'We didn’t indicate we were bringing a dog': Entitled Airbnb guest brings dog without telling host, is surprised when host leaves them a negative review

Almost universally, we have a tendency to trust the narrative of the narrator when it comes to stories we see online.

We seldom stop to pause and take a look at the other perspectives that the context offers us: When you're reading a story your favorite influencer or personality is telling about some aggressive Karen they met at a festival, do you ever stop to think, "Why did that complete stranger take offense to them?"

Sure there are some wildly unhinged persons in this world who have the tendency to fly off the handle at every minor inconvenience. Still, I think, more often than we would like to admit, there's another narrative that we completely overlook, staring us right in the face in the form of the other person's perspective.

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Posted by Brad Dickson

We're all the heroes of our own stories and are thus incredibly unreliable narrators of our own experiences. It's no secret that influencers can be wildly obstructive, entitled, and antisocial, making the environment uncomfortable for everyone else. So maybe that “Karen” in their story was the person who was wronged; they just don't have legions of ‘stans’ to preach to who will rabidly side with them over every little detail.

This concept takes on a similar shape in the comment sections of Reddit stories that are told for anonymous clout. Often these stories that we present are self-gratifying and serve to bolster the author's esteem. It's always important to remember this, but sometimes it can't be ignored. For example, this post was shared on Reddit's r/pettyrevenge subreddit by user u/District_Dan. In the story, they describe an experience they had at an Airbnb they stayed in for a wedding. They stayed at a place that allowed pets but did not indicate they were bringing one. When the owner stopped by (not randomly during their stay like a creep, but right when they arrived to make sure they were comfortable), they were dismayed to find that the couple had brought a dog with them. The couple apologized but then proceeded to leave the dog alone in the house for large portions of the weekend.

That was the end of it, or so the poster thought, until the owner left them a 1-star review on their profile regarding the unannounced dog. This “didn't sit well with the poster,” who then proceeded to launch a series of customer service complaints at Airbnb, who finally relented and returned their money when the poster pointed out that the host had come by “unannounced."

When looking at this narrative from a different point of view than the one presented, it starts to look more like a Karen demanding to speak to an employee's manager than an Airbnb guest who a nefarious host wrongly slandered. Sure, this revenge is definitely petty, but the poster definitely is not coming across in a good light here.

Keep reading and scroll on to see screenshots of the post and the reactions, which are largely positive.