Wait a minute Mr. Postman?

Can't blame the Postwoman for this one.

After guests checked out the other day, I went upstairs to start cleaning and found several pieces of my mail sitting on the table.  Weird, I thought. Why would guests pick up my mail?

Several hours later a friend contacted me. She hadn't yet gotten my RSVP to her wedding invitation.  What invitation?  I never got it.

After some checking, I realized that I also never received that month's water and cable bills.

That's too much of a coincidence for me.  The only conclusion is that guests have been picking up and throwing out my mail.  Now, why the hell would they do this?  Don't know but apparently it's another thing you shouldn't have to tell adults that I will now have to warn them about.

Annoying things guests do

We're not talking major infractions here, just small stuff that makes you scratch your head and wonder why.

Unplugging all the lamps
You might chalk this up to people being conscientious about energy usage.  But given that the same people will go out and leave the ceiling lights on and the heating turned up/cooling turned down, I don't think that's it.  And no, it's not to make room for their rechargers because each outlet has a free socket.  Any ideas?

Going through the linens closet
I've had guests leave the linens closet looking like Macy's after a major sale: everything in disarray. And often they don't appear to have taken anything out, they just wanted to have a look through your stuff.  When guests do help themselves to the linens you've got a problem on your hands - not enough clean towels/sheets for the next guest. Putting a 'Private' sign on the door helped but didn't completely stop the behavior.

Rearranging the cupboards/furniture
This might be more understandable with longer-term guest, but I've had the contents of the kitchen cabinets completely rearranged by people staying only 2 nights.  I find dining chairs in bathrooms and out on the deck but the problem hasn't been as bad with the furniture, probably because it's heavier.  Still, it's no picnic having to return to the living room (by myself) an armchair that it took 2 people to move to the dining room.

Running a full dishwasher cycle for one cup, one plate, and one fork
In my experience, it's only Americans who do this.  Also annoying, leaving a sink/dishwasher full of dirty dishes or leaving their cleaned dishes for me to put away.

Leaving the front door unlocked
Okay, we're moving away from the annoying to the potentially dangerous here.  Do you really need to tell grown-ups to lock the front door in a city?

So, what's the most annoying thing you've had a guest do?

Someone left the chair out in the rain

This past Sunday it rained steadily all night.  One of those moderate but soaking rains.  We desperately needed the water - all my plants were showing signs of stress.

Guests left on Monday morning.  Everything in the apartment looked fine until I found one of the dining room chairs out on the small deck. One of the guests had carried it up a flight of stairs, used it outside and left it there overnight.  This is a molded plywood with veneer chair and it soaked in the water. This, in my mind, is an excellent argument for why you shouldn't buy anything other than Ikea for airbnb rentals. Better a ruined $40 chair than a $200 one.

Now I'm giving it a chance to dry out to see if the veneer settles down. How things turn out will determine whether or not I ask for a deduction from the security deposit.

Too bad for your wrinkly ass

One of the amenities I provide to guests is a travel iron and ironing board.  Well, not any more.

For the 2nd time in the few months since I made the iron available, a guest has used the $2,000+ bedroom dresser as an ironing board rather than the actual ironing board provided.  This time they left the iron sitting on the dresser and let the steam water dribble all over the top.

You would think people who's kid is graduating from the University of Pennsylvania would know better.  Apparently not.

For this I'll create a new category: Things you shouldn't have to tell adults.

Here's a suggestion for getting an iron burn off a dresser.

ADDED NOTE: If you're questioning the wisdom of spending that much money on furniture for use in an Airbnb apartment, I wasn't even thinking of Airbnb when I bought it.  It was for my own use in my own apartment.  Had I known what was in my future, I never would have spent that kind of money.