This doesn't bother me--they've seen worse

Most of my friends would go

"Irish, you cleaned the place up!"

Who cares what they think? Truth be known, and their house probably don't look all that great either. They're not getting paid to look at your house. Just so happens I do like a clean home.

This isn't only limited to delivery or repair people. I have a friend whom I care very much about, but she has this strange quirk of popping over unannounced.  And she has a knack for seemingly coming over at the worst moments (and my house is not exactly dirty).  Strange thing about this is that nobody else I know does this.

All I know is, I've always been taught to get ahold of people beforehand to let them know.  The point is not always whether a house is "messy" (and there are varying ideas of what "messy" actually is), but this could apply to anyone who might be in the middle of something that's beyond control at the moment, such as a sickness or important paperwork.

I've been on an install or two where I felt as though I needed a shot or something when I was done with the job. I'm not super clean, but every now and then I run across one that makes me look really good compaired to the downright unhealthy crap these customers live in...

Nobody's perfect, but then again, it is the fault of the person who left the house in a messy state.