MzHz · 18/04/2021 12:56

My oh is a nut about salad, loves it and eats it at least twice a day usually

Before I met him I wouldn’t always have had tomatoes or lettuce in, most of the time I’d have Mayo, but sometimes not. White Sugar I didn’t take in anything so would only get it in if I was baking or making something that needed it

Brown sugar, far less likely to have and it would never dawn on me to get it to go into hot drinks

Pink salt? I’ve seen it in shops rarely, but I have absolutely no need to get any

I wasn’t wealthy so never just got things in just in case. We are now but we still only tend to get things in for specific reasons

The guests referred to in this post did come across rudely and ill mannered

It’s one thing asking for sugar for coffee another thing entirely specifying the colour

twoshedsjackson · 18/04/2021 13:03

My late uncle never took sugar or milk in tea or coffee; he lost the habit during WWII! This came back to his army training. As a young officer billeted on a family in a newly-liberated country, his hosts would be at pains to entertain him well. Rather than admit that he was consuming a week's ration, they would offer the best they could muster. So the young officers were strictly instructed to state a preference for black tea or coffee, and not feeling peckish.
Those days of post-war shortages are a distant memory, and such extremes would, quite rightly, be seen as ludicrous today. But the principle remains; as a guest, it is courteous to accept what you are offered politely, and not treat your host as a short-order cook.

WildImaginings · 18/04/2021 13:25

I would ask if you had any mayo because I love mayo and add it to most things.
I think it's a bit of a stretch to include condiments in this- they're standard, and I'm certainly not going to be made to feel guilty or cheeky for asking for a bit of mayo in my sandwich if you've offered to make it for me Hmm
If you didn't have mayo then no problem, I've asked and you don't have it.

I wouldn't ask for salad- because that would then be a cheese and salad sandwich, which is not what you'd offered. I also wouldn't EXPECT to be fed, which I suspect is your real issue.

I think asking for brown sugar or pink rock salt is a bit wanky.

mathanxiety · 18/04/2021 17:20

I don’t think it’s rude or unreasonable to ask for something that most people usually have in their house, I don’t think they are expecting you to buy they items in especially for them, I think they are just assuming you would have them because most people would.

But lettuce and tomatoes are perishable.

Do you understand at all that some people can't afford to buy perishable fruits and veg? That it is a complete waste of scarce money to buy items which will not be eaten?

The money doesn't magically return if you don't eat what you buy with it.

StillCoughingandLaughing · 18/04/2021 17:35

@IbrahimaRedTwo

I don’t think anyone is saying ‘Eat/drink something you hate’ - more ‘Don’t complain when you turn up unannounced and don’t get a deli special’

Did you not actually read the OP at all?

I read all of it, thank you. Any of these so-called guests could simply say ‘No thank you’ if they didn’t want what was on offer. I doubt the OP would have forced it down their throats.
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