Definitely #1. I hate watching TV and doing nothing, and if I have a guest I feel obligated to spend time with them. I go stir crazy sitting around doing nothing.
I’m going with #2.
Doing some stuff, fine. Doing nothing but running around being busy all the time? Fuck that. I’m well aware some people live their lives that way and feel bad if they just sit for five minutes doing nothing, but I’m not one of them.
I’d always rather do stuff, so #1.
Do I have the week off work, or am I doing the 9-5 every day and then expected to run around in the evenings?
A week of hanging around the house would make me stir crazy, and I have limited tv channels as my service is suspended so I only get whatever free channel is previewing at that time.
Having someone to get out and check out events with sounds like fun. I may not be up for an action packed marathon of adventure, but it would seem odd to me to have someone come to stay and not want to do anything aside from watch tv.
If they are coming to visit me then I’ll take the week off so we can hang out so for that I’d prefer #1.
If they are coming for some other reason and just want to hang out several times throughout the week then I’m not taking off work and I would prefer a #2.
#1, definitely. If someone is my guest from out of town, I want to show off my city and all the awesome things that one can do here. I have a list of cool touristy stuff, but I love it when folks know ahead of time what they want to do, so I can fit that in.
If a guest just wanted to sit around and watch TV the whole time, jeeze, they could have done that at home, instead of coming to The Greatest City In The World. I would feel itchy about that - like I was being a Bad Host. Also, I don’t watch a lot of TV, so I myself would be bored stiff.
By the way, we currently have a guest staying with us, visiting from Australia, for about 6 weeks total - he arrived Monday and will be leaving after New Year’s. We love him dearly, so it is not an imposition at all. We like his company and have a spare bedroom, so why make him pay for a hotel?
Person #2 would drive me crazy, we don’t really have the TV on unless we’re watching a specific program; we watch the show and then turn it off. I find the ideas of spending just a lot of time sitting and watching tv depressing.
Person #2 isn’t saying, I don’t want to do anything except watch TV. They’re saying the host is responsible for putting together an itinerary and if that includes nothing but TV, so be it. I’ve hosted both types and #2 is certainly more convenient for me. I mean, if they have a list of things they want to do I’ll try my best to accommodate, but it doesn’t always work out.
#1 is fine as long as it doesn’t involve me. Otherwise definitely #2, and #1 is welcome to go stay in a hotel and leave me in peace.
But your mention of “Father Ted” shows excellent taste! The full Father Stone episode actually comes on right after that clip – this is the direct link.
I’d be fine with #1 if I’m amenable to all their ideas.
Like, sure, I’m up to breaking from my normal humdrum routine. But if you suggest going to a club, the answer is no and will stay “no”. As long as you’re fine with me saying no, I’m willing to say “yes” to a bunch of stuff.
Kinda familiar, we frequently host the parents here and mine are type 1s and his mom is a type 2.
My folks aren’t necessarily coming to see us, they’re just staying here while in town for whatever reason. They lived here until retiring, so plenty of friends and family in the area. So if we decide to hang out and make a nice dinner for them, that’s great, and if we don’t, they’ll scavenge in the kitchen or head out somewhere on their own. They bring their own transportation and agenda and are generally easy to have around.
His mom is only coming here to see us. She flies in so has no autonomy here in the land of zero public transportation, and is amenable to whatever plans we make with her but has never once voiced an idea of what to do. She brings reading material for herself and is good at keeping herself occupied for a little while, but it’s very much more ‘entertaining a guest’ than with my folks. On the plus side, continually finding things to do on her biannual visits has led to me visiting a lot more tourist attractions in my area than I would have ever thought to do.
Very passive guests drive me crazy–you know, the type where you suggest 3-5 places to go out to eat, and they refuse to express a preference among them, or you ask if they want tea or coffee and they say “whichever is easier”. I always feel like the complete unwillingness to express an opinion serves to 1) make me responsible for their happiness and 2) allow them to basically avoid having to feel any sort of gratitude or appreciation because they never asked for anything, so they aren’t obliged in any way to me. I associate that sort of hyper-avoidance of social obligation with emotionally unhealthy people.
If that’s what the OP means when describing type 2, give me type 1 any day.