Entitled People·
THE MONDAY SHUTDOWN
Two guests push for a long, free stay on a cheaper red-eye, while a careful host clamps down on expectations, setting a clash over boundaries and hospitality.
Keep hosting Monday or shut it down?
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A cheaper red-eye almost turned one houseguest visit into a full extra day of free lodging, rides, and meals, and the host shut it down.
The poster had agreed to host a friend and his wife for a summer weekend. It was only a two-hour flight, so this was not treated like some long-haul ordeal. The couple were also the kind of hosts who kept their home professionally cleaned and tried to make guests comfortable. After visitors left, the poster and spouse usually took an extra day off work to recover, tidy up, and enjoy the quiet return to normal.
That Monday off was already planned when the trouble started.
Before the friend booked his flight, the poster's husband reportedly let slip that the poster would not be working the Monday after the visit. That turned out to matter a lot. Instead of choosing a standard departure, the friend booked a late Monday red-eye because, as the poster later put it, "it was cheaper for him to book the later flight on Monday."
The poster responded plainly: "I will be taking them to the airport as early as 8am Monday morning so I can have my day of rest like I planned."
That is where the conversation split.
The friend said he did not understand why they could not just hang out at the house or be shown around town more that Monday, since they had a late flight. The poster explained that the day off was for rest, not to keep hosting. "I explained to them that the day off is for me to rest, not to continue to be their host," the poster said.
The poster also made another offer: they could leave their luggage there and go explore on their own. But after Monday morning, there would be no more hosting and no more tour-guiding. "they are more than welcome to leave their luggage here if they want to go explore on their own, but we will not be hosting them or playing tour guide after Monday morning," the poster told them.
The friend still pushed back, saying "it's not a big deal for him and his wife to just hang out at my house all day until it's time for them to fly out." The poster pointed out the hidden cost in that plan: the host would still have to get them to the airport or pay for a rideshare, because the friend refused to pay, and the poster would also be feeding them.
The answer did not change.
"I told him that they are welcome to visit and stay with us, but staying at our house all day Monday is not an option and he needs to make other arrangements," the poster said.
That was when the tone turned. The friend called the poster a "horrible friend," and his wife said "we're AHs."