Relatives

Some people just can't tell that they go from being welcomed to being annoying. Some relatives of mine come up from Mexico every year or so (no, I'm not Mexican, for reference). I always start off by welcoming them and all, but soon they begin to push my buttons. First off, they set up their base camp here as if it was the national emergency preparedness centre or something. Calls from friends come in and out, and they sit down to do business from here. Since we have no guest bedroom, my mom asked if I would give up my room for two nights. At first this annoyed me because I've seen it happen before, but I remembered that I had not yet tried my new Sierra Designs sleeping bag, so I made it my mission to camp out in the basement. Of course, I forgot this bag goes to -9, so I was pretty damn hot the first night in the basement.

What annoys me the most, however, is that I have to wait in line more or less to take a shower because they've set up a base camp in there. They carry a ridiculous amount of pharmaceutical products around, and feel free to take over my bathroom counter with 50 bottles of I-don't-know-what facial cleansers. Second of all, they are not light travellers. Even for two nights, they completely take over my room as if they were ants building a colony. Papers litter my desk. Clothes that don't belong to me hang in the closet. These are infectious people.

My point is that, while they are family members and my parents feel obliged to have them sleep here when they are in town (as it is so infrequent, etc.), I'd suggest they should get themselves a freakin' hotel room. I will pretend that it's ok with me that they can take over my room, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that they're going too far. I know I would feel extremely awkward going to someone else's house, being offered a room, and making it up as if it were mine for the duration of my stay. It would be awkward enough just accepting in the first place as I would not want to feel as though I were imposing. Then... there are some who are blind.