Thursday, August 29, 2013

Overstaying your welcome

So, due to the welcoming and accepting nature of Woods Hole, I think some people feel like they can ask people for anything as if they were family. My friend was staying in a summer home, and she had to find a place to stay while the family spent two weeks there on vacation. So she spent a week sleeping on her friend's couch for that time. But even when her friend left for Europe, and after the family left, she continued to stay at her friend's place. She was very upset when her friend's roommates told her should would have to start paying some rent for staying there. She just didn't understand why they would make her pay to stay there when her stay wasn't affecting the amount on rent or anything like that.

First of all, I would NEVER let anyone stay at my place for a week, let alone longer than that. I love having a friend stay over for a long weekend, just a nice visit before she has to go back to her own town. But a week or more? No. Get a hotel, stay with someone else, figure out something, because my home is not a shelter. And in return, I would never consider asking to stay with someone (other than my parents) for over a week. I find that would be a considerable inconvenience to whomever I was asking. No one really wants to have someone sleep in their living room; it makes everyone walk on eggshells because no one wants to disturb the sleeper. And chances are, the visitor is going to eat at least some of your food. It's just bound to happen.

Taking advantage of people, especially your friends, just isn't right. You should appreciate your friends, and their hospitality, but then you need to make sure you don't overstay your welcome. Otherwise, you're going to ruin the whole friendship, just because you're cheap and greedy.

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