Having people come work on or in your home is not usually comfortable. We relax at home and unwind knowing we have privacy and peace.
How would you feel if a weeks long construction job ended up disturbing your privacy?
After multiple instances of interruption in their home one Redditor with the username ThrowRAN294834 turned to the “Am I the A**hole” (AITA) subreddit to see if they were wrong in their response.
They asked:
“AITA for no longer letting these workers use the bathroom in my house?”
The original poster (OP) explained:
“I am having my house siding worked on for the past 2 weeks because someone hit my house with their car and damaged it. The workers have asked if they could use the restroom and I allowed it, but the issue is that sometimes they wake me up in the morning asking to use it.”
“I would prefer to not leave the door open for them because if I am sleeping, I am not comfortable with someone coming into my home without my knowledge. This morning at around 8am they started knocking on the door.”
“I heard it in my sleep but ignored it and went back to sleep. I heard it over and over again and finally I went to open the door in the basement now that I was awake. I get downstairs and I see this guy looking through my sliding glass door, which made me uncomfortable.”
“I asked him if he needed to use the restroom and he said yes so I let him in through the back door. I ended up telling the workers that I am going to need them to stop using my bathroom because I didn’t appreciate how invasive the workers got when they started peering into my house.”
“If they really need to use the restroom they can go up the street and use the one at the local library.”
“AITA for this?”
The OP asked Redditors to weigh in and rule:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Redditors were united in their reactions to this homeowners need for privacy.
“NTA: Also, call the company and tell them that the workers aren’t allowed in your home. I dont allow strangers in my home unless they are hired for inside work.”
“Outdoor workers like roofers and patio installers brought a port-a-potty for their use. I didn’t even have to say anything as it was standard for them.”~valathel
“NTA. The contractor should have arranged for a porta-potty to be on site for the construction workers. They are not that expensive to rent for a couple of weeks or even a month.”
“In many places, a job that will take a couple of weeks DOES require that facilities are available for workers to relieve themselves. A porta-potty is the easy choice.”
“Allowing them into your home simply encouages people to take their time, as does running to a public toilet.”~Algebralovr
“NTA – this is your space and the added repairs from someone else’s negligence hitting your house shouldn’t inconvenience you more than is necessary. The siding company can rent a port a potty or have their workers use facilities on break times.”
“It seems to me that the port a potty rental as cost for the repair should be part of the damages claim against the driver. What would they do if you weren’t home or how would they manage if you had meetings?”~Millenial_ Falcon1
“NTA. The failure to provide a porta-potty for a two-week job is on the contractor, not you. If it was a two-day job, it would be different. But two weeks is overly long for the person providing the repairs to not have a proper plan in place.”~Low-Focus-3879
“NTA – as someone that works in the manual labor field it is never the property owner’s job to supply a bathroom. Breaks and lunch breaks are usually time to hit a public bathroom.“
“And if an employee needs to take a poo outside of those times they still take a truck and hit a store. In fact we have a rule that our laborers do not enter customers’ homes.”
“It’s one thing if a property owner offers a snack or drink to accept that and another to expect access to a home the whole time they’re there.”~brto08
“NTA The contractor should have rented a porta-potty for the job. That’s the kind of thing that differentiates a more expensive bid from another.”
“How much longer will they be working on your house? Tell your contractor he needs to make arrangements for his crew.”~kol_al
“NTA. It isn’t reasonable to be stuck at your house playing doorman to let people in to use the bathroom for 2 weeks. For a job of that duration, the contractor should have a porta potty delivered.”~ScubaCC
“In that case NTA – you letting them into your home to use the bathroom is you being nice and doing them a favour, it is not a requirement.”
“That means if they want to keep asking favours of you they have to do it on your terms. If that means ‘don’t bother me early in the morning’, then so be it.”~nrsys
“NTA . It’s your home, not a public restroom. They’re grown men. They can figure it out.”~Always0421
It sounds like from comments that longer construction jobs typically involve the company making bathroom arrangements for their workers.
Their failure to do so didn’t make this OP to be TA. Privacy is expected when you at in your own home.