Weird, right?
I have a female roommate who moved in over Labor Day weekend. She asked Shon if the house was quiet, because she was in grad school and didn't want a lot of weekday wild parties. When I heard that, I was all, "YES! Finally someone else who appreciates the quiet!"
...I should know better by now.
She is a slammer, and a loud talker, and she clog-dances across the wooden floor in wooden-heeled shoes from dawn 'til dusk. No, not literally, but she is ALWAYS in clunky shoes, walking really loudly. She apparently hasn't gotten the memo about slippers. "Slippers, you say? What do they do? Oh, they keep my feet warm, and I can stomp around without waking up quite so many roommate? That sounds PREPOSTEROUS!"
She also leaves dirty dishes in the sink constantly. In other words, she has pretty much replaced the Kid, although she's not quite so stupid. No, she's just annoying. And weird.
She has a walk-in closet, which is located in the main hallway. We all have to pass through this hallway to get to our rooms, or to the kitchen or the bathroom. This is a high-traffic hallway. So I find it incredible odd that she leaves the doorway to her closet open all the time. It's a big closet, and she has a lot of stuff in there, including stuff that might be deemed "personal." If I have a friend over, I get to be all, "Yes, and here are all of my roommate's belongings - please peruse them at your leisure."
She has the same open-door policy for her bedroom, which I also find weird. It's nice to have boundaries, right? She doesn't seem to think so (except when she's sleeping). And she's been dating this guy, and he stayed over last night. I don't know or care what they did, but I appreciated that they had the door closed while they were doing it.
I feel like she thinks we're in some sort of dorm suite or something, but we are NOT. We are grown-ups who don't really know each other, and in my case, don't really care to. Ooh, harsh. But I have enough friends, and I like to relax and be quiet and not be weirded out when I'm home. Roommates come and go. We all came to the house through Craigslist - we're not a co-op, we're not a group of friends. So, again, boundaries are nice.
Now I'm wondering, as with so many other touchy roommate things, how do you even bring up the uncomfortableness of this weirdness?
...I should know better by now.
She is a slammer, and a loud talker, and she clog-dances across the wooden floor in wooden-heeled shoes from dawn 'til dusk. No, not literally, but she is ALWAYS in clunky shoes, walking really loudly. She apparently hasn't gotten the memo about slippers. "Slippers, you say? What do they do? Oh, they keep my feet warm, and I can stomp around without waking up quite so many roommate? That sounds PREPOSTEROUS!"
She also leaves dirty dishes in the sink constantly. In other words, she has pretty much replaced the Kid, although she's not quite so stupid. No, she's just annoying. And weird.
She has a walk-in closet, which is located in the main hallway. We all have to pass through this hallway to get to our rooms, or to the kitchen or the bathroom. This is a high-traffic hallway. So I find it incredible odd that she leaves the doorway to her closet open all the time. It's a big closet, and she has a lot of stuff in there, including stuff that might be deemed "personal." If I have a friend over, I get to be all, "Yes, and here are all of my roommate's belongings - please peruse them at your leisure."
She has several thick coats hanging on the door, and the coats attack me as I'm walking down the rather narrow hallway. So I'm always closing the door. She doesn't seem to get the hint.
She has the same open-door policy for her bedroom, which I also find weird. It's nice to have boundaries, right? She doesn't seem to think so (except when she's sleeping). And she's been dating this guy, and he stayed over last night. I don't know or care what they did, but I appreciated that they had the door closed while they were doing it.
But this morning, she and this dude were hanging out in her bed, chatting away, with her door wide open. This was at 7 AM, when I was coming down to use the bathroom and get ready for work. That's weird, right? I mean, even if they were in PJs or whatever, that's weird.
Oh, and her room is right by the front door.
I feel like she thinks we're in some sort of dorm suite or something, but we are NOT. We are grown-ups who don't really know each other, and in my case, don't really care to. Ooh, harsh. But I have enough friends, and I like to relax and be quiet and not be weirded out when I'm home. Roommates come and go. We all came to the house through Craigslist - we're not a co-op, we're not a group of friends. So, again, boundaries are nice.
Now I'm wondering, as with so many other touchy roommate things, how do you even bring up the uncomfortableness of this weirdness?
"I'm not comfortable seeing your tampons or your wide array of soups. I'm uncomfortable knowing what brand of condom you prefer."
"I'd rather not hear your pillow talk while I'm on my way to the bathroom."
"Get your coats out of the way, please. I mean, it's a door! It swings open and closed! It's not hard to work a door. But don't slam it!"
I know, I'm always coming down on my roommates, but I would like to point out again that I don't think it's that hard to be considerate:
- Don't wake people up during normal sleeping hours
- Do clean up your own messes (INCLUDING DISHES, OMG, ARE YOU TRYING TO DRIVE ME INSANE?!?)
- Don't eat other people's food or use their things unless you have express permission
- Do buy shared items like toilet paper and paper towels
- Don't freak your roommates out (that is a new addition to the list)
Comments
I STILL love this line. You must use it in your book about living with roommates(which will be mostly nonfiction but people will think it's a novel you made up).