Etiquette shown to guests in one's home

[MikeG]

That's nice. I was only asking as i was wondering if you had the workmen in and if so whether you offered them tea and biscuits on a regular basis to keep them happy.

My wife brings me tea and cake regularly, and it keeps me very happy!

 

[marinyork]

I think this is one of the weirdest of weird English behaviours. The front door taboo affects my professional life (I'm an architect), and it can be traced back centuries to screens passages in hall houses, and beyond that to the alley between the animal accommodation and human accommodation in long houses and the like. Bizarre, bizarre, bizarre. I've just built a bloody great porch on the front of my house, and I'm going to build a bloody great wall at the side, forcing people to break a lifetime's habit and approach a house from the damn front.

Seems a bit extreme to me building a wall. I think on this thread you should be using your architectural skills to design a giant teapot feature at the front or back of the house, perhaps even inside the house.

 

[Accy cyclist]

My wife brings me tea and cake regularly, and it keeps me very happy!

Yes i noticed that.

 

[Beebo]

if people i know well come to stay then i tell them to make their own drinks when they need them.
I dont want to be asking all the time.
My in laws will just sit in their chair all day expecting to be waited on, the lazy feckers. It annoys my wife too.

 

[Bazzer]

My wife offers tea ("builders" or my Earl Grey) or coffee.
Me, I don't like visitors, unless one of my children.

 

[classic33]

They go to the back door.

Or the side, back door went years ago.

Isn't the backdoor "tradesmen, servants & dodgy goings on"?

 

[Accy cyclist]

When my brother was at university some 30 odd years ago,he brought home his girlfriend. She was a bit posh as her dad was a major in the army,or something like that. Anyway,she must've thought it was polite to offer to do the washing up. She did,but she didn't bother to rinse the tea leaves out of the teapot before putting it in the washing up bowl. We put this down to her family probably having servants who did such things for them.

 

[raleighnut]

Most visitors get a cuppa unless it's just a quick 'nip in' visit.

 

[raleighnut]

When my brother was at university some 30 odd years ago,he brought home his girlfriend. She was a bit posh as her dad was a major in the army,or something like that. Anyway,she must've thought it was polite to offer to do the washing up. She did,but she didn't bother to rinse the tea leaves out of the teapot before putting it in the washing up bowl. We put this down to her family probably having servants who did such things for them.

Washing a teapot.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Washing a teapot.

Oh no! You're not going to tell me that they shouldn't be washed,like a frying pan,are you?!

 

[raleighnut]

Oh no! You're not going to tell me that they shouldn't be washed,like a frying pan,are you?!

Both should be rinsed with hot water, using detergent wrecks the flavour.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Both should be rinsed with hot water, using detergent wrecks the flavour.

So soaking a tea pot or cup with diluted bleach to get rid of brown stains isn't recommended then?

 

[Julia9054]

I'm British. I'm progammed to offer people a cup of tea. I feel awkward if i don't. In the early nineties, i lived in Zimbabwe for a few years. As i am programmed to, i would offer tea and my visitors would always turn me down. After about 18 months, i learned that i was, in fact, being incredibly rude and that it is their cultural practice to just bring refreshments for visitors. If you offer, it means you don't really want to provide

 

[raleighnut]

So soaking a tea pot or cup with diluted bleach to get rid of brown stains isn't recommended then?

 

[swee'pea99]

The traditional and friendly way to say "hello" in China if you bump into them or they come to your house is to say "have you eaten?" I always thought that very civilised

Along similar lines, I've heard there's a traditional Jewish saying that when you visit someone you should always ring the bell with your elbow - ie, your hands should be full of whatever you've brought them.