Keeping a smile on your face

[joddle]

Yesterday we had a call from irate clients who wanted to know "where we were" - actually this was in the form of a text so my wife called them back immediately to ask what was wrong. A very disgruntled woman said "we were very late" and as they had to drive 400 miles and we "had better get there pronto" to hand back the deposit and collect the keys. Before my wife could respond she then abruptly hung up. As my wife was a little put off by this I decided to go over to the flat myself to see what was wrong - I knocked on the door when it was opened I asked why the fuss - they had requested that we be there between 10 and 10:30 yet is was still only 9:45. I was the one feeling a little annoyed by now. The woman suddenly looked most sheepish - it seems she had forgotten to turn back the clocks" Little more was said - neither she or her partner apologised for their error or for being so rude to my wife. I just about kept my cheery disposition - at least until they had gone. Aggg - why do we do this????

[ejc-free]

So you were hardly "late" anyway clock change or no, how extremely rude of them.

[revdev]

Aggg - why do we do this????

Ah, for the love and the money of course!

[joddle]

Aggg - why do we do this????

Ah, for the love and the money of course!

No - just the money

[donkey-on-the-edge]

After a fair year of "trade", and even after meeting some really lovely people from all over the world, I can only agree - I am just in it for the money and when the last guests for 2011 left last weekend, it was with a sigh of relief on my part (and that of my offspring)! We shall miss the income over the Winter, but not the aggravation, time and effort running holiday lets involves...!

[CarolineH]

it was with a sigh of relief on my part (and that of my offspring)! We shall miss the income over the Winter, but not the aggravation, time and effort running holiday lets involves...!

I feel like this every year (10th one for me) I am relieved to have my privacy back and to be able to do jobs around the place without having to clear up my tools immediately, when going for a coffee break.

However come spring time, I also can't wait to get them back - the place is too big for just us - I like to meet people, I like to share a little bit of my world with them (fingers down throat!) - and of course I like the income that comes with it (if I didn't have that I wouldn't be able to stay here).

I feel lucky to have two "seasons", so that I get a little breather ...

[la vache!]

I'm looking forward to having my weekends back and doing things with the children, who moreorless look after themselves in the letting season. Weekends for the last 7 months have been taken up with cleaning, washing and ironing so it is nice to get a break in the winter months. One more weekend to go and then nothing until Christmas at the moment.

[JasmineEvs]

Hey, Joddle, you were really good with those people. It seems to me that you have great patience and you know you shouldn't get angry for such things. I wanted to share my point of view as a client, we often think that the owners owe us something more than good attitude and proper communication. But now reading your story, I realize that may be I have acted wrong several times. I think the problem is that when people are on holiday they think nothing and no one should bother them and more over they should only serve them which is very wrong!

[joddle]

Many thanks for the kind comment - however my patience is being tested today as my latest guests have left leaving the roller blind broken. They say they "just failed" but later examination of the blind shows they must have pulled very hard on the drawband as it is completely severed from the main mechanism. I think this happened possibly because they were not sure how to operate the blinds but rather than call us they tried anyway and possibly got it jammed and then tried to free it.

Maybe the lesson is to have notices on everything saying how it operates - but then how far do you then go? Put plug into socket to operate the kettle! Move knife back and forth to cut bread! Turn switch on to operate light! Of course here I am being OTT but there must be a reasonable assumption that people will know how things work - but today I learned my assumptions were not quite well tuned enough!!!! - Ah well that's life I suppose - but this time a bit expensive. The reparier comes later this week....Ouch.

[JasmineEvs]

Maybe the lesson is to have notices on everything saying how it operates - but then how far do you then go? .

Joddle, this sounds like such an unpleasant situation. but it seems your managerial skills to cope with such trouble are excellent! I hope you don't get many guests of the sort that need instructions on how to turn the TV on or flush the water.

[pepsipuss]

Maybe the lesson is to have notices on everything saying how it operates - but then how far do you then go? Put plug into socket to operate the kettle! Move knife back and forth to cut bread! Turn switch on to operate light! Of course here I am being OTT but there must be a reasonable assumption that people will know how things work - but today I learned my assumptions were not quite well tuned enough!!!! - Ah well that's life I suppose - but this time a bit expensive. The reparier comes later this week....Ouch.

I really do wonder sometimes what people do in their own homes. This season we had an electric kettle ruined by putting it on the gas hob (yes, honestly - at least the lovely Belgian told us about it and offered to pay). Now our present renters found a hairline crack in the glass jug from the electric coffee machine - presumably because someone had left it switched on and returned the jug empty to the machine. Do I REALLY need to put a reminder about this in the notes???

[Nightowl]

we had some 'fake' battery operated candles, they looked quite real, wax on the outside, smelled of vanilla but had a quite obvious flame shaped 'bulb' at the top which flickered when switched on.

I thought they'd be safer than real ones whilst still imparting a cosy glow..

Someone actually tried to light the 'bulb' part on one and ruined it....

[Bob Apt]

On the smile side…this still gets me.
We had a text from four ‘mature’ lady guests on a man free holiday.
They could not flush the toilet.
Now, accepting that push button dual flush is not that well known in the UK, wife duly texts back
to explain about pushing the button on the cistern lid.
Nothing more is heard and guests return very happy, no mention of flush….but wife
cannot help herself and asks.

‘oh….no problem….we used a wooden spoon handle’

Guessed it yet……





‘we all had false nails and no way were we going to risk breaking them !!!’

Does that explain the odd implements sometimes found in the bathroom?

[Mouse]

I was going to suggest that! Some of those push button devices go a long way down!

The strangest we had were some Irish girls who patiently taped black bin bags to the bedroom windows....I took them off at mid-week clean and left a note explaining that the window shutters, shut and how to do it (little know turn clockwise).
Yip, you've guessed it...on changeover there were more balck bin bags

Mousie
x

[Cassis]

We had a gentleman came stamping down the stairs one morning to complain loudly that there was no water in the shower. Jude went up and turned on the shower no problem. He'd been twisting the temperature control (on the right) but not touched the water flow control (on the left). "Hmph - never seen a shower control like that!"