Some Never Recover From Being a Bad Houseguest

How to make it through the weekend in one piece without becoming a dinner story.

- Mike Albo

THE HOST MAY be barefoot, the atmosphere relaxed, but you're just a misstep away from never being invited back. (Or worse: becoming a story they tell over dinner at Sant Ambroeus.) Liz Lange, who owns the Grey Gardens estate, has visitors all summer long and has thoughts on how her guests should behave. “Help yourself. I can’t ask if you’re hungry and thirsty all the time,” she says. As for house tours: “I expect to show you the bedroom where Big Edie made her corn and the staircase.” But after that you're on your own. Other hosts have other rules. The standard line about knowing when to help, when to sing for your supper, and when to make yourself scarce still applies, but here are a few other suggestions for getting through the weekend in one piece.

LOGISTICS

No one cares when exactly you arrive. The trains are crowded and the traffic unpredictable, so everyone understands if you're six hours late for dinner. Leaving is another matter. Don't think it's okay to come Thursday night and stay till Monday morning—that's annoying.

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