As I suspected, about thirty minutes after I finished the previous blogpost she called me, and said she had found a place to stay for the night in Kyoto. I was relieved, and thought I finally would get rid of her, but again she had other things in mind.
I met up with her another half an hour later, and it turned out that the place she had found not was for this evening, but instead for the following night (although I'm suspecting that she in reality is off to Osaka instead). She told me a straight lie about how she had searched CS for other hosts, without any luck. I asked her when she had done this, and she replied "sometimes in the middle of the day". Just too bad for her that I already had checked her CS-account, and it stated she hadn't been online for 23 hours.
So, as the clock was close to 11 pm I had no choice but letting her stay with me one last night. I guess that had been her plan all along.. >.<
And so ends my first (and probably last) experience with CS! What a waste of time and energy. >.<
About Anette
Anette came to Japan as an exchange student in 2010, met the love of her life and got stuck. From her base in Tokyo she writes about her experiences as a full-time worker in Tokyo and about her travels in Japan and abroad. She's a free-spirited adventurer who enjoys both the great outdoors and her urban lifestyle.
Did you give her negative reviews on her CS account? Don't be too 甘い about doing that! Everyone must be warned :)
ReplyDeleteAt least I can say I gave her the negative review she deserved;)! I didn't feel too good about doing that though, but I felt she left me no choice.. It seems she hasn't noticed it yet, I'm wondering what she'll write me in return.. Oh well. It's hard to be too friendly and helpful with an unwanted guest, I wasn't exactly happy and talkative yesterday when she came back again.. Haha.. x)
DeleteI hope everything will work out. At least it's only one more day. If she tries to stay another day, you can tell her to find a capsule hotel.
DeleteYeah, I finally got rid of her Monday morning^^ haha..
DeleteYou really should learn to say things directly to people rather than writing about them in a blog.
ReplyDeleteI did tell her that I felt she was taking advantage of my hospitality, and that I wasn't comfortable by lending her my key. I've also given her a negative reference directly on CS, so it's not like I've only expressed myself through this blog.
DeleteOf course one can discuss the ethics of writing negative things about others on a public web page like this, but it is not like I have reviled her identity or anything. Also, my main readers are friends and family who wants to keep themselves updated on my daily life, and I have no problem in seeing the relevance in writing about this experience for them to read.
But thanks for the advice; I definitely agree that there is potential for improvement when it comes to clearly stating my case.
Hi Annette,
ReplyDeleteI'm the Member Communications Coordinator at CouchSurfing and your blog popped up on my Google reader. I just wanted to reach out and say that I'm sorry to hear that your first hosting experience went so poorly! Thank you for leaving a negative reference, that was the right thing to do and hopefully it will prevent other people from having similar experiences.
I do hope you consider participating in the community again. Maybe if you attend an activity in your city you can meet some CouchSurfers who are more considerate -- most of us are!
Best,
Meredith Hutcheson
CouchSurfing Member Communications
Hi Meredith!
DeleteI'm pretty sure that although things turned out a bit differently than what I'd hoped for this time, most CS experiences are good. Although I'm not planning to host again anytime soon I wouldn't mind participating in some of the CS activities, it looks like fun.!
Thank you:)
Anette