My stay in this home started off very pleasantly. When I arrived, Hannes was quite cordial.
The next morning, he very kindly fixed me a large plate of eggs with tomatoes. I was was very hungry after my long flight and appreciated his gesture.
Over the next few days we had some very pleasant talks getting acquainted. But gradually the atmosphere deteriorated.
At first he became more distant. Sometimes after I asked him a question, he didn’t reply. I learned not to speak unless spoken to.
Then he became irritable and even rude in the way he spoke to me. I spoke to him about this after he berated me for removing the lint trap from his dryer.
The dryer wouldn’t start without the lint trap being cleaned. I did so because that’s what a person would do in the U.S. But Hannes was furious that I had done so and berated me for it, saying I had made a mess and that I should have asked him about it.
I took a breather to process what he had just just said and the way he had said it. Then I decided I must speak to him about it. Things couldn’t go on the way they were going.
So I told him he was being tactless and that there is a kind way to tell others what their expectations are. At this he became more furious and gave out a long list of complaints against me:
* I used the light in my room during the daytime in order to see. He claimed I was using too much electricity.
* I didn’t leave the bathroom in the exact condition in which I found it. I couldn’t think of what he meant since I took care to dry the floor, clean the mirror, and so forth before leaving the bathroom. I could only think he meant that I had not closed the toilet lid. This was not an expectation he had mentioned to me, so I had no idea that may have been what he wanted. In American homes, this is not expected.
* He mentioned that I had not put my breakfast dishes in the dishwasher that morning. That is true. The reason it happened was because the dishwasher hadn’t finished the load of dishes already in it. I waited and waited but finally went on to do other things and forgot. After a while I finally remembered and put them in the dishwasher.
The conversation ended bitterly with Hannes saying something in German that I couldn’t understand. I believe he was saying something to the effect that matters between us were at a total end. While he said this he drew his hand across his throat in a slashing motion.
At that point I knew I had to get out of that house. So I took a couple of days to wind up my affairs there. ( I came to Berlin in the first place to aid Ukrainian refugees, and I was waiting for an order of soap for them to arrive from Amazon.)
However, once the soap arrived, and I had delivered it, I packed all my things and checked in to a hotel. My hotel bill amounts to about 1100€. I got $302 reimbursement from Airbnb due to the reason I left. But that still leaves me with an extra expense of about $800 due to Hannes’s atrocious behavior.