Knowing when to separate 'yourself' from the 'inn'

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Morticia

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Here's a question for all of you...how do you separate yourself from the business? I don't mean taking a vacation, I mean how do you not take guests personally?
An example of something that should have been a no brainer but I got 'me' mixed up with 'the inn'- Guests who have been here a couple of times were here again this weekend. They had their daughter and the daughter's friend along and the parents were out shopping and the teens were here alone. (Teenagers, so not a big deal.) The kids were wandering around as kids will do and I found them somewhere they didn't belong. I was startled to see them coming out of the basement and said, 'Please don't go down there again,' and I walked away. I figured that was that.
No, that was not that. Apparently the girls were so upset they didn't even want to eat breakfast in the morning. They told the parents this on the way home Saturday. She emailed me today and demanded an apology for speaking to the girls about something that was not obviously 'off limits' to guests. Hmmm, the basement is a guest area? See? I'm taking it personally. Because there was no signage saying 'keep out' or 'do not enter' the mother is saying I had no business telling them not to go there again. Or, no business speaking to them at all.
So, how do you separate yourself from the inn to make a reply that will keep a good customer but let her know that the girls were in the wrong? Or do you even bother letting her know the girls were in the wrong? To me, the fact that they were upset means that THEY know they were in the wrong and they want mommy to make ME feel badly for catching them out.
BTW, this is not the first time I've had a situation like this. I lost the last guest because I did take it personally. I was affronted that I was expected to apologize to the kid for the kid's poor behavior. And it's tough to lose a guest over a moment's poor decision on the part of the kid and my inability to get over myself!
I'm looking for a way to put myself into 'front desk' mode. It's just a job, it's not me personally, you know what I mean.
 
I can tell you from personal experience that it's easier from a "front desk" perspective to handle some situations...like having to apologize to a guest, give a discount for some perceived slight, ask guests to quiet down, kids to behave, etc. Tell them it is an insurance issue/fire marshall issue to have guests in the basement, and that you were simply shocked to see them coming up from down there. Then, ASK HER if she thinks you should put a sign on the basement door.
 
I can tell you from personal experience that it's easier from a "front desk" perspective to handle some situations...like having to apologize to a guest, give a discount for some perceived slight, ask guests to quiet down, kids to behave, etc. Tell them it is an insurance issue/fire marshall issue to have guests in the basement, and that you were simply shocked to see them coming up from down there. Then, ASK HER if she thinks you should put a sign on the basement door..
Yes, that was part of her email, 'You should have signs everywhere you don't want guests to go!'
OK, obviously she doesn't realize what this would look like if there were 'NO!' signs on all the verboten doors in the house. We do allow the guests a little common sense and I do mention that the doors with the names on them are guest rooms.
Would there be a corollary that doors without names are not guest areas? I guess this winter I put locks on those doors rather than signage.
 
I can tell you from personal experience that it's easier from a "front desk" perspective to handle some situations...like having to apologize to a guest, give a discount for some perceived slight, ask guests to quiet down, kids to behave, etc. Tell them it is an insurance issue/fire marshall issue to have guests in the basement, and that you were simply shocked to see them coming up from down there. Then, ASK HER if she thinks you should put a sign on the basement door..
Yes, that was part of her email, 'You should have signs everywhere you don't want guests to go!'
OK, obviously she doesn't realize what this would look like if there were 'NO!' signs on all the verboten doors in the house. We do allow the guests a little common sense and I do mention that the doors with the names on them are guest rooms.
Would there be a corollary that doors without names are not guest areas? I guess this winter I put locks on those doors rather than signage.
.
Morticia said:
Yes, that was part of her email, 'You should have signs everywhere you don't want guests to go!'
OK, obviously she doesn't realize what this would look like if there were 'NO!' signs on all the verboten doors in the house. We do allow the guests a little common sense and I do mention that the doors with the names on them are guest rooms.
Would there be a corollary that doors without names are not guest areas? I guess this winter I put locks on those doors rather than signage.
This is another example of parents who don't bring their children up correctly. I would have been reprimanded by my parents for going in the basement in the first place. Did you see Dr. Phil's show on the "me generation" and how none of these kids want to work, but they all want to be rich and famous?
One he interviewed said he was smarter than everyone else. Too smart to finish college. His 80% was better than anyone else's 100% plus. Oh, yes, he's not working and his mother is paying his rent...
RIki
 
I can tell you from personal experience that it's easier from a "front desk" perspective to handle some situations...like having to apologize to a guest, give a discount for some perceived slight, ask guests to quiet down, kids to behave, etc. Tell them it is an insurance issue/fire marshall issue to have guests in the basement, and that you were simply shocked to see them coming up from down there. Then, ASK HER if she thinks you should put a sign on the basement door..
Yes, that was part of her email, 'You should have signs everywhere you don't want guests to go!'
OK, obviously she doesn't realize what this would look like if there were 'NO!' signs on all the verboten doors in the house. We do allow the guests a little common sense and I do mention that the doors with the names on them are guest rooms.
Would there be a corollary that doors without names are not guest areas? I guess this winter I put locks on those doors rather than signage.
.
Morticia said:
I guess this winter I put locks on those doors rather than signage.
I would. Easy enough to key them all alike for your convenience, and that would put the kabash on wandering around. AND by the way....so people look around, they open a door and can see it's the basement. Why in the hell would they go down there?
 
I can tell you from personal experience that it's easier from a "front desk" perspective to handle some situations...like having to apologize to a guest, give a discount for some perceived slight, ask guests to quiet down, kids to behave, etc. Tell them it is an insurance issue/fire marshall issue to have guests in the basement, and that you were simply shocked to see them coming up from down there. Then, ASK HER if she thinks you should put a sign on the basement door..
Yes, that was part of her email, 'You should have signs everywhere you don't want guests to go!'
OK, obviously she doesn't realize what this would look like if there were 'NO!' signs on all the verboten doors in the house. We do allow the guests a little common sense and I do mention that the doors with the names on them are guest rooms.
Would there be a corollary that doors without names are not guest areas? I guess this winter I put locks on those doors rather than signage.
.
Morticia said:
I guess this winter I put locks on those doors rather than signage.
I would. Easy enough to key them all alike for your convenience, and that would put the kabash on wandering around. AND by the way....so people look around, they open a door and can see it's the basement. Why in the hell would they go down there?
.
I'm sure for the kids it was kind of a 'haunted house' thing. 'Dare you!' You know?
 
Morticia said:
So, how do you separate yourself from the inn to make a reply that will keep a good customer but let her know that the girls were in the wrong? Or do you even bother letting her know the girls were in the wrong? To me, the fact that they were upset means that THEY know they were in the wrong and they want mommy to make ME feel badly for catching them out.
BTW, this is not the first time I've had a situation like this. I lost the last guest because I did take it personally. I was affronted that I was expected to apologize to the kid for the kid's poor behavior. And it's tough to lose a guest over a moment's poor decision on the part of the kid and my inability to get over myself!
I'm looking for a way to put myself into 'front desk' mode. It's just a job, it's not me personally, you know what I mean.

To me, that's just about impossible. Asking any innkeeper, that is, to separate herself from the inn. They are one and the same to most innkeepers. Growing a thick skin helps. And knowing that some guests are just going to misbehave, no matter what.
Still I always think the way to handle kids is just like any other guest. Keep it humorous and lighthearted, rather than falling into the scolding mode. Not easy, I know.
And not that the kids didn't deserve scolding. It's just that parents today are, IMHO, really resistant to the whole it-takes-a-village idea of childrearing that all of us grew up with. I'd hate to think what my parents would have had to say if I had upset an innkeeper while on a vacation! You can rest assured, it wouldn't have been the innkeeper they'd have been unhappy with.
But even with keeping it light, using humor to get the point across, and all that, it really seems that these particular kids (and their parents) are just not going to be well-behaved guests.
So I wouldn't worry so much about whether they'd come back. I'd worry more if they did!
 
Excuse me, but this is not only your business but it is also your home. After the reasonable request to not go there again, I believe my next move would have been to go into the basement to make sure they did not DO anything while they were in an area they had no business being in. Anyone who would invade a territory they KNOW without being told is off-limits would also be capable of messing around just because they had the expectation of NOT BEING CAUGHT. My furnace is in my basement and also my sump pump. If a couple #$%^ teenagers would think it was cute to unplug my sump pump I would have a disaster on my hands - including a possibly ruined furnace - with the next hard rain and I would have an interesting time proving they did it wouldn't I?
I also wonder exactly what the little darlings said you said. Please do not go there again does not sound all that outrageous a request. I would bet dollars to donuts the little twits had a VERY interesting version of the incident that had nothing to do with the reality of what happened.
I think my response to the mother would be: I am terribly sorry your daughter and her friend were offended by my simple request that they not go into my basement again, an area I never expected to have to tell a guest to not enter as basements are not normally considered guest area.
 
Excuse me, but this is not only your business but it is also your home. After the reasonable request to not go there again, I believe my next move would have been to go into the basement to make sure they did not DO anything while they were in an area they had no business being in. Anyone who would invade a territory they KNOW without being told is off-limits would also be capable of messing around just because they had the expectation of NOT BEING CAUGHT. My furnace is in my basement and also my sump pump. If a couple #$%^ teenagers would think it was cute to unplug my sump pump I would have a disaster on my hands - including a possibly ruined furnace - with the next hard rain and I would have an interesting time proving they did it wouldn't I?
I also wonder exactly what the little darlings said you said. Please do not go there again does not sound all that outrageous a request. I would bet dollars to donuts the little twits had a VERY interesting version of the incident that had nothing to do with the reality of what happened.
I think my response to the mother would be: I am terribly sorry your daughter and her friend were offended by my simple request that they not go into my basement again, an area I never expected to have to tell a guest to not enter as basements are not normally considered guest area..
gillumhouse said:
I also wonder exactly what the little darlings said you said. Please do not go there again does not sound all that outrageous a request. I would bet dollars to donuts the little twits had a VERY interesting version of the incident that had nothing to do with the reality of what happened.
Yep. You can just bet it was a real stretch of what happened at best.
 
Firstly, if you really want to try to make it all better with the guest, CALL her, do not email. It's more proactive, and I think it's too easy to mistake tone and intent in written messages. Just explain what happened and that you didn't mean to scold, you thought you were just letting the girls know not to go back there, you're truly sorry if they took it any other way. If she insists on an apology and you want to go there, then talk to the girls.
Personally, I can't believe that a parent would leave a child of any age unattended at a b&b...you're not a babysitting service and you shouldn't be liable for anything they might do or get into while unattended. We've seen how adults lose their minds and common sense while traveling, kids are subject to that as well and the parents should have known better than to leave them there.
 
I agree....it's tough to separate yourself from your innkeeper hat. Would those girls go into the basement of a hotel? A friend's home without being invited?
These kids got caught doing something they weren't supposed to and went crying to Mommy that you were mean to them. Wah! Too bad! If a parent is going to get all bent out of shape over something like that, well..........maybe they shouldn't come back as guests. And regarding your initial statement that it was OK for the parents to leave 2 teenagers unchaperoned in a B&B, I don't think so. Obviously, they needed to be chaperoned because they got bored and decided to go exploring where they didn't belong!
I would reply that it is your responsibility to ensure the safety of all your guests and therefore you spoke to those girls. The end. You did the right thing and have no need to apologize.
Brass PRIVATE signs - we have them on all the doors leading to our area and not once has anyone gone in or jiggled the doors to try to get in when we were in there. People have been curious & maybe tried to peek as I was running their credit card, but that is it. They don't even venture in the kitchen which has a swinging door that's not locked when we're here. Boundaries!
 
woah, deja vu ....
because this exact same thing happened before ... down to the demand for an apology ... that basement door needs to be marked. private or staff only or something. and locked. really, it does. i sometimes felt like an old prison matron with keys on a ring but i had a basement door in the front hallway and occasionally guests would open it ... it is the youngsters including teens or those with difficulty on stairs who seemed to want to venture down (i have no idea why!) ... so we removed the original doorknob and replaced it with a lockable. not convenient for me but i had to do it. and it made my life easier in the long run.
as for the current situation. have you responded? i'm not sure i would because my response would likely not be what that guest wanted to 'hear'.
but your question was really how to separate yourself from the business. and that, my dear, is one of THE biggest challenges of being an innkeeper. it is very personal ... right down to the decor and the choice of dishes ... to the financial challenges and the pain in the butt toilet in room xyz ... it's hard to separate the business from the personal when it is also your home and i always found it to be so.
 
woah, deja vu ....
because this exact same thing happened before ... down to the demand for an apology ... that basement door needs to be marked. private or staff only or something. and locked. really, it does. i sometimes felt like an old prison matron with keys on a ring but i had a basement door in the front hallway and occasionally guests would open it ... it is the youngsters including teens or those with difficulty on stairs who seemed to want to venture down (i have no idea why!) ... so we removed the original doorknob and replaced it with a lockable. not convenient for me but i had to do it. and it made my life easier in the long run.
as for the current situation. have you responded? i'm not sure i would because my response would likely not be what that guest wanted to 'hear'.
but your question was really how to separate yourself from the business. and that, my dear, is one of THE biggest challenges of being an innkeeper. it is very personal ... right down to the decor and the choice of dishes ... to the financial challenges and the pain in the butt toilet in room xyz ... it's hard to separate the business from the personal when it is also your home and i always found it to be so..
I agree! It's virtually impossible to separate yourself from a business that you have so much of yourself invested in AND you live there! :)
I would not apologize to those teenagers. Sorry.......
 
Morticia said:
So, how do you separate yourself from the inn to make a reply that will keep a good customer but let her know that the girls were in the wrong? Or do you even bother letting her know the girls were in the wrong? To me, the fact that they were upset means that THEY know they were in the wrong and they want mommy to make ME feel badly for catching them out.
BTW, this is not the first time I've had a situation like this. I lost the last guest because I did take it personally. I was affronted that I was expected to apologize to the kid for the kid's poor behavior. And it's tough to lose a guest over a moment's poor decision on the part of the kid and my inability to get over myself!
I'm looking for a way to put myself into 'front desk' mode. It's just a job, it's not me personally, you know what I mean.

To me, that's just about impossible. Asking any innkeeper, that is, to separate herself from the inn. They are one and the same to most innkeepers. Growing a thick skin helps. And knowing that some guests are just going to misbehave, no matter what.
Still I always think the way to handle kids is just like any other guest. Keep it humorous and lighthearted, rather than falling into the scolding mode. Not easy, I know.
And not that the kids didn't deserve scolding. It's just that parents today are, IMHO, really resistant to the whole it-takes-a-village idea of childrearing that all of us grew up with. I'd hate to think what my parents would have had to say if I had upset an innkeeper while on a vacation! You can rest assured, it wouldn't have been the innkeeper they'd have been unhappy with.
But even with keeping it light, using humor to get the point across, and all that, it really seems that these particular kids (and their parents) are just not going to be well-behaved guests.
So I wouldn't worry so much about whether they'd come back. I'd worry more if they did!.
Innkeeper To Go said:
Keep it humorous and lighthearted, rather than falling into the scolding mode. Not easy, I know.
Humor may be the way to go. I would have said something like "What are you girls doing down there? If guests get caught in the basement, they're automatically on laundry duty".
 
woah, deja vu ....
because this exact same thing happened before ... down to the demand for an apology ... that basement door needs to be marked. private or staff only or something. and locked. really, it does. i sometimes felt like an old prison matron with keys on a ring but i had a basement door in the front hallway and occasionally guests would open it ... it is the youngsters including teens or those with difficulty on stairs who seemed to want to venture down (i have no idea why!) ... so we removed the original doorknob and replaced it with a lockable. not convenient for me but i had to do it. and it made my life easier in the long run.
as for the current situation. have you responded? i'm not sure i would because my response would likely not be what that guest wanted to 'hear'.
but your question was really how to separate yourself from the business. and that, my dear, is one of THE biggest challenges of being an innkeeper. it is very personal ... right down to the decor and the choice of dishes ... to the financial challenges and the pain in the butt toilet in room xyz ... it's hard to separate the business from the personal when it is also your home and i always found it to be so..
seashanty said:
but your question was really how to separate yourself from the business. and that, my dear, is one of THE biggest challenges of being an innkeeper. it is very personal ... right down to the decor and the choice of dishes ... to the financial challenges and the pain in the butt toilet in room xyz ... it's hard to separate the business from the personal when it is also your home and i always found it to be so.
I was just wondering if anyone had some sort of visualization they do before making that call or writing that email. Picturing yourself as just a lowly employee with the task of placating guests but at the end of the day you go home and that's it. Water off a duck's back sort of thing!
 
Morticia said:
So, how do you separate yourself from the inn to make a reply that will keep a good customer but let her know that the girls were in the wrong? Or do you even bother letting her know the girls were in the wrong? To me, the fact that they were upset means that THEY know they were in the wrong and they want mommy to make ME feel badly for catching them out.
BTW, this is not the first time I've had a situation like this. I lost the last guest because I did take it personally. I was affronted that I was expected to apologize to the kid for the kid's poor behavior. And it's tough to lose a guest over a moment's poor decision on the part of the kid and my inability to get over myself!
I'm looking for a way to put myself into 'front desk' mode. It's just a job, it's not me personally, you know what I mean.

To me, that's just about impossible. Asking any innkeeper, that is, to separate herself from the inn. They are one and the same to most innkeepers. Growing a thick skin helps. And knowing that some guests are just going to misbehave, no matter what.
Still I always think the way to handle kids is just like any other guest. Keep it humorous and lighthearted, rather than falling into the scolding mode. Not easy, I know.
And not that the kids didn't deserve scolding. It's just that parents today are, IMHO, really resistant to the whole it-takes-a-village idea of childrearing that all of us grew up with. I'd hate to think what my parents would have had to say if I had upset an innkeeper while on a vacation! You can rest assured, it wouldn't have been the innkeeper they'd have been unhappy with.
But even with keeping it light, using humor to get the point across, and all that, it really seems that these particular kids (and their parents) are just not going to be well-behaved guests.
So I wouldn't worry so much about whether they'd come back. I'd worry more if they did!.
Innkeeper To Go said:
Keep it humorous and lighthearted, rather than falling into the scolding mode. Not easy, I know.
Humor may be the way to go. I would have said something like "What are you girls doing down there? If guests get caught in the basement, they're automatically on laundry duty".
.
Little Blue said:
Innkeeper To Go said:
Keep it humorous and lighthearted, rather than falling into the scolding mode. Not easy, I know.
Humor may be the way to go. I would have said something like "What are you girls doing down there? If guests get caught in the basement, they're automatically on laundry duty".
Hey, just asking them to not go down there again got me the wrath of Khan. Imagine if I had questioned what they were doing! Or implied I would put them to work!
 
Morticia said:
So, how do you separate yourself from the inn to make a reply that will keep a good customer but let her know that the girls were in the wrong? Or do you even bother letting her know the girls were in the wrong? To me, the fact that they were upset means that THEY know they were in the wrong and they want mommy to make ME feel badly for catching them out.
BTW, this is not the first time I've had a situation like this. I lost the last guest because I did take it personally. I was affronted that I was expected to apologize to the kid for the kid's poor behavior. And it's tough to lose a guest over a moment's poor decision on the part of the kid and my inability to get over myself!
I'm looking for a way to put myself into 'front desk' mode. It's just a job, it's not me personally, you know what I mean.

To me, that's just about impossible. Asking any innkeeper, that is, to separate herself from the inn. They are one and the same to most innkeepers. Growing a thick skin helps. And knowing that some guests are just going to misbehave, no matter what.
Still I always think the way to handle kids is just like any other guest. Keep it humorous and lighthearted, rather than falling into the scolding mode. Not easy, I know.
And not that the kids didn't deserve scolding. It's just that parents today are, IMHO, really resistant to the whole it-takes-a-village idea of childrearing that all of us grew up with. I'd hate to think what my parents would have had to say if I had upset an innkeeper while on a vacation! You can rest assured, it wouldn't have been the innkeeper they'd have been unhappy with.
But even with keeping it light, using humor to get the point across, and all that, it really seems that these particular kids (and their parents) are just not going to be well-behaved guests.
So I wouldn't worry so much about whether they'd come back. I'd worry more if they did!.
Innkeeper To Go said:
Keep it humorous and lighthearted, rather than falling into the scolding mode. Not easy, I know.
Humor may be the way to go. I would have said something like "What are you girls doing down there? If guests get caught in the basement, they're automatically on laundry duty".
.
Humor usually does the trick, whatever the trouble.
We had a class full of teenagers stay overnight during a class learning about sustainable agriculture. Within 5 minutes, 2 of the girls had climbed over their balconies, over a fence, and up the back stairs to our apartment. Talk about being where they knew they weren't supposed to be!
They were petrified to find us sitting there just laughing and laughing - and snapping some pix, too! It was the last and only incident of their stay. The girls must have apologized a hundred times as did the teacher/chaperones.
Of course, the photographic evidence probably didn't hurt either!
 
Morticia said:
So, how do you separate yourself from the inn to make a reply that will keep a good customer but let her know that the girls were in the wrong? Or do you even bother letting her know the girls were in the wrong? To me, the fact that they were upset means that THEY know they were in the wrong and they want mommy to make ME feel badly for catching them out.
BTW, this is not the first time I've had a situation like this. I lost the last guest because I did take it personally. I was affronted that I was expected to apologize to the kid for the kid's poor behavior. And it's tough to lose a guest over a moment's poor decision on the part of the kid and my inability to get over myself!
I'm looking for a way to put myself into 'front desk' mode. It's just a job, it's not me personally, you know what I mean.

To me, that's just about impossible. Asking any innkeeper, that is, to separate herself from the inn. They are one and the same to most innkeepers. Growing a thick skin helps. And knowing that some guests are just going to misbehave, no matter what.
Still I always think the way to handle kids is just like any other guest. Keep it humorous and lighthearted, rather than falling into the scolding mode. Not easy, I know.
And not that the kids didn't deserve scolding. It's just that parents today are, IMHO, really resistant to the whole it-takes-a-village idea of childrearing that all of us grew up with. I'd hate to think what my parents would have had to say if I had upset an innkeeper while on a vacation! You can rest assured, it wouldn't have been the innkeeper they'd have been unhappy with.
But even with keeping it light, using humor to get the point across, and all that, it really seems that these particular kids (and their parents) are just not going to be well-behaved guests.
So I wouldn't worry so much about whether they'd come back. I'd worry more if they did!.
Innkeeper To Go said:
Keep it humorous and lighthearted, rather than falling into the scolding mode. Not easy, I know.
Humor may be the way to go. I would have said something like "What are you girls doing down there? If guests get caught in the basement, they're automatically on laundry duty".
.
Little Blue said:
Innkeeper To Go said:
Keep it humorous and lighthearted, rather than falling into the scolding mode. Not easy, I know.
Humor may be the way to go. I would have said something like "What are you girls doing down there? If guests get caught in the basement, they're automatically on laundry duty".
Hey, just asking them to not go down there again got me the wrath of Khan. Imagine if I had questioned what they were doing! Or implied I would put them to work!
.
No doubt they'd accuse you of forced labor! At least, though, you could tell the mom that it was just a joke...
 
I can tell you from personal experience that it's easier from a "front desk" perspective to handle some situations...like having to apologize to a guest, give a discount for some perceived slight, ask guests to quiet down, kids to behave, etc. Tell them it is an insurance issue/fire marshall issue to have guests in the basement, and that you were simply shocked to see them coming up from down there. Then, ASK HER if she thinks you should put a sign on the basement door..
Yes, that was part of her email, 'You should have signs everywhere you don't want guests to go!'
OK, obviously she doesn't realize what this would look like if there were 'NO!' signs on all the verboten doors in the house. We do allow the guests a little common sense and I do mention that the doors with the names on them are guest rooms.
Would there be a corollary that doors without names are not guest areas? I guess this winter I put locks on those doors rather than signage.
.
Morticia said:
I guess this winter I put locks on those doors rather than signage.
I would. Easy enough to key them all alike for your convenience, and that would put the kabash on wandering around. AND by the way....so people look around, they open a door and can see it's the basement. Why in the hell would they go down there?
.
Little Blue said:
so people look around, they open a door and can see it's the basement. Why in the hell would they go down there?
Because they are teenagers.
And whose job is it to supervise them during stays at a B&B? Certainly not the innkeeper!
 
I can tell you from personal experience that it's easier from a "front desk" perspective to handle some situations...like having to apologize to a guest, give a discount for some perceived slight, ask guests to quiet down, kids to behave, etc. Tell them it is an insurance issue/fire marshall issue to have guests in the basement, and that you were simply shocked to see them coming up from down there. Then, ASK HER if she thinks you should put a sign on the basement door..
Yes, that was part of her email, 'You should have signs everywhere you don't want guests to go!'
OK, obviously she doesn't realize what this would look like if there were 'NO!' signs on all the verboten doors in the house. We do allow the guests a little common sense and I do mention that the doors with the names on them are guest rooms.
Would there be a corollary that doors without names are not guest areas? I guess this winter I put locks on those doors rather than signage.
.
Morticia said:
I guess this winter I put locks on those doors rather than signage.
I would. Easy enough to key them all alike for your convenience, and that would put the kabash on wandering around. AND by the way....so people look around, they open a door and can see it's the basement. Why in the hell would they go down there?
.
Little Blue said:
so people look around, they open a door and can see it's the basement. Why in the hell would they go down there?
Because they are teenagers.
And whose job is it to supervise them during stays at a B&B? Certainly not the innkeeper!
.
Innkeeper To Go said:
Little Blue said:
so people look around, they open a door and can see it's the basement. Why in the hell would they go down there?
Because they are teenagers.
And whose job is it to supervise them during stays at a B&B? Certainly not the innkeeper!
So then it's also embarrassment on the part of the parents that they couldn't leave the kids alone for an hour while they went out? All around, a bad situation.
I've had kids follow me around asking a million questions and that's fine. I've also had parents want 2 minutes alone on a long vacation and push the kid out the door of the room telling them to go play in traffic and that's mostly been fine as long as the parents don't leave the premises. (Seriously, if the kid will sit still and listen to me or even follow me around but stay out of mischief, I'm ok with mom & dad having a few (FEW) minutes to themselves. A glass of juice and a bowl of cereal few minutes is what I mean!)
But apparently I really irked this family by not 'minding my own business.' Har har.
 
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