*This is a work of non-fiction sourced from social media and verified experts/specialists.*
Having guests over is great till they overstay, destroy the house, or disregard the host's rules. When this happens, the guests become burdens, and the host might ask them to leave.
However, when a Reddit user kicked out her invasive and destructive brother-in-law's family, she was criticized. She took her story to Reddit to clarify whether she was wrong to have done it. The post garnered over 7.7K upvotes and 1.3K comments, with many Redditors supporting her.
"You're making us homeless"
The author's brother-in-law (36) and his wife (26) have two sons under five who like to ruin things. The brother-in-law and his family moved in with the author and her husband despite the author's initial opposition. Her husband, who understands his brother's family's ruinous behaviors, convinced her to rethink her decision because of the kids.
Before the family moved in, the author and her husband set a few ground rules and asked the brother-in-law to actively search for a job, respect their privacy, and clean up after themselves. However, contrary to the rules, they turned the author's house upside down, like she expected.
The author wrote:
"In the past month, they have slowly destroyed my home and space. First of all, my SIL is an extremely picky eater, so their family doesn't eat with us. But they never ever clean up after themselves, constantly leaving dirty dishes, pans, crumbs, and food stains. When I tell them to clean after themselves, they begrudgingly do, but it's never a job well done."
One of the basic rules of being a good guest is cleaning up after oneself, according to Apartment Therapy. If a guest doesn't do so, it's understandable if the host doesn't invite the guest again or shows dislike.
The author continued:
"Last week, one of the boys peed on my very expensive couch, which I ONLY found out about after smelling urine while watching TV. SIL is stay-at-home, but she's more like stay-in-her-room, doing god knows what while her two children run rampant around my house. In the last three weeks, her boys have 1) colored on their bedroom walls, 2) trashed my living room with their toys 3) knocked over half of my plant collection. Their whole family has turned my house into a zoo while contributing NOTHING."
Having a destructive kid as a guest is intolerable to a host. The situation worsens if the parents can't control the kids or don't bother doing so.
The author wrote:
"I get home early from work one day, and their family's gone. I decide to take a nap in our bedroom, ONLY TO FIND MY PRECIOUS VASE THAT MY MOTHER HANDMADE FOR ME WAS SHATTERED ON THE GROUND (I lost my mom when I was a teen, and it is one of the last handmade items I have from her). I immediately knew it was the boys because toys were inside my room, and their tablet was on my bed. I was so angry. I ended up calling my husband, explaining the situation, and telling him they would not stay another day in our house, no questions asked. Then I went around the house picking up their dirty clothes, toys, papers, etc., and threw them outside onto our lawn."
When the author's brother-in-law and his family returned, they were furious to find their things dumped outside. A huge argument ensued in which the author and her husband listed why the family couldn't stay with them any longer. After a long conversation, the family left, but the author's mother-in-law began giving her and her husband a hard time.
Now the author is wondering whether she and her husband are wrong. What do you think?