posted
I have come to the conclusion that I am incapable of living with women.
It just seems as though girls living together tend to be way more catty and posessive about everything.
Or maybe I just get crazy roommates.
One of my roommates insisted on knowing where I was at all times. If I was going out and realized that I wasn't going to come home that night, I had to call and tell her. She wouldn't let me keep food in the refrigerator. In fact, she didn't want us to have a television or keep snacks in the room at all.
Another one fooled around with every guy on the floor (I lived on the only co-ed floor in the building, with one wing for guys and one wing for girls). Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal, aside from the resulting awkwardness, but she would do it in our room, on weeknights, while I was trying to sleep. And she wouldn't even tell me beforehand, "Oh, so-and-so is coming over, would it be cool if we could just have the room to ourselves tonight?" One night, I woke up at around two in the morning (I had an 8am class the next day) and heard all of these, uh, noises. So I got up, turned on a light, found myself a sweatshirt, and left to go find someone's floor to sleep on. They didn't even notice.
My roommates now are bothersome, as well. For example, if they want me to take out the trash, they won't come to me and ask, "Hey Pearce, could you take out the trash?" No. They'll sit across the room from me and have a conversation along the lines of:
Roommate 1: Hey, someone should take out the trash. Roommate 2: I know. It's getting gross. You did it yesterday, didn't you? Roommate 1: Yeah, and you did it the day before.
The same goes for doing the dishes. Even though I don't generally cook here beyond boiling water for pasta, and thus, I clearly did not generate the pile of dirty dishes and cookware in the sink.
Also, they apparently expect that despite the fact that there is no towel rack within reaching distance of the shower, I will be able to dry myself before stepping out. Maybe by telekinesis or my mutant wind-manipulation ability. Either way, anytime I take a shower, whoever uses the bathroom after me FREAKS OUT about there being water on the floor.
Have you guys ever had irritating roommates? I'm sure you have. This was partially for me to vent and partially to see if these problems are typical or if they happen more with men or women. The guys I know never seem to have these kinds of issues with their roommates.
posted
You should get my husband to tell you stories about the stupid guy he lived with in college...
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Let's see, there was the guy who ripped the legs off the table, smashed a fan, put holes in the wall, and was full of quotes like "I could never vote for a woman, women can't handle responsability". Then there were the guys who couldn't figure out how to flush a toilet after conducting their business, nor would the clean anything up which would leave the rest of us to disvover month-old chunks of meat in forgotten corners. And then there was the guy who couldn't be bothered to walk all the way to the bathroom so he'd piss in the corner of the lounge on our floor. Heck, my room mate used to have sex with his girlfriend in our room while I was there all the time too.
Y'know, just naming a few. There are real winners everywhere. Living with crappy room mates is a proud, time-honoured university experience.
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Oh, and then there were the guys who used to expect my sister and her friend to clean up after them because, you know, they were girls...
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Man, I wish I could figure out a way to make that angle work, ketchupqueen. Alas! the search continues.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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My first roommate my freshman year was a prostitute who brought her John's to our dorm room to service them.
Posts: 862 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Yikes! There was apparently a girl one of my friends roomed with at BYU who was a stripper nights, but at least she didn't bring people home...
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I dunno. The whole trip through hell, purgatory, and heaven would kinda put me off. I mean, wouldn't he be the kind of roommate who would always be bragging about his experiences and patronizing you? Still, since he's seen where thieves end up, I guess you wouldn't have to worry about him taking your food. Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
I have nothing to offer but hundreds of books, low rent, a big lonely apartment and lotsa lotsa burnin' Dante love.
Posts: 1068 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I think one can have those same types of problems with male roommates. I tend to pick roommates carefully now. My current roommate, female, is the best! I think the key is to find people who are just the right amount of laid back for you.
Posts: 872 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
I have had strange roommates and also amazing roommates . . . more of the latter, because I figured out how to pick 'em. I would say that men tend to be a bit more . . . gross. Not all. But many.
As for the current roommate situation, I would sit them down and have a nice, grown-up chat about concerns and aks for their suggestions on how to deal with the things that bother them. Then you can bring up any concerns you have - but make them feel really involved and cared about. Perhaps a rug on the bathroom floor? Or maybe one of them is handy with a drill and screwdriver and wouldn't mind installing a nice towel rod for you? Set days to take out the trash? Worth a shot.
Posts: 471 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Current stuff: We have a rug on the bathroom floor. Apparently, they find this insufficient.
As for the towel rack thing, we can't install one because we live in university apartments.
I've had the most trouble with roommates I haven't gotten to pick out on my own because they were assigned by the school.
For the short time when I had an off-campus apartment, I lived with a girl I'd lived next door to in the dorms, and that actually worked out quite well. I was the man of the house. She did the cooking for the most part, and I got furniture built and tried to fix things, or called people to fix them, whatever.
In New Orleans, I have a single room on-campus, so I don't have to deal with a roommate at all, but I want to find another apartment within walking distance because if you live on-campus, you have to leave for the entire holiday, and if you stay for summer classes, you have to move into another building. Then move out again. Then move back in to another dorm in the fall. All of this moving is inconvenient.
posted
If your roomate is trying to shag in the same room you have a simple solution: join in!
Either they'll get freaked out and never do it again, or you'll be along for the ride.
Either way, you win!
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For the humour-challenged crew that seem to have infested Hatrack of late, I have learned that I need to point out that the above was purely a joke.
Posts: 2245 | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Im not impressed by such horror stories. I was in a fraternity...
Then I lived at "the shop".
No one here has any idea what the shop was or what the heck I'm taling about, but trust uncle dave, the shop defeats all
Posts: 2532 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Nah, can't afford that. Just goes to show yet again that pH is out of my league.
Actually, I haven't had a roommate since, oh, my early undergrad years; it's one of the few major luxuries I allow myself.
Posts: 1068 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Bob the Lawyer: Let's see, there was the guy who ripped the legs off the table, smashed a fan, put holes in the wall, and was full of quotes like "I could never vote for a woman, women can't handle responsability". Then there were the guys who couldn't figure out how to flush a toilet after conducting their business, nor would the clean anything up which would leave the rest of us to disvover month-old chunks of meat in forgotten corners. And then there was the guy who couldn't be bothered to walk all the way to the bathroom so he'd piss in the corner of the lounge on our floor. Heck, my room mate used to have sex with his girlfriend in our room while I was there all the time too.
Y'know, just naming a few. There are real winners everywhere. Living with crappy room mates is a proud, time-honoured university experience.
Ah, yes. I remember some of those. And then there was this vegan guy who used to cook nothing but beans...
For the most part, though, my roommates were awesome. I lived with some of my closest friends for most of my university career and it worked out very well. Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
I lived with two guys (in a one-bedroom apartment with numerous pets, I might add) over the summer, and I found it was soooo much better than attempting to get along with girls. Guys are much more easygoing and (at least in my case) perfectly willing to pitch in around the apartment and get stuff done. Other than the obvious spacial issues, living with them was great. I don't want another roomie, but if I got one, it would have to be a guy.
Posts: 1225 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
Ok, people who want to live with Pearce, I have a pony and kitty here you can give her, so all you have to provide is the Ipod Nano.
They're both plastic so require no food and have yet to poop, they are better than the ones Fugu is looking for.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
See, this is why I- A. Refuse to have a roommate ever again and why B. No one should live with me because I am a horrible person who is messy and doesn't like washing the dishes and plays guitar at odd hours... If by some fluke i marry I feel sorry for whoever will marry me.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I had a nice roommate who had no volume control. He spoke very loud at all times. He dyed his hair platinum every week. He had a very nice build and was as cocky as heck. He grew up on a big ranch and referred to the Mexican workers there as "wetbacks." He had a long routine of very racist jokes and stories about taking it out on the Mexicans.
He would hold parties in our apartment on Wednesday nights because he didn't have school on Thursdays. I could hear the music from a block away when I was walking home. I kicked everyone out one of those nights, round about 1 am, because I had to work at 8 am and needed sleep. After that, I really didn't get along with him.
He would make fake porno movies with a few of his pals in the surrounding apartments. They had a full-size blowup doll, a video camera, and a CD full of sleazy music. I imagine they made 7 or 8 short movies.
He burned a hole in the kitchen counter and it came out of my deposit because I was the first to leave the apartment at Christmas break.
I guess I could have reported him and gotten him kicked out. Maybe I should have. But it would have been the first in a long line of such experiences for him, and I didn't want to start it. I was only there one semester, so I figured I could get through it. But man, did I come close to losing it with him.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
I'm moving in a month....into my own apartment.
By myself. Can't wait.
But I've done the annoying roommate thing too. That conversation about the garbage sounded WAY too familiar Pearce. Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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I spent all of two months at BYU at the beginning of 1975. Lived in Heritage Halls, on campus apartments with three bedrooms and a kitchen.
Well two of the roomies decided that they were going to have a dinner party one night and made it very clear that the rest of the roomies were expected to clear out while they did that. Somehow, they managed to get every dish, pot, pan, and piece of silverware in the place dirty in the process. And then, because it was my week for dishes, they demanded that I clean up after them. My position was that I didn't have to clean up after special events, especially when I was not invited to them, but just the everyday stuff.
Then, another time, when it was my week to empty the trash, I apparently didn't do it quickly enough for them, so they emptied all of it out in the middle of my bedroom floor.
Well, to make things worse, I went to talk to the house-mother about the situation, and discovered that it was all my fault and I wasn't trying hard enough to "get along". She didn't like it much when my reply was that if I had wanted to learn to be a maid, I could have stayed home and done that and saved my parents a whole lot of money.
Does it begin to become clear why I only lasted two months in that sort of atmosphere?
On the other hand, I lived in the dorms at a community college here in California one semester, just because I had the money at the time and I was tired of driving back and forth and I could. I had issues with some of the other people on my floor, but my roomie there and I got along just fine, and stayed friends for quite a while after that.
Posts: 2454 | Registered: Jan 2003
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I prefer a nice berber myself, or something plush with a lot of padding.
We are talking about carpeting right?
So far as room mates go, I've never had one, I'm still too poor to move out of my mom's house. My best friend and I have talked for awhile about sharing a house when we get out of school. She's a neat freak who doesn't have a clue how to cook, and I'm a clutter freak who loves to cook, so we figure it'll work out great. Plus we mostly like the same music, same movies and generally enjoy the same hang out type activities.
Otherwise, I have no idea what living with a room mate would be like, female or male. I think I'd get along better with a female, as most of my friends are girls. I tend not to get along well for extended periods of time with guy guys. I know enough about sports at all, but it gets awkward when the objectification of women comes up. I'm not good at it, and I think it's both rude and disrespectful to women, so I don't do it. If I could find a dork guy like myself to room with, someone who only likes to read and play long games of RISK, I'd be set.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
I've never had a roommate, but I'm now living with 10 people in a house. It's a mix of guys and girls and regardless of sex, some of them can be pretty bad. Most of it involves not cleaning up after themselves, leaving bowls of food out on a table for days at a time, etc.
It's not as bad as some of the stuff here, but it's just annoying.
Lyr, you'd probably like some of the people I live with, we have Risk and A&A and nerdy people who read.
Posts: 2867 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
I've also had terrible luck with roommates. My first roommate, in Israel last year, had an Arab boyfriend "behind enemy lines," as it were, so she'd disappear for weeks on end, and take the shadiest transportation possible, to go visit him. At first I would worry about her, but there was a limit to how much of that I could do, especially since she was rarely in the room. It's not that we weren't friendly; we were! But I rarely saw her, and we were from very very different backgrounds. I think she married him sometime during the second semester. Her parents know none of this.
Also, in Israel, the dorms work a little bit like very small apartments. There are two bedrooms (four girls), a small kitchen, and a small bathroom. My two other roommates, besides Ana, were also a treat... one who would bring home a different guy every night, and one who was a complete control freak. The first one, Sarah, was Belgian, and she would seriously have a different boyfriend every week. I slept by the wall adjacent to their room, so I was constantly woken up by thumping noises and stuff from the other side. Ana and I would both experience the joy of getting up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, or to have a drink of water, and finding a completely naked guy in the kitchen. Fun times.
Naomi, on the other hand, didn't do ANYTHING like that. She'd just harrass us to wash dishes (that were mostly hers), clean the bathrooms, sweep in the kitchen, and a number of other chores that she never bothered to do herself. Because our kitchen was so gross (as was our whole apartment that semester -- I started a thread about it back then, I think), I rarely cooked there, and neither did Ana. We would eat in the school cafeterias. If I ate in the apartment, it would be something like bread and cheese, or cereal. And if I did eat, I would wash my dish as soon as I was done, so as to avoid roommate hostility. But Naomi would assume that if there were dishes in the sink, that we would have to wash them. We were the "young'uns" in the apartment... I was 18 and Ana was 19. The other two were in their early 20s. Therefore, we had to do it. I would be in class, or at rehearsal, and she would call my phone and tell me that I need to come do the dishes. Seriously. It's beyond funny. They're dirty and have been in the sink for about two weeks. Seriously, Shani. Do them already. I don't have to keep reminding you. You're a big girl.
Did I mention that Sarah and Naomi both smoked? IN the apartment? After Ana and I would ask them countless times not to? Sarah would open a window if she smoked in the kitchen, but Naomi wouldn't even bother to do that. And when we told the housing administration, they sent them formal letters and stuff (smoking in the dorms is prohibited), and fines... and they both denied ever smoking in the room. Well, I'm sorry... but the constant smoke, the cloudiness in the kitchen, and the everflowing ashtray in the kitchen speak otherwise. Ugh. Don't even get me started on that one.
Yeah, that was the first semester.
Second semester, Ana and I couldn't take it anymore, and we moved out.
I ended up in a MUCH nicer apartment, with three Israeli girls who actually cared about the cleanliness of their apartment, their studies, and their lifestyle in general. That was really nice. I don't have many complaints for the second semester. One of my roommates, Olga, would occasionally bring home guys, and sometimes she'd put them in my room, which was weird... my roommate Irit was never there over the weekends, she would always go home to her family, an hour away. So Olga would put her guys in the other bed in my room. That was weird, sometimes. But considering the lovely party I had just come from, I could handle it. And it wasn't often.
This year, my roommate and I are so different, I can't even start to explain. I think I can probably count the number of words we've exchanged since we moved in (on August 20th). Seriously, we do NOT talk. She doesn't acknowledge that I'm there. If I come in, and she's there, I'll say "hey," or "how was class," or something. She'll respond as shortly as possible, and then bury herself once more in her computer screen.
And that's when she's THERE. Half the time she's not even there. I never know when she'll be there, and I have no idea where she goes. She was sitting typing at her laptop one time, and then she just got up and went "bye, I'm going to Chicago" and walked out the door. Just like that. And that's the time when she told me where she was going. The rest of the times she just leaves and doesn't come back. It's very strange.
Anyway, I've babbled enough about roommate woes. I can't wait until next year, when I get to choose my roommates, and where I live. Posts: 7877 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
I lived in a house with 13 other people for four years. Interesting experience. One girl was related to two others in the house and they were not on speaking terms, especially after the one pulled a knife on another. The first girl also had an on again off again relationship with a guy in the house. That could be quite stormy on occasion.
The kitchen was quite a mess. I remember trying to clean out the fridge on occasion but so much of the food was written in Asian languages that I couldn't figure out expiration dates.
One guy from China used to watch porn in the living room. We finally came to an agreement that if someone else walked into the room he'd turn it off till he had the room to himself again.
I miss that house so much. For years I was so homesick for it that it hurt.
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Raia: Your apartments were set up the way the ones in Chicago are. Two bedrooms, living room, kitchen, two girls to a bedroom.
I think a little bit of the hostility from the girl I'm actually sharing a bedroom with comes from the fact that until I came up here, she was going to have the room entirely to herself. So I understand that. Apparently, the university didn't even ask my roommates if they would mind having a fourth person here. If I'd known that they hadn't been consulted, I would've probably just gotten an apartment on my own, off-campus.
My roommates here also smoke weed in the apartment.
As for guys, well...they have a lot of friends over a lot, and that can get annoying at times. They joined a business fraternity, and one night, they announced an hour before hand that their entire pledge class would be coming over. I'd been planning on having a quiet night at home reading and watching tv, so I was quite annoyed. And the girl I share a room with has to go to bed very early because she gets up at 4am for ROTC.
One of my roommates has a boyfriend who comes over, and I admit, it's kind of unnerving to walk out into the hall in a towel after a shower and find a guy standing there in his boxers. Or just a towel.
Personally, I've had guys over to spend the night, but it's usually when the girl I share a room with is gone (she goes home every weekend, and sometimes she's gone even longer on ROTC trips). But I talked with her about that kind of thing, and she basically said that as long as we're not getting naked, it doesn't matter if I have a guy spend the night, even if she IS there. And it's not like that's a big deal, since, you know, I don't make a practice out of getting naked anyway. I just like to have a cuddle buddy.
posted
I've never had a major roommate problem, mostly because the guys I've lived with and I sort of kept separate lives. We treated the fact that we lived together as sort of an accident of circumstance, like having neighbors. We cleaned up after ourselves or didn't, used public spaces or didn't, stayed up late or didn't, and generally didn't care one way or the other.
When girls talked about things like cooking meals together or taking turns with chores, or what-have-you, we just got confused. "You mean you NOTICE the other people in your house? And you act like you're a little FAMILY? Weird."
Posts: 1539 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
I've only had one set of roomies really, seeing as I'm still in first semester of college. But thus far they are awesome. I'm in a triple here. That means three guys are shoved into a double and given an extra wardrobe, a bunk bed in addition to the single bed and three desks. This could be a very bad situation, but we make it work. We're all really easy going and generally quiet. Thus far we haven't had any sort of argument or problem. And we never even have to talk about the room or how things work. If the trash needs taking out, then whoever happens to be in a cleaning mood grabs it. Whoever happens to have their music on first is the person who's we listen to. Or if we're not in the mood for that person's music then we just put on headphones and listen to our own. It works out really well. The trick is that we all don't really care about what the others do, and are in turn respectful about what we do. Heh, I'm probably the worst of the three of us, since I'm messy as hell and have an awful lot of stuff. But they use it about as much as I do, so I don't feel too bad about. My other suite mates (we're arranged in suites here, 2 doubles, 2 singles around a bathroom) are really awesome too. So I'm really lucky, I guess.
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
Had a roommate who fell asleep everynight to the same song on repeat. Twitch.
And her big scary friend who she sometimes slept with (I mean it just that way - slept) used our room as if it were his... he would come in and out at his leisure and when she left for class in the morning he'd still be there, when I had to get ready for *my* classes. I wouldn't normally care, except this is in a ten-by-ten dorm room.
And my current one - watches every sports game on TV and screams the whole game... it's crazy!
Still, can't complain too much Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
blacwolve your boyfriend and his roomate have been friends for several years and chose each other right? But I can just see them playing jenga to do anything.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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