Are you a good guest?

I’ve found that most people are pretty shitty guests.

They come to parties empty-handed.

Or they stay at your place and make a mess.

And then when they leave, they never offer to clean up.

That’s rude in every way, shape, and form.

Today I am going to explain how I’m always a good guest and it’s something that you can learn a lot from.

Whenever I am somebody’s houseguest, I make sure that I make myself very, very small.  I’m clean; I’m neat; I don’t make a mess, and I’m very respectful of the person’s home and the way they live.

If they’re a neat freak, I’m not going to leave dishes in the sink.  I’m not going to put my glasses down on tables to leave rings on the table.

And, I’m going to make sure to take them out to dinner and fill their fridge.  I’m a good houseguest, because I want to be invited back.

When I go to a party, I always make sure I bring something—a bottle of wine, dessert, something.

When I leave the party, I always make sure that I do my part to help.  I ask them if I can help clean up.  Sometimes I don’t even ask.  Sometimes I just start taking the dishes.  Sometimes I start collecting the glasses or maybe collecting the garbage, because why should that person do all the work?  They invited me into their home.  Why should they be my slave and clean up after me?

If I go to a dinner party, once again I’m bringing something, and I’m asking ahead of time what I can bring.  I’m texting them throughout the day about it, because I know that when someone throws a dinner party there’s a lot of last-minute things that they forgot or things that they don’t have enough of.

Most of you are lousy guests.

I’ve had a lot of houseguests in my life, and I can tell you that 80% of them were pretty lousy.

I don’t know about you but I want to make somebody feel great about inviting me.  I want to get invited back.

And I always thank the person, a lot.

“Thank you for having me into your home. Thank you for allowing me to stay with you. Thank you for cooking me this wonderful dinner.”

I’m very appreciative of everything.

Here are some good manners to have, and a lot of people just don’t have them.  Just like when you bump into people, most people don’t even say excuse me.

That’s what I loved about living in England.  They’re constantly apologizing all of the time when they bump into you. People make fun of it all the time. But, to tell you the truth, that’s probably the reason why the cops in London don’t have guns.

And why so much of the world sees the English as polite gentleman, and Americans as a bunch of obnoxious rascals.

Food for thought.