Pet Peeves with Housemates

[Noblejanobii]

Do you have any pet peeves that drive you crazy when it comes to living with someone?

I have three big ones.

1. Not notifying someone ahead of time that soon it'll be their turn to clean or replace something. I'm currently living with three other people. This past Monday I was in the middle of class when I received a series of texts about how we were out of toilet paper. Not that we were almost out. BUT THAT WE WERE COMPLETELY OUT. Now I try not to reply to texts in class so I was paying attention. This ultimately resulted in it being declared my turn to replace the TP, when it actually wasn't, it was my roommate's. They started demanding I replace it then and wouldn't stop texting me to the point where my phone was vibrating so much my professor called it out. I was so embarrassed. I was so close to ripping into them. So instead of studying for a test the next day, I spent half of my night locating TP. The buses don't run that late, and I don't own a car. At least one of my suitemates does though but she refused to drive me because she had a lab due. I had to walk a mile and a half to the nearest convenience store to buy TP. I had my mom on the phone the whole way so that way if I got kidnapped or something she could call the authorities. I bought four rolls (which we still haven't gotten through) and never received a thank you. So then, to make sure they understood how pissed I was, I had my mom go to Costco and buy a jumbo pack of TP. Still not a thank you but they better not do that again.

2. Not doing the duty when it's your week. So last semester my roommate and I agreed I'd take the trash out. She said she'd do it this semester. As of writing this, the trash has not been taken out for two weeks and the room is starting to smell. I will be taking it out shortly because I can't take it. She's obviously not busy because she has spent the entire day watching Netflix so far. This is not the first time she's done this either, I get that we're not used to having roommates but this is ridiculous.

3. Changing the temperature without asking. So my roommate and I have discovered that we like the temperature vastly different. I like hot she likes cold. We used to keep in the middle so that both of us were comfortable but this semester every time I adjust the thermostat to that temperature when she's out of the room she just comes back in and sinks it to the lowest possible temperature then turns on a freaking fan and refuses to let me change it. I can't sleep through the night anymore because it's too cold! I can have four layers on me and still not be warm because it is a tundra in our room. I don't know why she just started doing this but it's bothering me and I want to tell her but every time I try to confront her she has some dumb excuse as to why we can't talk.

Needless to say, I have a few buttons that you shouldn't push. I like to be given notice when I need to do things, I like people to do their part, and I don't like things being done without asking me first. Is that really too much to ask?

[Chibi Altaria]

Not doing the dishes when it's your turn. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, I HATE A DIRTY SINK. D: Or, letting the dishes pile up (and not notifying me) because their mother came over and did them beforehand which apparently means that was her "turn". How lazy! Now I just wash my own.

I like things to be tidy, so having the room/house look like a bomb just hit it is NOT a good way to go.

Change the toilet roll if you've finished the last bit! And yeah, definitely don't let the toilet paper run out. Had that one before, too. >:c

If someone goes away for the weekend, and your roommate watches your pet, keep an eye on it! My roommate let my rabbit out of his cage once for a run around the backyard. He escaped under the gate and ran for the hills, and I was only told about this when I got back. She knew my rabbit was like Houdini, why would you let him out and then not watch him?! She did find him eventually, though. Said she went around knocking on the neighbour's doors to locate him. Also, he ate my entire Jasmine plant. </3

I have many more, but tidiness and cleanliness are my big ones. xD

[Neo Emolga]

I like a tidy house also, but I'm the only one that cleans and vacuums. Meanwhile, every week I have to clean out my brother's birdcage for his bird. I kind of resent that. It's his bird, he should have brought him down to his new house months ago. Once his wedding is over, he definitely needs to take care of that.

One of my dad's former workplace friends, Jackie, recently became extremely destitute and lives with us because if she didn't, she'd be on the streets or in a homeless shelter since her sisters don't want to have anything to do with her. Her habits are ABYSMAL. Day 1 of her moving in, she throws all her junk around the bathroom sink. I thought she was trying to get organized and I gave her a few days to get things sorted out, but nope, she still had it all over the place for many days after and just expected me to deal with it. We forced her to use one of the shelves in the bathroom closet. Not dealing with that. If she leaves things by the sink, I chuck them into the closet. We don't do that.

She leaves dirty dishes around, spills things and drops crumbs everywhere around the kitchen and hallways and doesn't clean them up, sneezes EXTREMELY loudly (and for like twelve times in a row!) and she CONSTANTLY uses the bathroom. CONSTANTLY. She also doesn't change the toilet paper roll and uses toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, and printing paper like MAD. I swear she uses a whole roll of toilet paper every day. She also takes showers that last longer than forty minutes and has to go in and out and in and out and in and out of the bathroom to use a blow-dryer (which is extremely loud), comb, go back to her room, leave clothes on the rack, back to blow-dry her hair, back to the room, and lord knows what else in the process of spending every morning doing this insanity. Meanwhile, she leaves the lights on everywhere throughout the house, leaves the TVs on even if there's no one in the room, and often keeps the volume of them quite loud even at 3am in the morning.

She also wastes food, eats other peoples' food without asking (and throws out the remainder), lies, gets drunk, lies about getting drunk (we actually had to take everything in our liquor cabinet and lock it upstairs because of her because she was RAIDING IT LIKE NO TOMORROW), wastes the little money that she has to her name and her food stamps on expensive gourmet food at expensive supermarkets (and booze behind our backs of course), and leaves one thing unfinished like preparing a meal to go do something else, then leave that second thing unfinished to start a third activity and basically just leave a whole lot of unfinished things around. I swear, her brain must be fried (along with her kidneys and liver).

Her last FOUR JOBS resulted in her either getting fired or quitting within LESS THAN A WEEK EACH TIME, some within just the first day. She doesn't do her due diligence, she thinks it's okay to show up late to work every day, she makes APOCALYPTICALLY HORRIBLE LIFE DECISIONS, and is in so much debt and legal trouble that it's just MIND BLOWING.

I would have kicked her out. Many months ago back when she needed someone to drive her back because she got drunk at a hotel bar when she was supposed to be seeing her mother. I try my hardest to be a nice and forgiving guy, but MY GOODNESS, even I have my limits. She keeps saying she just wants to marry a rich guy to get out of trouble, which I think is just disgusting. No pride, no self-respect, and no honesty or respect for other people and their property.

Sorry, but I had to let that out. I confess, there are days when I think her ending up in jail would probably be the best outcome for everyone. And I never thought I'd ever think that way about someone prior to meeting her. Lately, I've had to be extremely careful and super-strict about locking my room up each time I leave because that's where I keep the shotgun and the AR-15 rifle. I REALLY don't want to imagine what would happen if she knew about those and what kinds of berserk things she might do if she really went insane. I have my doubts she'd be able to figure out how to load them and use them, but HOLY CRAP, I'm not taking that risk and so far, it still seems like she's not aware they're up there. You bet I'm going to do my darnest to keep it that way.

Seriously, I'm debating whether to move in with my brother or not. At least my dad doesn't force me to pay rent for still living here, but I sure make up for it with all this stuff going on. @.@

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

I can't imagine living with strangers, honestly. I am pretty particular about stuff. I like things being clean and I also have a thing about things being FAIR. I live with my mum and little bro right now and when I'm home, I always try and do a clean up of the house as my mum works 6 days a week. We have to vacuum pretty much every day cos we have a border collie who is basically an inside dog and sheds hair like no tomorrow. XD My little brother on the other hand does nothing around the house. He does have a full time job and doesn't get home til after 7pm most nights which is fair enough, but he doesn't even clean up after himself! If I have literally just done all the dishes and have the kitchen looking spotless, he will dump his plate in the sink instead of into the dishwasher right next to it. He leaves pizza trays in the oven, overfills the bins, doesn't wipe down the bathroom sink after shaving etc. He also refuses to get up 5 minutes!!! earlier to have a shower when it would make my life a lot easier since I always let him go first as I am a nice sister. u_u

Stuff like that drives me crazy because it's so inconsiderate. I bend over backwards to be considerate to others. I'd rather put myself out than someone else. But I've realised most people won't show the slightest courtesy or appreciation in return, so I end up getting resentful and annoyed. xD At least I can yell at my little bro, but if it was a stranger I was living with, I guess I'd just have to deal with it, which would be horrible. :/

@Neo Emolga Oh my god, Neo! That's horrible! I could not deal with that at all! How can someone be so inconsiderate when you're doing her such a HUGE favour by letting her live with you guys. I would be telling my dad she needs to go, seriously. @_@ That's disgusting.

[Chibi Altaria]

@Neo Emolga Oh my gosh, she sounds much more awful than my step siblings, and even they drive me insane. D: I hate to say it, but I think you'd be better off kicking her out and letting her sort out what happens. She clearly has no regard for herself, or anyone else. You don't need to be around people like that.

[Caite-chan]

I've never really had that problem because I've never lived with anyone other than my parents and now my Mom. I don't mind messy because I'm like that...I hate nasty disgusting. Make a mess clean up after yourself or don't make it at all.

[Neo Emolga]

@Neo Emolga Oh my god, Neo! That's horrible! I could not deal with that at all! How can someone be so inconsiderate when you're doing her such a HUGE favour by letting her live with you guys. I would be telling my dad she needs to go, seriously. @_@ That's disgusting.

@Neo Emolga Oh my gosh, she sounds much more awful than my step siblings, and even they drive me insane. D: I hate to say it, but I think you'd be better off kicking her out and letting her sort out what happens. She clearly has no regard for herself, or anyone else. You don't need to be around people like that.

Ohhhh, but it only gets worse! Here's a few other terrible and dumb things she's done!

• Was unemployed for five years. Didn't once think to just get anything she could to avoid going into debt. She claims I'm "lucky" for having money. No, that's me being careful with my money and planning ahead even during my own times of unemployment. Heck, I'd go wash dishes if it meant avoiding going into debt! I'm tired of her saying that I'm "lucky" just because I try to be careful with my resources.
• Maxed out at least three credit cards. Killed everything in savings, IRAs, double mortgage, you name it! But still spent money on stupid and expensive things (and still does!) like there was nothing to it. She also sold a $7,000 necklace for only $600 to a pawn shop because she didn't have money to pay a hairstylist and they were going to call the cops on her. >.<
• Allowed her sister to take guardianship of the house she used to live in. Didn't even bother fighting the legal case and never showed up to court! We figure she was probably smashed and clueless while this was happening.
• Put all her stuff in storage with a crappy storage company without a plan to pay for it. Yep, even the very important stuff like her birth certificate, a laptop she could have used to job search with, and a bunch of other legal documents she needs. Oh, and now the moving company wants $13,000 (and rising by the month!) out of her to get that stuff out of there! As a result, she can't even declare bankruptcy because the documents she needs are in storage. And the moving company is coming after her for theft of service. They might have to take a number because the creditors are coming first.
• She owes loads of people money, but there's no intention to pay anything back. At first, I felt bad for her and was even thinking of letting her borrow some of my money, but that became a big fat NOPE when I saw the money my dad lent to her for a train ticket and for gas was spent on BOOZE.
• She lost her financial aid and food stamps because she was supposed to go to the unemployment center for job search training and she didn't bother going. So, they cut her off and now she's trying to talk her way to get back on it.
• She had been driving around without car insurance for a good few months. With bad brakes, a "Check Engine" light on, and all kinds of other fun mishaps just waiting to happen.
• Despite the MASSIVE HOLE she's in, she still talks on the phone and fantasizes with one of her friends about going to Miami for vacation, just laughing about it all giddy and drunken-like.
• The one paycheck she got from a recent job she quit was spent on more expensive gourmet food and we're pretty sure there was alcohol in there too.

I'm sure I missed a bunch of things, but she's an absolute train-wreck. I REALLY wish my dad would evict her. It sounds awful, I know, but she crossed the line ages ago over and over again. I even called up a hotline for dealing with alcoholics and explained what was going on with her to see what they would recommend. They told me that my dad has to set an ultimatum, force her to go to alcoholics anonymous meetings or she gets booted. Problem is... my dad is too soft to set and enforce that ultimatum. I get that he's trying to be nice, but she's seriously taking nasty advantage of his kindness and compassion and I really hate that about her. She knows she can get away with just about anything when it comes to my dad and it sickens me to see it all happening every day.

I like helping people. I feel good about getting people back on their feet that genuinely admit they messed up, want to help themselves and work hard to get there, and make the best use of their time and resources as much as possible. But she does NOT CARE.

I really don't know how this story is supposed to end. Maybe with her in jail for a DWI and driving with no insurance or whatever illegal thing she does next, or my dad finally snaps after she does something seriously awful (hopefully not burning the whole house down doing something stupid). I don't see her ever making a full financial recovery. She doesn't fight or care to get there and thinks marrying a rich guy is the way to do it (she's 56 and not very attractive-looking at all, so she doesn't even have that going for her). She cares more about the obsessions she wants to feed from her former spoiled and prima donna lifestyle and not come to terms with the reality she's in.

Well, now that I've emptied out that gross bottle of unpleasantness, I'm glad you guys don't have to deal with this. Thanks for hearing me out. I wish she just lost my dad's phone number years ago and we never became a part of this.


*Sighhhhh.*

[Caite-chan]

My friends older sister is like that in a way. Has 4 kids and expects everything to be handed to her. Expects her parents to watch the kids while she goes out and has fun. She gets mad when she asks her brother to watch the kids and he says no. He's sick and tired of her and her crap and I don't blame him. Not only that he has to try and keep his stuff locked up because she steals everyone's meds to sell for money. It's gotten to the point where I'm hanging on to half his meds so his sister can't steal them.

[Neo Emolga]

My friends older sister is like that in a way. Has 4 kids and expects everything to be handed to her. Expects her parents to watch the kids while she goes out and has fun. She gets mad when she asks her brother to watch the kids and he says no. He's sick and tired of her and her crap and I don't blame him. Not only that he has to try and keep his stuff locked up because she steals everyone's meds to sell for money. It's gotten to the point where I'm hanging on to half his meds so his sister can't steal them.

Ugh, wow, what a jerk. That's not fair to the parents, the brother, and her own kids. And her stealing meds is just sickening.

When you have to lock up stuff because people IN YOUR OWN HOUSE steal stuff from you, there's a freaking serious problem going on...

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

@Neo Emolga

Damn Neo... that's really bad. :/ Your dad really refuses to kick her out or at least enforce some house rules like having to pay rent (so she needs to get a job/not spend her money on alcohol)?? You've probably tried this but what about tackling it from the "enabling her" angle, where he is contributing to her bad state of affairs by letting her live there and spiral further into debt and alcoholism? I hope you can get out of there soon or that it otherwise somehow works itself out!