Roommate gripes

[JimCasy]

So, if you have roommates, what do they do to drive you up the wall?

I have two roommates, and only one of them really ever annoys me (he's also an ex, so that may have something to do with it ).

He can't seem to turn off lights, ever. If he cooks, it'll be six hours later and the kitchen light will still be on. He leaves his bedroom light on constantly, and his tv is almost always on too.

When he makes food, say Mac & Cheese, he leaves the empty boxes/bags all over the counter, when the trash is like half a foot away.

Basically all we ask him to do is take care of his cat, but we're constantly having to give it food and water when we hear him yowling by his bowls, and he has to be reminded every time to clean the litter box. Once he let it go so long that his cat shat all over our other roommate's bed. She was not happy. And the litter box is in my bathroom, so I don't appreciate the stink of an uncleaned box right when I get out of the shower.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Your room-mate sound just like my son. My son doesn't know how to turn lights off, leaves the door open when the heater is on, leaves food containers on the bench, leaves dirty plates and cups all over his room and on the rare occasion he beings them out leaves them on the sink expecting me to wash them up, will drop his clothes on the floor in the bathroom when there is a laundry basket right next to him etc.

However the one thing that really gets on my nerves is when he leaves chewing gum lying around.

 

[Lindley]

I'm fortunate to have a roommate who doesn't really bother me at all for the moment.

 

[nevermore]

I'm an only child; I never really learned how to share space, so I would never choose to have a roommate. Other than my time experiencing the hell that is dorm life, I've only had one, with whom I shared a 3-bedroom apartment for the last two years of college. She paid rent and utilities, but lived with her boyfriend the entire time. I only saw her (at the house-we were in fact friends and hung out a lot otherwise) when she came over to smoke weed and watch the X-Files on Sundays, which worked for me.

 

[Colonel Green]

leaves food containers on the bench

I thought I was up to date with most Australianisms, but bench?

Does your son leave dishes in the park?

 

[Miss Chicken]

leaves food containers on the bench

I thought I was up to date with most Australianisms, but bench?

Does your son leave dishes in the park?

Bench = counter

as in kitchen bench or benchtop.

 

[Frodo Lives]

Ok, been beaten to that explanation I see.

Ugh, where to begin. I love my flatmates, they're all fantastic dudes, we drink, we smoke, we laugh, we party together, but they can do some really irritating stuff.

Basically they're pigs, which I hate having to say because I'm a guy too and I should be revelling in mess, but I just prefer things to be tidy. Not amazingly clean, just tidy, you know? But not once have I seen them clean up after themselves, they'll leave dishes in the sink to pile up - and we have a dishwasher for Christ's sake! It's not that much effort to rinse a plate then put it in the machine. Oh, and would it kill them to wipe down the bench (see counter) after they're done cooking?

Numerous other cleanliness issues, such as plates and cups/glasses left everywhere, clothes dumped in the middle of the lounge, rubbish left in the middle of the floor.

It's not a huge pain for me to clean up, and I should complain more, but I'm not that sorta guy and I hate telling people what to do.

 

[thestrangequark]

Two of my roommates are great. We've become friends, and they even have their perks. Jill just bought a 46 inch plasma tv for the living room! In two years we've had only a handful of easily resolved disagreements.

Our new roommate, however, is another story. He's a slob, in the most disgusting way. Right now there is a used bandaid of his stuck to the living room rug -- I picked up the last one and I'm waiting for him to get home so that he can pick up this one. His room smells. Bad. So bad that when he opens the door it wafts into the hallway. He took the homemade afghan my mother made me out of the living room and into his room and now it stinks too! He has now hygiene products that we're aware of aside from a toothbrush, and we know for a fact he's continuously using ours. He used my expensive shampoo and conditioner even after I asked him not to. One day my roommate Joseph's towel disappeared from the bathroom. Who would want to use some one else's dirty towel?! A week later Joseph had to go into his room to reset the internet (the modem's in there), and found his towel neatly folded on Tae's shelf with the rest of Tae's things. He also seems to be eating our food.

We're on the verge of kicking him out, which is a harsh thing to do, especially since he's a friendly enough guy. But he needs to shape up or he can't stay.

 

[Rÿcher]

I used to have roomies. My major complaints used to be noise, eating my food, using my stuff, not taking messages, not cleaning up and leaving their hair on my soap. Nothing wore than finding a short and curly on your bar first thing in the morning.

 

[thestrangequark]

I used to have roomies. My major complaints used to be noise, eating my food, using my stuff, not taking messages, not cleaning up and leaving their hair on my soap. Nothing wore than finding a short and curly on your bar first thing in the morning.

My roommate Joseph has a fro, and we always joke about the fact that no matter how hard he tries, his hair just ends up everywhere. We find his curly-q's (the kind from the head not the groin) in our rooms, in the carpet, in our sweaters. The funniest though was when I was taking a shower and discovered one in my belly button! As I pulled it out it uncoiled and I was at once horrified and greatly amused.

 

[JimCasy]

Your room-mate sound just like my son. My son doesn't know how to turn lights off, leaves the door open when the heater is on, leaves food containers on the bench, leaves dirty plates and cups all over his room and on the rare occasion he beings them out leaves them on the sink expecting me to wash them up, will drop his clothes on the floor in the bathroom when there is a laundry basket right next to him etc.

However the one thing that really gets on my nerves is when he leaves chewing gum lying around.

Eww, what, does he just stick to to whatever happens to be handy at the moment?

I don't get annoyed with the fact that my roommate never does dishes, cause I'm kind of anal about the kitchen. I've seen him do dishes...I wouldn't want to eat off his "clean" plates.

I used to have roomies. My major complaints used to be noise, eating my food, using my stuff, not taking messages, not cleaning up and leaving their hair on my soap. Nothing wore than finding a short and curly on your bar first thing in the morning.

My roommate Joseph has a fro, and we always joke about the fact that no matter how hard he tries, his hair just ends up everywhere. We find his curly-q's (the kind from the head not the groin) in our rooms, in the carpet, in our sweaters. The funniest though was when I was taking a shower and discovered one in my belly button! As I pulled it out it uncoiled and I was at once horrified and greatly amused.

Yeah, my roommate's balding and is a pretty furry guy, so his hair gets everywhere in the bathroom. At least he has his own soap so he doesn't get them all over mine. It's pretty bad when it's two girls and one guy living together, and it's his hair that gets everywhere.

Noise has never really bothered me with roommates. I used to be kind of a light sleeper, but after working nights at a couple places, I became able to sleep anywhere, at any time, as long as I'm tired.

 

[Alaedhros]

I'm fortunate to have a roommate who doesn't really bother me at all for the moment.

Operation Kidnap Lindley's Roommate and Make Him/Her Live with Me is a go.

I have two roommates. One I get along with great, no problems. The other is a nice woman, really, but is on the messy end of things. The kitchen and the living room are just constantly a mess to varying degrees (and of course her room, but I don't go in there). Other than that, we rarely have problems, so all in all I'm rarely dissatisfied. Not sure if I want to room with her again next year, though.

 

[archeryguy1701]

I got lucky and have a good pair right now. But last year and this summer were different stories.

We live in the dorms on a dry campus. However, my personal policy is that as long as they're being quiet and not causing issues, I will look the other way. I would rather they be drinking here than out elsewhere and trying to drive back. However, one of the guys I had last year was terrible. He couldn't hold his alcohol for the life of him and he would go from sober to completely destroyed in no time flat. Accordingly, he would be loud, he would be falling on the floor, he would be trying to go to sleep in the hall, and basically anything else that could draw attention to our room, he would end up doing. I also discovered that at one point (I later learned he was high during this) he had a ton of beer bottles that he had nothing to do with, so he climbed up over my bed and stuck them all in the air conditioning vent. When I switched rooms, there were still one or two that I couldn't reach with anything because they were so far down.

During the summer, I got put in the same suite as one of my friends and a deaf kid. I'm pretty sure the only reason the deaf kid (Jason) was in the dorms was because he needed a babysitter and us roomies were stuck with that duty. He was one issue after another.

We had two bathrooms in the suite, and Jason and the other guy shared one of them, the fourth guy and I had the other. Jason would piss all over the toilet seat in his bathroom, and when confronted, he would say that I was going in there and doing it intentionally. He would have lots of trash and dirty dishes in the room and the door unlocked. He would then merge those two issues together and told the other guys that I was leaving the doors unlocked so people could use our dishes and throw trash in our trash cans. He was a puny little guy, and he was always trying to pick fights with folks, and about halfway through the semester, we all gave up on trying to stop him from doing something stupid. Last I heard, he is now living back at home because he tried hitchhicking to Missouri to get together with his latest 13 year old online girlfriend.

 

[Aragorn]

Living with some roommates several years ago, the girl was the biggest slob of the bunch! She never washed her dishes and let stuff stack up, and the floor in her room was like a warzone.

Pet peeve wise, a couple of roommates would seemingly watch TV day and night, and most of their TV time was spent on music videos!!!!!

One time I was watching a football game by myself when one of these roommates sat down and asked why "we" were watching it.

 

[Lindley]

I'm fortunate to have a roommate who doesn't really bother me at all for the moment.

Operation Kidnap Lindley's Roommate and Make Him/Her Live with Me is a go.

It helps to have a 2-bedroom apartment. He spends most of his time (when not at work) playing MMORPGs and other online games. We have almost-daily DVD-and-dinner sessions together though. Right now we're working on Buffy and Angel.

I'm pretty sure he gets out of the house even less often than I do, which makes me feel good about myself, but doesn't make him all that useful as a stepping stone to better social skills.....

 

[NCC1701]

Your room-mate sound just like my son. My son doesn't know how to turn lights off, leaves the door open when the heater is on, leaves food containers on the bench, leaves dirty plates and cups all over his room and on the rare occasion he beings them out leaves them on the sink expecting me to wash them up, will drop his clothes on the floor in the bathroom when there is a laundry basket right next to him etc.

However the one thing that really gets on my nerves is when he leaves chewing gum lying around.

Sounds exactly like my mate's sister, who learned to clean up her act after she had to pay her own bills when she moved out, leaving everything running at night isn't exactly cost effective when you're living on a tight budget. The bond won't magically pay itself back if the house looks like a complete shithole, either, so she's learning to clean up after herself, too. I think your son needs to live in his own place for a while, by the sound of it.

 

[Kestra]

College started off bad because of roommate issues. The first girl they assigned me to was one that I had known since birth, and greatly dislike. She's actually one of the few people I've met and actively dislike. Luckily the feeling was mutual and we managed to get them to assign us to different rooms.

When I finally moved in, my roommate was ... less than pleasant. She would alternate between insulting me and acting like my best friend, she would come in the room, see I was in the middle of changing, and prop the door open. She would prop the door open and leave it like that when neither of us were in the room and my laptop was sitting out on my desk. The first weekend that I left she invited her friend and her friend's boyfriend to spend the night ... in my bed! I managed to get out of that room quickly though, and was blessed enough to find three really great girls in college that I roomed with after that.

I chose to live with my sister for a year after college and that was interesting. The nice thing about living with a sibling is that you can at least just tell them to their face if they're being a bad roommate.

Out of everyone I've lived with though, I have to say my husband is the best. We both like things to be clean but aren't fanatic about it, the chores have divided up without us even planning it, and we actually have fun even when we have to do laundry or clean the house. It's quite odd, really.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Eww, what, does he just stick to to whatever happens to be handy at the moment?

He often leaves it on the kitchen sink or on the vanity unit in the bathroom. On a couple of occasions he has left it on the computer table (we share a computer).

 

[jamestyler]

I won't live with a roommate again for a long time, if ever.

I've mostly lived with partners, which was good. I shared a house with someone I was with through uni and we had one of our friends move in for a couple of months which would count as the first roommate. She was great, the best person I could imagine to share a house with. Unfortunatly she was too great which only caused suspicion.

From there I moved in with my friend Emma, who I barely had any contact with as I worked insane shifts and tended to sleep over at work in our VIP room - which was odd. But she was messy, uncoordinated and lived in filth which drove me insane, and living with a female in a tiny one bedroom flat made it a bit impossible to bring a date home... and her brother assumed we were a couple.

After that I lived with two couples and kept pretty much to myself. That was when I decided to live alone, as I did feel a little alienated and with one of the couples - whenever they had a fight, the girl would always try and have sex with me to get back at her boyfriend which made life uncomfortable. I was always the one in the middle of an argument, which just made it a living hell.

Aside from the now ex-Mrs, that was it... it kind of put me off. I've only considered living with a friend who lives on the internet and who seems like she'd be great to live with, but tensions of a sexual nature would put complications in there

 

[DanCPA]

I had two bad roommate problems... both guys
I have found that my female roommates have been angels to live with. One female roommate, J, was not a "clean girl" meaning that her room was usually messier than mine, but she was still a pleasant roommate and did the dishes every other week (we each did one day per month [there were 4 of us] and the housekeeper did the other day of the week)