When you’re staying with someone, you have to make sure you’re a good houseguest. It’s just the laws of common decency. You would hate it if someone crashed on your couch for weeks on end, interrupting your routine without ever offering to cook you dinner or contribute to groceries. You wouldn’t want someone to do that to you, so why do it to someone else? But it’s simple to be a good houseguest. Don’t stay too long, keep your area clean, offer to help out, and maintain a friendship outside of needing them for things. You would hate for them to think that you’re just using them for your space. Especially if they’re one of your friends who live in a high-cost-of-living area and have a desirable apartment, like the friend in this story. 

When the host felt like she was being taken advantage of, she thought of a pretty simple solution. She would charge her friend a base rate for the use of her apartment. The friend didn’t take to this kindly, though, and saw it as a slap in the face.