I thought I heard a noise!
I was sitting on my couch last night watching T.V. It was about 11 p.m. and my husband was working an evening shift. Chris wasn’t due back until after midnight.
I thought I heard a noise outside so I turned the T.V. volume down. It was still pleasantly warm outside, so while I had the front door closed, I still had the kitchen window at the back of the house open. I sat there, my muscles tensed, listening carefully.
Then the phone rang.
It was my husband calling from work. I started to tell him that I’d heard a noise but he was in a hurry. He wanted to get one of our friends e-mail addresses for one of the nurses at the hospital. I walked over to the computer and I was looking up the address while I spoke with Chris. As I started to look for the address I thought I heard more noise coming from the front of the house.
The front door knob rattled, then it clicked. I told my husband that someone was at the door. Then the door opened and it was our boarder. He nearly scared me to death and I told him so!
Well, it was actually our former boarder. You see, he packed his bags and moved out yesterday morning. He’d left his big suitcases here because he was going to travel around the province for a few days. He was due to come back sometime today to pick up his bags. That’s why he still had a key. Just in case Chris and I were out when he came back today.
Today. Not Yesterday at 11 p.m.. Today!
He totally took me by surprise and I think he’s lucky I wasn’t sitting there waiting with a gun in hand. We don’t arm ourselves for personal protection here in Canada – not legally anyway. But if I had had a gun, or something worthy of protecting myself with in the house, this would have been the perfect situation since he’d given me some warning sounds first. Now that would have taken him by surprise wouldn’t it?
Tell me folks, if someone has a key to your home but doesn’t live there anymore, and only lived there temporarily in the first place, would you think it wrong of them to just walk in at 11 p.m. at night without at least knocking on the door first to announce themselves?
Hey buddy you don’t live here anymore! You can’t just walk in and scare me half to death.
As you can probably tell from reading some of my posts, our boarder was starting to tick me off in the last few weeks. He came here from Korea to study English so he was away at school all day each weekday. Sometimes he’d come home by 5 p.m. or so but he’d head upstairs and go to sleep. I’d end up delaying our dinner until he woke up or until we managed to wake him up. I shouldn’t have done that, but I did.
Other times he just wouldn’t come home until 8 or 9 or even later, and he wouldn’t call to let me know that he was staying out and that he’d miss dinner or be late for dinner. How am I supposed to prepare a meal for someone when I don’t even know if they are coming home? I found his behaviour rude and disrespectful. The room and board that he paid for included three meals a day, but this isn’t a restaurant.
We have a new boarder moving in on the 10th. She seems like a very nice person. He was too, overall, but as you can see he did some things that I considered quite rude. At least after our experience with our first boarder I know now to have a few more rules, and to set them right from the beginning. I don’t mind if my boarder goes out after school with friends and has some fun. That’s great. All I want is a phone call so that I know whether I have to make dinner for them or not. I think that’s fair.
Anyway. What do you think? Have you ever had someone who happened to still have a key to your house come in unexpectedly and scare you?
Hey, thanks for stopping by my blog. Neat that you live in Ontario too!! I accepted you for my Blog Renting space. Never done this before, so bear with me!!
I’ve never had that happen. When I’ve been in situations like yours, the locks get changed the very day they leave, whether they return their key or not.
yea. i would be scared half to death too and i would expect them to knock first! heck i still have keys to my parents house and if i need to get it when they’re gone, it’s no big deal but if they’re home, i always ring the doorbell and not even use the key!
def make some rules for the new person coming in… just so she knows your expectations up front!!! and there’s no guessing what you want!
Nope, that never happened to me… but if it did.. i’d probably be armed as well or have some kind of bat or golf club w/me.
I had a similar thing happen to me, it was the old roommate form hell, and he came by to drop off his keys and get the last of his stuff to get his damage deposit back at 1 am on a Wednesday, I was pretty peeved.
He could have easily called, and then I would have been able to tell him that it was a bad time, but instead he got all uppity with me, because I was in such a state of shock.
I mean, what normal person thinks to themselves “You know what, it’s 1 am, but I really need my spatula back, what the hell!”
Hi there, I’ve stumbled onto your blog via Cat!
I would have dropkicked the guy. The VERY least he should have done was knock. But he should have called and asked if it was okay. Having a key when he’s no longer living there is not an invitation to dropping in without warning.
I’ve had equally irritating borders. DIdn’t have one show back up after moving out, but I did have one bring home two women to spend the night after being told prior to moving in that it was my husband’s and my house and we didn’t want strangers coming over.
here through blog hopping on Blogmad 😉
what a rude boarder! He could have phoned first. And done that in the morning. I wouldn’t call anyone much less go over to their place’s after 10pm, unless it’s an emergency, but really…
however, from what I know, Koreans are supposedly well-mannered and responsible, so that came a little strange to me…
do set up rules, that would save you from alot of future troubles!
I can’t say as I have ever had that happen. Heck, we wanted a maid service long before we actually got one because I couldn’t stand the the thought of them having a key.
I could never take a boarder in. The thought makes me sweat.
He definitely should have called earlier to say he might be by that night, at least. (Aside: hmm, I like this comment font)
I love the guy who’s boarding right now. He’s polite, he contributes to the housework including the cooking. When he arrived he knew nothing about cooking, but he helped me prepare dinner until he learned enough to cook some of our meals himself. I told him once when he got home late that it was cool to stay out, but that it would be nice to get a text message so I can know not to wait to have dinner. Now if he’s going to get home after 7pm he texts me to let me know, every time. He’s just a nice, responsible guy. Sadly he only ever intended to be here until he moves up the waiting list for uni accomodation. I’m secretly hoping he doesn’t get it this time, because I’d love to have him around for one more semester.
The other boarder moved out today, so the advert placing has begun.
I would have been scared as well. Once his tenancy ran out he should have realized that he couldn’t go walking in that late at night… He’s lucky you didn’t call the cops when you heard the noise. I’d be getting his key back right away…
That’s why a person should call first before coming over. Proper manners should be practiced when your staying at someone else’s house. I would make this clear to the new boarder. I learned why having numerous roomates in college that some people can be very inconsiderate.
hey! i will be in toronto in August, am attending the International Aids Conference from Aug 9-18! get back to your post later 🙂
Change the lock! That’s what I would do.
OT, I wanted to let you know that we’re having a Carnival of the Blogging Chicks. Check the Blogging Chicks Blog for more details.