'AITA for telling my houseguests they need to leave over mental health issues?'
"AITA for telling my houseguests they need to leave over mental health issues?"
I (31F) had a friend (32F) from university reach out to me asking if her and her sister (25F) could stay at my place on their trip to the country I now live in before going to other cities. I had no problems with this. They fly over and were expected to stay a week at my place.
I live in the heart of a very big tourist city. What I didn’t know was her sister has some obvious serious anxiety issues related to dogs. It turns out her sister and her had no idea about different regulations around dogs in the country where I am.
Malls, restaurants, bakeries, bars/ pubs etc are almost always dog friendly where people’s pets are welcome and really except for grocery shops they’re allowed in and encouraged. Her sister became visibly upset when we went for a walk the first day she came and she saw dogs without a lead walking around the city with their owners.
She started really getting hysterical when we went inside a local Starbucks and she saw the dogs inside at people’s feet. We immediately went home and I told her that you can’t really avoid dogs because they’ll be out and about.
Her sister then told me she didn’t want to even leave my place with all these unpredictable dogs and wanted to stay indoors the entire time. I suggested that this week and the following places they are going to visit are going to be exactly the same.
The sister immediately tells me that they’ll just stay at my place for a few weeks and fly home. I told them I was absolutely not okay with this and that if it seriously was that big of a deal to her, they needed to leave. AITA for asking them to leave after these change in circumstances?
Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:
Doc_HW said:
NTA. The mistake here was that both your friend and her sister never researched your country’s policies regarding dogs in public places. It's common sense to look into a destination’s rules before traveling to avoid any potential issues that could disrupt a vacation.
It may sound harsh, but it would be more sensible for her to return home since she likely won't enjoy her trip due to her condition, and staying at your house while her sister enjoys the trip wouldn't be fun either.
laughinglovinglivid said:
NTA. If I’m understanding this right, they went from being at your place for about a week to now expecting to be able to stay there for several weeks? You’re more than entitled to ask them to leave.
gorillaboy75 said:
NTA. Why in earth does this girl travel if she can't handle seeing a dog? That is ridiculous! Good for you for telling them to go. The nerve.
xhevnobski said:
NTA. They can't just decide to overstay their welcome at your home without your consent. That's not how it works.
LovBonobos said:
NTA, I would suggest that if the dog issue is that much of an issue that they book their trip home. How is a staying at your house the whole time a vacation, clearly not for you.
Suggest that if they are just going to stay indoors that they find a local hotel to stay at where she can hibernate and her sister can go out on her own to at least enjoy some of the trip. But really if the dogs are that big of an issue they should just go home. You are well within your rights to ask them to leave.
CatteNappe said:
NTA. You aren't asking them to leave over mental health issues, you are asking them to leave for overstaying their welcome. Presumably they had some other plan for accommodations after they left your home - they can go stay there and stay indoors away from the life (and dogs) of the community.