Is it rude to expect dinner guests to help clean up?
You invite guests over for dinner and once everyone is finished, the dreaded task of tidying up begins. While you try and handle everything by yourself, a little help would be nice, but is asking for it considered rude?
Having friends and family over for dinner entails a lot of laughs, catching up, and, of course, food. The more the food comes out, the more the dishes pile up, and before you know it, your home is in a complete shambles.
While you want your dinner guests to sit back and relax, you stand in the kitchen and sometimes wish that one of them would utter the words "let me help you clean up". But, is it rude to expect them to do so?
Well, one KZN woman experienced this feeling first hand. After hosting some friends for dinner, she experienced anxiety as she stood in her kitchen surrounded by mountains of dishes.
Read: Have you ever experienced the awful 'guests from hell'?
"I invited my friends over for dinner at my place and was shocked to discover that no one offered to help me tidy up. They saw me struggling and trying to juggle entertaining and cleaning, and no one moved a muscle," the irate woman said.
She also added that while she didn't outright ask them to help, she did expect them to at least offer.
Also read - Dishwashing techniques: Should you rinse after washing dishes?
We surveyed our Twitter audience to get their thoughts on this, and the results showed that of the 292 people who participated in the poll, 51% agreed that it's not rude to expect guests to help clean up, 41% said it was rude, and 8% weren't too sure about this debate.
What do you think? Is it rude to expect your dinner guests to help you clean up?