STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Kelly · Hermes

weird question about overnight visitors

HeatherLynn · Gucci

I have never taken a towel. Also, when friends come to visit me they never bring one either. I always keep fresh, guest towels and washcloths on hand.

wetbandit42 · Marc Jacobs

I don't think either of you are weird. When my friends came to visit me in college, they always brought their own towels. I, on the other hand, never bring a towel when I visit someone because I figure they must own more than one towel.

No offense, but I find it a little weird that your friends only owned one towel each (I'm assuming). What do people do when the one towel they own is in the wash?

gingembre1 · Kate Spade

I never bring a towel - it's part of hosting a guest to provide them with fresh linens.

needsfashionadvice · Kate Spade

I've never heard of bringing your own towel! It's not a trip to the beach. WHo only keeps one towel per person in their house? There's only two in my house and we probably have 20 towels.

Elle · Hermes

I think this is one of those unfortunate situations where people forget that they're adults who have guests stay at their homes, and not kids who have friends crash on the floor of their dorm for crying out loud!

I think it probably ties in with the casual/informal lives most people, especially young people, live these days. I bet the thought of preparing for a guest or being a good host/hostess never crossed their minds. They probably thought the fact that they were providing you a place to 'crash' was plenty!

-- Edited by Elle at 13:20, 2008-06-11

Kelly · Hermes

haha no offense taken wetbandit, I thought it was super weird too! I asked them that, they just said that they take a shower, then do the laundry, then the towel is clean and ready again the next time they take a shower. It still seems weird not to have any kind of backup, though!

XtinaStyles · Marc Jacobs

gingembre1 wrote:
I never bring a towel - it's part of hosting a guest to provide them with fresh linens.

This is my philosophy. However, maybe with college stuff people aren't really "prepared" to do so? I think they're weird. I always have several clean towels in my closet and I never host. I got some great ones for like $4.99 each. Is it that hard?

cahabo · Kate Spade

We don't have special guest towels, since we rarely have overnight guests, but we have plenty of towels if they ever needed one. When I'm a guest in someone else's home I usually don't bring a towel. I do think it's strange that some people would only have one towel considering you can get them pretty cheap.

NCshopper · Hermes

If the friends that you were visiting were still in college, then yeah, that's fine for them not to have a spare to lend you. But if they're out of college, they should have extra towels. Taking care of guests when they come to visit is part of growing up.

Kitty · Hermes

Elle wrote:

I think this is one of those unfortunate situations where people forget that they're adults who have guests stay at their homes, and not kids who have friends crash on the floor of their dorm for crying out loud!

I think it probably ties in with the casual/informal lives most people, especially young people, live these days. I bet the thought of preparing for a guest or being a good host/hostess never crossed their minds. They probably thought the fact that they were providing you a place to 'crash' was plenty!

-- Edited by Elle at 13:20, 2008-06-11

Bingo.

cc · Marc Jacobs

NCshopper wrote:

If the friends that you were visiting were still in college, then yeah, that's fine for them not to have a spare to lend you. But if they're out of college, they should have extra towels. Taking care of guests when they come to visit is part of growing up.

I agree. The only times I've ever brought my own towel were when I was staying with friends of my boyfriend since I thought they might still be living the "never left college/home" life. I otherwise assume that people will provide me with linens and sure enough, whenever I am a guest people either give me towels when I arrive or tell me where the linen closet is.

Although...my boyfriend's mother has NEVER offered or provided any towels when I've stayed overnight at her house. Luckily all my visits have just been for one night so I just deal with showering/hairwashing right before and after my visits because the whole thing makes me feel so weird and unwelcome that I can't bring myself to ever ask for towels. Meanwhile his bummy college friends...totally provided towels!

littlebean · Kate Spade

I agree with what Elle said. I think that's normal for a lot people while they're in college or even in the immediate after college years. The longer it's been since college, the stranger it seems. But I think if I were going to stay at a friend's house with a group of friends (so that we would be sleeping on air mattresses or in sleeping bags) I would still contemplate bringing a towel.

-- Edited by littlebean at 22:40, 2008-06-11

Suasoria · Chanel

What Elle said. It's a collegiate mentality. So, what happened? Did someone loan you theirs?

I've had guests who bring their own pillows (for whatever reason; allergies, neck/back issues, etc.) but never a towel - and it wouldn't occur to me to bring towels to someone else's house. Maybe if someone is a germophobe they might prefer to bring their own and have you do the same in their house.

That said, I've stayed in hotels where I wished I'd brought my own instead of using the teensy little towels they provided...

Kelly · Hermes

cc - that is so weird! I wonder if it just completely slips her mind?

Suasoria - well, what happened is that I borrowed one of theirs. I felt so completely disgusting that I used it as little as humanly possible. I basically just sat in the bathroom with the window open and air-dryed while I put on makeup, etc., because I didn't want to use some boy's used towel! I would have just gone without a shower if I could have, but we had been walking around all day in the heat and I was there for the whole weekend...Ew. I feel gross just remembering this.

I guess in their defense, they are all still in college/graduate school, so I guess they're still in the "college mentality." It still surprised me, because when I was in college I had a couple spare towels on hand that I could give to guests - they weren't specifically "guest towels," but I just had a couple for my own use so I had something to use while the others were wet or in the laundry!

luckyclover · Dooney & Bourke

lol sounds like they didn't feel like doing laundry. We were raised to pack everything you need when you go somewhere so as not to put anyone out....or just in case they didn't have what you needed. On the other hand I have always made sure to have extra towels. You can never have too many towels lol. I even used to pack towels to visit the inlaws until my husband was like...? you don't have to pack towels they really don't care if we use theirs. lol They have even offered to let us use the washer so we have clean clothes going home. But I don't think it's wierd that they pack their towels but it is impolite of them to not offer you a clean towel....even college people should have more than 1. hmm

jacL · Coach

Are your friends guys? That is the only excuse I would give them. I definately think that is weird. I use my old towels as "guest towels" but I would never think to not give a towel to a guest.

Cortney1982 · Chanel

I usually bring my own to my parents since their laudry is more crunchy to my liking! I couldn't imagine only having one towel! I have nice clean white fluffy ones for my guests.