Annoying stuff your house guests do

[dmm5157]

I'll start by saying I love my parents. They are very supportive, selfless. They are also in the process of selling their house and moving closer to us, so they have been visiting us more often lately. My parents visiting is always a sore spot for my wife, as they tend to drive her nuts for many reasons. Most are her own personal beefs, but some are legit.

They do have some distinctive weird quirks that even I can agree are annoying.

1. They leave tissues/used napkins all over the place. I asked my mom why she doesn't throw them away, she said it's because we keep our trashcan in the pantry and "it's too far away". I just cleared off 11 napkins on our island counter and dining room table.

2. They leave partially full water bottles around the house. My parents only drink bottled water and they never seem to finish their waters so they grab a new one and leave a trail of used bottles of water all over the house.

3. My dad usually watches TV in his guest room but occasionally he'll watch TV in the living room if my wife and I are in the bedroom. He watches TV so loud it rumbles the walls. If I say anything to him about the volume, he mutes the TV and pouts like a little kid. Pretty common reaction overall for anything, can't say anything about anything to him or he overreacts.

They leave tomorrow and I cannot wait, if nothing else just to get less grumbling from my wife.


I'm sure the above are minor compared to some of yours, so Whatcha got? What do your house guests do that have been driving you crazy over the holidays?

 

[montconole]

My dad and his wife had the tv sound in the 70’s and wonder why I kept lowering it.

Three days is enough.

 

[SoddyNole]

Show up.

 

[noleclone2]

Giving parental advice.

 

[funksouljon]

My dad and his wife had the tv sound in the 70’s and wonder why I kept lowering it.

Three days is enough.

Yep, 3 days here as well, after that (and usually before) my mom and I will have a spat.

My folks are pretty good on the tv volume, they just watch everything with closed captioning on these days.

For me (and my wife hit her limit today) its the backseat driving on everything. Getting ready to cook dinner and talking through the menu with my wife, and my mother pipes in from the other room on how each step should be done. Made no effort to get up and even chop veggies, but had to give her way for me to cook. And does this for everything.
If you make any comment she might perceive as negative, it will escalate real fast to "I just don't understand why you are being so negative!"

My dad is chill as hell. I'd let him move in tomorrow if he needed.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

Politics, these days

 

[dmm5157]

Think my rents have been here for 10 days in the last 2 weeks mostly because their septic tank failed at their house and it's being worked on.

Another day longer and I'm sure my mom would probably drive them over to the Hampton Inn (she prob wanted to do that a week ago).

My mom is really sweet, easy going, great with the kids. My dad means well, but we have to walk on eggshells with him. Flies off the handle and takes any comments to him as an attack. He's actually better now than he was when I was a kid.

I am pretty easy going, so while I notice this stuff, it doesn't bother me. My wife in the other hand...

 

[FSUdawg]

Show up.

This. It doesn't matter who it is, just them showing up and staying with us irks the crap out of me. I don't run Hotel FSUDawg, and there are some nice hotels about 5-10 minutes from our house. Go stay at the hotel, do your own thing and come hang out for a little while...don't move in for a few days and act like it is your place.

By the way, we hardly ever go visit and stay with people. Typically we go visit and stay at a local hotel so we aren't intruding. My father in-law's place in FL is the exception as he insists we stay with him. Personally I hate it and thus we never stay more than 2-3 days before heading back home.

 

[RTM58]

I'll start by saying I love my parents. My parents visiting is always a sore spot for my wife, as they tend to drive her nuts for many reasons. Most are her own personal beefs, but some are legit.
They leave tomorrow and I cannot wait, if nothing else just to get less grumbling from my wife.

Been going on since shortly after Adam and Eve were evicted.
#HistoryOfTheWorld

 

[FSUSarah]

My inlaws bicker constantly. My MiL wants to argue everything that my FiL says. She also eats bits of things and leaves the rest sitting around.

 

[DanC78]

My MiL pronounces tomato as if she’s British. She also pronounces Basil the same way. Both with a short a...it makes no sense.

She walks around in house slippers on our hardwood floors dragging her feet.

She told me yesterday we were out of butter (we keep it out on the counter in a covered butter dish). I told her there is another stick in the fridge. She says back to me, “but it’s not soft, it won’t spread on my toast.”

My wife made her dad a coffee and put Splenda in it. Her mom jumped all over her saying it would give him cancer and to not feed him that stuff...she was genuinely upset.
She then walked outside to smoke her tenth cigarette of the day ( she smokes a pack a day, she is the only one in the family who smokes).

I love her though...it’s more funny than annoying to me.

As far as my siblings go, (I have 3 older sisters) they’re great. If I had to nit-pick I’d say they all talk over each other and have never been on time for anything in their life. It’s truly amazing.

If they were talking about me they’d say I drink one too many and cuss too much.

Ask my mother and she’d say I’m perfect

Speaking of my mother...I could write a book on the things she does. I’ll just say she has regressed into a child with age, similar to Benjamin Buttons, except for the body aging part of course.

I love my family though...they are all good people. I’m fortune to have them.

 

[TallyNole93]

Talking over each other and LOUD!!!

 

[dmm5157]

My MiL pronounces tomato as if she’s British. She also pronounces Basil the same way. Both with a short a...it makes no sense.

She walks around in house slippers on our hardwood floors dragging her feet.

She told me yesterday we were out of butter (we keep it out on the counter in a covered butter dish). I told her there is another stick in the fridge. She says back to me, “but it’s not soft, it won’t spread on my toast.”

My wife made her dad a coffee and put Splenda in it. Her mom jumped all over her saying it would give him cancer and to not feed him that stuff...she was genuinely upset.
She then walked outside to smoke her tenth cigarette of the day ( she smokes a pack a day, she is the only one in the family who smokes).

I love her though...it’s more funny than annoying to me.

As far as my siblings go, (I have 3 older sisters) they’re great. If I had to nit-pick I’d say they all talk over each other and have never been on time for anything in their life. It’s truly amazing.

If they were talking about me they’d say I drink one too many and cuss too much.

Ask my mother and she’d say I’m perfect

Speaking of my mother...I could write a book on the things she does. I’ll just say she has regressed into a child with age, similar to Benjamin Buttons, except for the body aging part of course.

I love my FamJam...they are all good people. I’m
fortune to have them.

Kinda hilarious about the Splenda and smoking. My dad uses no less than 4 packs of Splenda per cup of coffee. That stuff is expensive, I use 1/2 a pack if at all, my wife will use the other half. A box usually lasts us a year. With my dad, we have to go get a giant box from Sam's when he visits. So much Splenda!

As for the smoking, reminds me of my crazy bipolar antisocial MIL. We Don't have time for me to get into everything crazy or quirky about her. She means well (most times), so I don't complain to my wife other than an occasional "your mom is crazy" look that I share with her.


About regressing into a kid, I'd say my dad has started. He cannot serve himself food, mom has to make his plate. He sounds like one of my kids complaining about what she did or didn't give him, treats my mom like a servant or like she's his mom. It's hard to watch and listen to. But my mom never complains. She's a Saint.

 

[LandsharkNole]

My wife’s best friend from college moved in with us for a few months, really wasn’t bad other than one thing that drove me insane...

She’d open a can of soda take 4 sips and leave it, then it would get hot and she wouldn’t drink it. Would open another and do the same thing. Pissed me off to no end. There’d be no less than 4 or 5 1/2 to 3/4 full cans around the house everyday.

 

[DFSNOLE]

The only house guest we have are my inlaws. If it's just my MIL and FIL or just my SIL, it's not bad. Get them all together and it's miserable. They are not happy unless they're complaining about something. After 30 years, we all know the subjects we shouldn't talk about are mainly politics and religion so those are avoided unless they're all together.

As far as behavioral traits, they act as though there's a prize given to the one who stays up the latest. They know I get up early every day but that doesn't stop them from carrying on loud conversations until well past midnight. After a few days, I'm ready for them to leave and they're ready to go too.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

My wife’s best friend from college moved in with us for a few months...

Ok, now we’re getting somewhere!

 

[Random_John]

I am the guest as I moved in to my mom's place post marriage split. I didn't want to be "that guest" So I clean her yard and getting her house back in order.

Feels like being a teenager again without the whole curfew thing.

 

[Fijimn]

Oh lord - I've had "house guests" for 2 years. the airing of grievances would be long and brutal. Of course, for them it would probably be irritated at me telling them how to live their lives (of course, I'm right).

 

[LandsharkNole]

Ok, now we’re getting somewhere!

Oh it was fun, for a while...

 

[SoddyNole]

Oh it was fun, for a while...

A poke for a coke! I don't see the problem here.

 

[wbnolefan2]

My MIL can make some godawful noises blowing her nose and clearing her throat - plus she's a sleep til noon/stay up all night person. Of course my wife is early to bed/early to rise so we get the joy of hearing her rummage around in the kitchen and coughing up a lung at 1am - awesome!!

 

[runkpanole]

My inlaws bicker constantly. My MiL wants to argue everything that my FiL says. She also eats bits of things and leaves the rest sitting around.

Are we related?

 

[runkpanole]

We had both my parents and her parents this Christmas. They could not be more polar opposite. My parents stay so much out of the way that they are almost afraid to pick up our little one. I have to tell my mom that it is ok. He is their grandson. My dad did drive me to the bar this weekend and hung with me a few friends. It was a little out of character for him as he isn’t a drinker, but it was fun and I had a DD.

My MIL and FIL are always jumping down each other’s throats. My FIL is pretty cool, but my MIL annoys me to no end sometimes. Wants to parent our kids. We decided to adopt a family and use my oldest son’s birthday party to supplement the gifts to the family. The family relocated to Bonifay after losing everything in PC after Michael. He gets so much crap this time of the year and never plays with it. We got him a few gifts for him, so he wasn’t without. The MIL seemed offended and instead of respecting our wishes, only got him gifts. He will never use them. If we aren’t doing what she wants us to do, she does it her way regardless. Annoying as hell.

 

[HilltopperNole]

My wife’s best friend from college moved in with us for a few months, really wasn’t bad other than one thing that drove me insane...

She’d open a can of soda take 4 sips and leave it, then it would get hot and she wouldn’t drink it. Would open another and do the same thing. Pissed me off to no end. There’d be no less than 4 or 5 1/2 to 3/4 full cans around the house everyday.

Just reading this and picturing it my mind has made me angry

 

[TennNole17]

Agreed with just sending them to a hotel. My family gatherings last no more than 2 hours, and then everyone is sick of each other.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

Circling around the kitchen like sharks as you’re getting close to serving the meal.

Asking “What can I do to help?” after everything is done.

Showing up late for stuff.

 

[Bill From Tampa]

Knock on the front door.

 

[mcgrawfsu]

My wife’s best friend from college moved in with us for a few months, really wasn’t bad other than one thing that drove me insane...

She’d open a can of soda take 4 sips and leave it, then it would get hot and she wouldn’t drink it. Would open another and do the same thing. Pissed me off to no end. There’d be no less than 4 or 5 1/2 to 3/4 full cans around the house everyday.

My wife, SIL, and MIL will do this but put them back in the fridge. I will then knock them over trying to navigate something out without moving several cans. I started buying the mini cans. My SIL complains about that.

Side note: my MIL now buys the mini bottles of beer for me when I come to her house as a joke

 

[billanole]

On my grandparents porch was a cheap little touristy plaque that was worth many dinero...
It had a picture of someone being dragged away kicking and screaming and the quote written was, “All of our guests give us pleasure, some by coming and some by going.”

What is the classic line... “Guests, like fish, go bad in two days.”

 

[Oclawaha]

Knock on the front door.

My FIL used to just walk right in our house. No knock, no nothing.
I finally impressed upon the wife that this was not going to go on. Much to her credit, she put a stop to it.
Thank God they moved to Kansas.

 

[MIKE_G]

My parents are basically George Costanza's parents, only not quite as delicate.

 

[goldmom]

Politics, these days

Politics are the least of my worries during the holidays since our entire extended family all agree on our collective viewpoint, but the lack of parental control over their kids behavior can get on my last nerve.
I love my niece, but if you tell your 4 year old ten times to stop running through the house screaming and he continues doing it, um, who's kidding who? Bah Humbug!

 

[goldmom]

My inlaws bicker constantly. My MiL wants to argue everything that my FiL says. She also eats bits of things and leaves the rest sitting around.

My aunt used to make fun of my parents by calling them the "Bickersons" to their face.
Unfortunately she was spot on!

 

[GoNolesTX]

After 30 years, we all know the subjects we shouldn't talk about are mainly politics and religion so those are avoided unless they're all together.

So your house is the Locker Room? That must suck.

 

[RTM58]

MIL's taking on the chin in this thread.

 

[F4Gary]

I wish my parents could come visit.

 

[OrlandNole]

So your house is the Locker Room? That must suck.

Sometimes I wish my house was like the Locker Room and I could "lock" conversations and ban certain members.

 

[FSUSarah]

Today she overheard me saying I was going to wash some of the kids sicky blankets. So she took it upon herself to wash her clothes, without including my kid's sheets.

It's also so cold, no one wants to go outside. Outside really is Colorado's appeal

 

[DFSNOLE]

So your house is the Locker Room? That must suck.

Sometimes I wish my house was like the Locker Room and I could "lock" conversations and ban certain members.

Amen to that.

 

[seminole97]

So your house is the Locker Room? That must suck.

DFS still allows rank’ems at his house tho...