Oh yes, Supotco,
I known this situation!
TW: 'Oh don't be so mean, it can't be an office, it's too old'
If I'd get one Euro every time someone marches in our yard and demands to have a tour through our house, I could afford real big signs on every corner of our property, saying: "No, that's not a 'castle' you can visit, but the house we live in! And no, the fact that you're paying taxes doesn't give you the right to go in because we don't get tax money for keeping this house up."
Just this morning I was dealing with an older couple who insisted on having a tour because "it's not fair to keep such an old house for yourself". Fact is that this house was built by my husband's great-grandfather and that he works hard for keeping it in shape.
Sycorax
"And yes, we have signs saying 'private property', but obviously the idea of that is hard to get for a lot of people ..."
Sycorax, oh my goodness, thank you! I was just telling my husband about the same problems my parents have with this! I am so very sorry it's happened to you too, ugh
. My parents own a small business that is run "out of their home", not the house, but on the same property. My mother is an herbalist, and so has lovely gardens planted everywhere on the property. These gardens, and our livestock, prove to be too much for customers (and even just random strangers
) and they proceed to "tour" the property, *take* plants, and let themselves into the pastures!!! I was recently watching my parents' shop when a woman and her 2 small children stopped by, and before long, I noticed one child was missing. I was walking the woman to her car (carrying her heavy merchandise) when I saw her child chasing my sheep in the pasture. Now, I love my animals, and they may be just livestock, but to me they aren't just "animals", and I'm sure there are many who understand this. I immediately jump the fence into the pasture to grab the child out because 1) No one wants to be trampled by sheep, that's a lame death, and 2) He was in the process of grabbing at the sheeps' tails, so of course, something must be done, or that kid would be going home in casts. The boy's mother looks on, doing nothing, and when I get back, asks me if I'll let her charming precious pet my geese (?!?!). I growl out "no", and explain to her the dangers of "running with sheep" as she gives me the most dim expression possible. She finally says, "fine, whatever", and leaves. I told my parents, and they were shocked, to say the least.
We've also had people take "tours" of our home, for exactly the same reason that elderly couple gave you, Sycorax. My parents have completely refinished their homestead to what it would have looked like over 200 years ago, and while we are proud of it, it is not open for tourism, it's a *home*. One evening, we had a "customer" decide he wasn't going to go into the shop, because it was closed, so he'd just wander into the house and see if anyone was home who'd open up the entire shop just for him so he could browse. I was about 15, and I was upstairs when I hear a bumping sound, and come downstairs to find this man all the way in my dining room, looking around! I was shocked, but my temper flared up right quick, and before you know it, I'm yelling at the man (I'd no idea he was a customer, I only knew he was some guy in my house, and I was home alone) to get out, that I'm calling the police, what have you. I didn't call the police, because my parents came home very quickly after I forced him out, and he actually had the nerve to complain to them about me. I'm my parents' only daughter, I was home alone, the man illegally entered my home, did he really think he was going to win the argument?
Oh Sycorax, I honestly am so happy someone else understands. Some people just don't understand that a business run from home is still a) a business and b) a home! Just astounding.
