Gotta vent! Family members loafing on my dime!

[Boondox]

Joe -- I feel your pain, buddy! I had a similar situation. Some friends came up during foliage season a few years back and after three days of eating everything and watching us work, I handed them a grocery list (no $$$) and posted a list of chores that needed doing. Thankfully they took the hint. Not only did they get groceries, but they did all the cooking and cleaning in the house. Even helped split firewood and mowed the lawn!

Might not work for everyone, but in this case giving them a clear set of expectations and providing them with a visual list of the chores they were interfering with prompted them to ante up and cemented our friendship.

Good luck! Pete

[Pat]

Steve, DISASTER PREPAREDNESS!! We need to lay in a stock of ready to eat supplies, water, and a... ummm errr ahhhh... oh yes! a Human element range extender, available from pilot shops via the net or in person. A human element range extender, for those of you who may not be familiar, is a container, expressly designed to allow the pilot (or passenger)to relieve him/herself (yes they make a female model) while in flight. Would be just the thing for your comfort while barracaded in your "office" for the better part of a day.

"Oklahoma Vacation" staring Chevy Chase as Pat, opening soon at a theater near you. I don't know if it was all that funny but I suppose it would do with just a little leavening through poetic liscense. I only reported about 10% of the events of interest. So there is still lots of script points not revealed in the "trailer."

Got a call last night from the in-laws. They were repetitively expressing their thanks for the great time they had. HE was going on about how he can't take showers on the road in his RV due to small water tank (30 gal) so they were so glad to be able to find a place with convenient water hookup and sewar connection. If he can't shower for an hour he feels deprived, poor baby. He'd be fun on an extended sail where salt water is used for bathing with a brief fresh water rinse. The submariners aren't the only folks who get wet, shut the water off, lather/scrub with no running water, and then rinse, briefly. Ask a marine who has deployed on a Gaiter.

There is a history with this guy... I took them flying on an extended cross country trip. I try to be a resonably cautious citizen as regards safe practices. It is safer to fly in the mountains in the early morning before a couple sources of turbulence get cranked up. Thermal activity builds all day and dies out overnight. Winds are usually worse later in the day (thermally driven). As the pilot you are responsible for ALL the lives of those aboard. We totalled 6: myself, my wife, a friend, sister in law, 2nd husband, her first born.

We didn't travel every day but on the days we did travel I liked to take off at sunrise, get in a days flight (with fuel stops as and if required) then hang out a few days at various places along the way such as Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, etc. HE who complains about any disruption of his preferred schedule threw multiple tantrums over being required to get up before sunrise. How dare I inconvenience him over such a petty thing as the safety of the 6 persons aboard!

Ignorance is one thing but having very bad manners and being virtually totaly self centered is separate and less excusable.

..then as the closing credits roll and the theme music fades...


Pat

[Stoneheartfarm]

Pat,

You've got to remember that Chevy Chase didn't think it was too funny, either. It's the people watching the movie that thought it was funny. Always better watching someone else in pain than being there yourself. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I used to have a supply of food, but now I'm on a diet and my wife confiscated all the M&M's from the file cabinet. [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img]

Steve

[JoeR]

I feel so much better after reading similar posts. Misery loves company! The good news is that they have left the state! I am once again able to move freely about my home. My wife and I cleaned the bathrooms and scrubbed the floors. The perfume from one of our guests was terrible, and we just wanted to clean to get rid of the perfume smell!

Thanks for everyone's support. At least I can laugh about it since they didn't break anything!

Joe

[Fawteen]

Yes, Indeedy. That's been our family's Motto/Guideline ever since I can remember. Works, too...

[Stoneheartfarm]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
The good news is that they have left the state!

[/ QUOTE ]

Alas, I am not so lucky. Mine don't live that far away.

Seems like perfume would be kind of hard to get rid of. Especially if it gets set in. Were you able to get it out, or did you have to mask it?

Ever go through a drive in window and get change with perfume on it? That'll make your wife look at you twice. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Steve

[Inspector507]

JoeR,
My wife's Mother and Grandmother visited about 3-4 times a year. I could handle that, except the holidays got to me in Nov and Dec. They usually came to visit for 5-6 days.
Now for some reason Mom has been coming an additional 4-5 times a year. When they both come, the visits have been extended to 6-8 days. Mom is 65 and Grandma is 85. I love seeing them, but I love it more when they leave. Grandma lives in a nursing home, so Mom is not used to having her around as much anymore. I think their patience with each other runs out after 3 days [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
They both take over the house and make us feel like guests in our own home. You eat when and what they want. You watch what and when they want on TV. They are both a little hard of hearing so the TV is blasting into the wee hours of the morning. We get calls all day at work because they can't figure out how to work the TV or whatever. They insist on hanging their "dirty clothes" on the hook on the bathroom door. Ya know how much laundry you can accumulate hanging there in 6 days?
They pack 2 times as much clothes as any human could possibly wear in that time period. I know, I have to unload and re-load the car every trip. They both take a lot of meds and I have asked and asked for them to keep them "put up" and no open bottles. I have pets that love to eat anything they find. I have no idea how many times I've found pills in the chair, on the floor, open bottles spilled on the counter. So far no emergencies [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]
So far this year, I've had them here 2 times together and Mom alone 3 additional times.
I love 'em, but I'd like to love 'em 200 miles away even more [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I feel your pain Brother

[RobS]

Well what the heck, I'll throw my two bits into this...

My inlaws are in town, most live within a couple of miles. We see them often, but in small doses. That works pretty well, though I can do without a lot of the "pop in" visits when I'm trying to get things done. Lately, I've become somewhat more rude and will give them a quick greeting then resume my chores if I'm on a mission.

My wifes' in-laws live several hours away in several directions. This has benefits for both of us but can make for intense get-togethers. Visits are typically over a weekend, rarely more but usually there is a large crowd. Memorial weekend for example, we all gathered at my mom's house in Indy. 17 total including eight children of various ages. It's tough to have any "quality" time with anyone in particular with so much going on. Same at Christmas. We do try to see individual families at least once throughout the year.

So there, visits don't have to be long to be overwhelming. Volume can make up for duration.

I keep telling my wife that "long lost relatives" are a good thing [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

Remember the phraze

" Heaven is in goodbye, Hell is in hello "

in a musical of many years ago.

Egon

[StoneyFF]

<font color="blue">See what you get for having 'guest rooms'... They're like like horse apples to a fly... they just can't resist &lt;grin&gt;...

We're lucky with my in-laws, they all live far enough away that they don't 'drop in' but close enough that they never stay over... Works out well.

And with my family I just tell them... "Either pitch in or get pitched out!" &lt;grin&gt;
</font color>
<font color="maroon">Stoney</font color>
<font color="red">{And it was Mark Twain who said "Fish and visitors stink after 3 days... but that's only if you can get the fist to take showers every day &lt;lol&gt;}</font color>