My Roommate is Weird: Tales of Roommates good and bad [Archive]

Astral Avenger

2013-10-02, 12:06 AM

Hi, I figure i'm not the only one with a weird roommate, so why not make a thread for all the stories our roommates provide us with.

My roommate spends approximately half of the week elsewhere. I don't really know where. Well, he said he spends the nights he doesn't show up with a few friends from high school who are also at this university and live in a different dorm. I don't know how true that is, but with him not staying here much and our class schedules being different, I see him for maybe 3 hours each week (I'm not counting the time where I'm asleep). This is seeming to be a good thing, he has a habit of setting his alarm to play radio in the morning to wake him up. the problem is that it wakes me up about 30 minutes before he moves. Its set to a station that plays pop songs & he has the volume loud. I wouldn't complain, but his alarm went off at 6:30am today, he got up at 7am and then didn't leave the room for an hour. No work was done in that time, he just went and watched youtube for most of it. :smallfurious:

Edit: removed the log as it was rightfully pointed out that that would be creepy.

GoblinArchmage

2013-10-02, 12:36 AM

I'll be honest, I think that usually I am the weird roommate, which is probably a bad thing, but here are my experiences:

My first roommate was awesome. We got along really well and are still friends, so there are no real stories for me to tell.

My second roommate was gone a lot, and we didn't really talk. I don't remember anything eventful happening with him.

My third roommate, however, was very weird. First of all, he always had the TV on, and I mean always. It didn't matter whether or not he was actually watching it, he just liked the background noise. Naturally, I had to get used to doing all of my homework in the various common rooms on our floor. What also bugged me was that, during every commercial break, he would either mute the TV or change the channel. He did this even when he wasn't actually watching what was on. I don't know why this pissed me off, but it did. Even worse, his favorite shows seemed to be The Big Bang Theory and NCIS, so he didn't exactly have great taste. He would watch movies on basic cable channels as well, which, I guess somewhat irrationally, bugs me, because those channels censor the movies and remove scenes to fit them into the right timeslots.

He also sang along with his music, loudly. He was not a good singer.

Admittedly, I probably got on his nerves as much as he got on mine, and he did have a pretty rough year, considering some of the family issues he had to deal with.

My roommate this year is a pretty cool guy so far, and I have nothing bad to say about him.

Edit: This was a low effort post, and I apologize for its crappiness. Maybe when I have the time I'll make a good post, but probably not.

Jon_Dahl

2013-10-02, 02:35 AM

I call them housemates (I had to go to Wikipedia to check the difference between a housemate and a roommate, and they can be used interchangeably).

My first housemates were an Indian couple and an Indonesian girl. My landlord was a Bangladeshi (he didn't live with us). The Indian woman always looked at me like I was trash, and the husband was very subservient to her. They usually avoided me, and I had hard time sleeping because they watched Bollywood and kept TV volume up. Once I asked about their background from the husband, and he explained that the woman was from a high-ranking noble caste (and that he was from a lower caste). One morning, I was walking quietly in the hallway and I was just leaving the house to go to work. Then the woman opened the door, saw me, screamed loudly and closed the door. How nice, wasn't it? The husband later on explained that she sometimes screams at him too, if he accidently startles her.

The Indonesian girl was very reclusive, and hardly spoke to me. With housemates like these, I felt quite lonely... Being a new immigrant and all.

Once the Indonesian asked me to help her with her lights. Her lights wouldn't turn on anymore. I asked her that would it be ok if I went and checked the lights straightaway (I was happy that she had approached me, it was something new). She said it was ok, so I went to her room. Unfortunately, the lamp was damaged so that it was impossible to attach a new bulb; you just couldn't screw the bulb to the base of the lamp. The damage looked kind of weird, because it seemed like someone had cut it on purpose to ruin it. I heard her walking to her room, so I was standing there close to the lamp with a bulb on my hand. She opened the door, saw me, and screamed! She slammed the door shut. I had told her just five minutes ago that I was going to check the lamp... Standing there in the darkness, I sighed and promised myself that this was the goddamn last time I was going to live with screaming Asian women. Or screaming women from any continent.

I found house with Europeans, who seemed calm and collected, so I told the Bangladeshi that I was gone. He said that I had to pay rent for six weeks, and I disagreed with him. Retrospectively, he was right, but that doesn't matter because he said that "I will pay or he will make me pay". I told this to the Indian man, but he said that it was none of his business and closed the door on my face. I called the Gardaí. They visited the house, and asked me some questions. They seemed rather bored with the whole thing. However, my housemates got rather agitated. They seemed so scared about the Gardaí visit! The Indian man called the Bangladeshi and negotiated everything for me. Then the Bangladeshi called me: "How are you my friend?" Then we did everything just like I wanted. No buts.

Much later on the Bangladeshi called me again and asked why I had left. I told him that my housemates were *****.

Later on the Indian man came to talk to me at work. He seemed like he had been crying. He said that the Bangladeshi was going to kick everyone out of the house, and the Indian was willing to pay €100 of my rent every month if I came back! I felt like telling him to go and **** himself, but instead I politely refused.

After that I had lots of problems in the European house, but that's a different story. If you want, I can tell that also. It involves my housemates and the Irish landlord.

Ashtagon

2013-10-02, 05:46 AM

You don't think publicly posting a log of his whereabouts is creepy?

TSGames

2013-10-02, 06:04 AM

My roommate spends approximately half of the week elsewhere. I don't really know where. Well, he said he spends the nights he doesn't show up with a few friends from high school who are also at this university and live in a different dorm. I don't know how true that is, but with him not staying here much and our class schedules being different, I see him for maybe 3 hours each week (I'm not counting the time where I'm asleep).
This is hilarious: I used to be that roommate. Generally, I'd get a call to go hang out with friends, I'd pack my bag, tell my roomies, 'See ya' and then come back some time between 3 hours and 8 days later. Those were the best parts of college =D

Also, that was the time when I had the super creepy weird roomie, but I'm not sure that story is the kind you wanted in this thread. If it is, I've got a few roomies and a few stories to tell (I had terrible luck with roommates).

FinnLassie

2013-10-02, 06:10 AM

This is seeming to be a good thing, he has a habit of setting his alarm to play radio in the morning to wake him up. the problem is that it wakes me up about 30 minutes before he moves. Its set to a station that plays pop songs & he has the volume loud. I wouldn't complain, but his alarm went off at 6:30am today, he got up at 7am and then didn't leave the room for an hour. No work was done in that time, he just went and watched youtube for most of it. :smallfurious:

You could just mention about it to him during those few moments you manage to actually be in the room at the same time. If he isn't a jerk, he'll understand that it's annoying to have the radio alarm clock be there all loud when you still need to have to sleep. Does it play for the full half an hour before he gets up?

But, meh. I don't see anything weird about your roommate.

My flatmates in first year were an interesting bunch, but that's mostly due to cultural differences. A Finn put in the same flat with an Italian lady? Yeah, we had our disputes. But they were all settled to a compromise. The Romanian lass was an interesting case though, as she sort of just... vanished after Christmas and only came back to the flat to have a shower one or two times. *shrug*

Morgarion

2013-10-02, 08:07 AM

Astral Avenger,

That doesn't sound too bad, really. He has trouble getting out of bed and doesn't do anything before class in the morning? That's pretty tame, but maybe you'll get lucky and he'll be the worst roommate you ever have.

I never had the dorm experience of college so I cannot speak from my own experience, but I'd say don't get too attached. He's only around half the time, but you're college roommates in a dorm room. Nothing weird about that. It's not like you chose to live together so you could spend all your free time hanging out, right? You're about as close as two people sitting next to each other on the bus.

I guess I've never really had a bad roommate. Aside from the house I grew up in and apartments with my wife, the only time I ever lived with other people was the stint I did living and working at a hostel. They weren't technically roommates, but they could be really bad.

warty goblin

2013-10-02, 10:55 AM

I only had to deal with roommates twice in college. The first one had a habit of watching zombie movies at ungodly hours. I wouldn't have minded so much, except the TV was right under my bed, and I had 8:00 AM classes.

My other roommate was nice enough, but had a bipolar meltdown halfway through the semester and dropped out of college. Meant I got a double room to myself for a month and a half. Having two desks was seriously excellent. After that I had the class standing to get singles.

Lady Tialait

2013-10-02, 11:37 AM

My story requires me to tell something about myself. I'm a soft hearted person, and if I see a friend in need, I try to help.

I had one person who was rendered homeless because of being laid off who lived with me. He had a Chihuahua who was just a terror. Pooped just wherever it damn well pleased (tended to be in the closets or drawers with clean clothing in them) and he just made excuses for the dog. Oh, and his dog was pregnant. It had 10 puppies while he was staying with us, and they all soon had the same habits.

On top of the dog problems, the guy would eat all my ingredients for meals. I would buy some bulk sausages, and he would eat them that night. I would buy crackers to go with some chilli, and he would eat them. Couldn't keep anything nice in hte kitchen because it would be eaten that night. He wouldn't do anything I said regarding his share of housework. (That included keep the living room clean, clean up after his dogs, and wash some dishes) He always also left my bathroom in a state of absolute horror, and completely ruined our pull out couch. He also borrowed a laptop, and it was virus'd up pretty bad, he never turned it off and kept it sitting on a pillow so the thing burnt out. Ruining the laptop.

This all over the time of two months. He paid almost no money to us (I didn't expect him to, he was down and out.) We had enough at the end of it, and through him out. In response to that, he called the police on us, and they told us we couldn't throw him out....So, I called my brother. My brother is gay, and the guy turned out not to be able to stand his flirtatious attitude and left that evening. Afterward, it took us a couple of weeks to get the house back in order. Had to replace half the carpets and the whole thing ended up costing us half our savings at the time.

Mind you, another friend of mine just had the same problem, and he is currently living on my couch. He has kept the livingroom so clean that it makes the rest of my house look like a mess. He also scrubs the kitchen and bathroom every other day. I'm glad one jerk didn't jade me to allowing people to live with me.

Jon_Dahl

2013-10-02, 12:26 PM

So, I called my brother. My brother is gay, and the guy turned out not to be able to stand his flirtatious attitude and left that evening.

Hmm, I wonder how this story might've changed if the guy and your brother had fallen madly in love? A fantastic twist to the story! "I'm going to call my brother to deal with this imbecile!" Then everyone waits for the Incredible Hulk, but instead you get the Messenger of Love. Brilliant!

Salbazier

2013-10-05, 01:59 AM

@Lady Tialait
That was a horrible exprience and you are really a good and amazing person :smallsmile:.

Wonder why the police said you cannot kick him out. I thought it was legal right everywhere to not let people into you home and property (barring stuffs like criminal investigation and emergencies). Weird.

Lady Tialait

2013-10-05, 08:17 AM

Hmm, I wonder how this story might've changed if the guy and your brother had fallen madly in love? A fantastic twist to the story! "I'm going to call my brother to do deal with this imbecile!" Then everyone waits for the Incredible Hulk, but instead you get the Messenger of Love. Brilliant!

Funny, but given my brother's track record with men...that would have worked out too.

@Lady Tialait
That was a horrible exprience and you are really a good and amazing person :smallsmile:.

Wonder why the police said you cannot kick him out. I thought it was legal right everywhere to not let people into you home and property (barring stuffs like criminal investigation and emergencies). Weird.

In the state I live in they have residence laws to protect renters and such. You have to go to court to kick someone out of your house who is living there. It's frustrating to deal with when you want someone out of your house, but if you are in a bad spot and a renter, you will have time to find a new place and get your stuff in order as a result, and I don't dislike the law...just the police officer who upheld it. He was really rude about it.

Chessgeek

2013-10-05, 09:46 AM

First of all, he always had the TV on, and I mean always. It didn't matter whether or not he was actually watching it, he just liked the background noise.
He would watch movies on basic cable channels as well, which, I guess somewhat irrationally, bugs me, because those channels censor the movies and remove scenes to fit them into the right timeslots.

I just want to say that I do both of these things. Working in silence is for classrooms when the only moderately engaging thing to do is work.

As for the TV movies, well, I couldn't catch all of them in theaters...

Morgarion

2013-10-05, 12:30 PM

In the state I live in they have residence laws to protect renters and such. You have to go to court to kick someone out of your house who is living there. It's frustrating to deal with when you want someone out of your house, but if you are in a bad spot and a renter, you will have time to find a new place and get your stuff in order as a result, and I don't dislike the law...just the police officer who upheld it. He was really rude about it.

Don't you have to actually pay rent to be considered a renter? Or at least have a signed lease?

Jon_Dahl

2013-10-05, 01:05 PM

*Snip*

Boo hoo, I wrote all this text and no one even comments it! :smallfrown:

:smallwink:

AtlanteanTroll

2013-10-05, 04:33 PM

Boo hoo, I wrote all this text and no one even comments it! :smallfrown:

:smallwink:

Maybe because it kind of read as you being prejudice against South Asians.

IronFist

2013-10-05, 04:56 PM

Oh, I opened this thread 100% sure that there would be a post by Serpentine in it. I hate being wrong.

Jon_Dahl

2013-10-06, 12:45 AM

Maybe because it kind of read as you being prejudice against South Asians.

All right, but I can promise you that I don't have such prejudice, nor prejudice of any kind. If someone wants to read it like that, I can only facepalm in silence (I won't even reply to such accusations), but I just told the story how it actually happened. I can't help it that everyone came from the same continent. The story would remain the same if everyone had come from my home country (In that case I wouldn't refer to them by their nationalities, but instead according to their home city).

Serpentine

2013-10-06, 03:39 AM

I don't think I've ever really had a bad housemate, but my current one gives me the bloody irrits.
Right now she's sitting next to me smoking, making weird noises and farting. The rest of the time she likes to give nice big lectures - not telling-off lectures, I mean like academic lectures, where she will literally stand there and talk at you for an hour about somethingorother. Usually something interesting, but not really interesting enough that I'd actually want to attend a friggen lecture about it.
She also really likes to demonstrate how much she knows about everything and how right she always is, and goes on about how amazing she is at everything and how everyone thinks she's just the bestest and she can convince anyone of anything (she loves her humblebrag). Also for all she's clearly the motivated one, I don't think she appreciates her partner at all - I don't think I've once heard her ask him how his day was before launching into a massive blow-by-blow account of her day (mostly about how great she is).

TL;DR: I think she's gross and obnoxious and this house would be a lot more pleasant with someone else :sigh:

Serpentine

2013-10-06, 03:48 AM

Oh, I opened this thread 100% sure that there would be a post by Serpentine in it. I hate being wrong.Sorry, I've been busy - not wrong, just faster :smallwink: Guessing you're on the fb group, been watching my rants...

edit: She's been doing those weird grunting, gasping noises for ages, and then she just did a nice big fart. My cue to leave the room for a bit before I throw something hard at her, methinks...

Douglas

2013-10-06, 11:47 AM

AtlanteanTroll

2013-10-06, 11:58 AM

All right, but I can promise you that I don't have such prejudice, nor prejudice of any kind. If someone wants to read it like that, I can only facepalm in silence (I won't even reply to such accusations), but I just told the story is it actually happened. I can't help it that everyone came from the same continent. The story would remain the same if everyone had come from my home country (In that case I wouldn't refer to them by their nationalities, but instead according to their home city).

*shrug* You made a big deal of the European house being better and it seemed like you were saying that because they were European. I'm sure that wasn't your intent.

As for me, I've had one bad experience. Me, my girlfriend, our guy friend J, and our girl friend M, were all on vacation is Disney World. J and M were sharing a room, and I was sharing a room with my girlfriend. M was a disaster the entire trip, but one point sticks out in my mind as being awful for a roommate. J and M were watching a movie out in the living room of the place where we were staying while my girlfriend and I were watching a different movie in our room. Suddenly, out of no where, M shrieks like she's dying. She's been in terrible tooth pain all week, so we run out of the room to see what's wrong. When we get into the room I ask if shes' okay. She then tells me to shut up, I'm interrupting the movie. It turns out the reason why she yelled in the first place was because a character had died in the film. A film she had seen before of all things. I wanted to strangle her.

Jon_Dahl

2013-10-06, 01:18 PM

*shrug* You made a big deal of the European house being better and it seemed like you were saying that because they were European. I'm sure that wasn't your intent.

Ahhh, now I see it. Well, it could've been another Asian house, and that would've been fine with me. I just wanted people that seemed relaxed and friendly, regardless of their nationality. Most of the houses were somehow distinctive, such as some houses only had Europeans, Asians, Swedes or females. Usually you referred to the houses according to their distinctive trait. A truly mixed house, without any distinctive quality, was somewhat of a rarity.

But given the harsh experience that I had had, I welcomed a complete change of scenery, including a new house in a different area with different people. But what happened then is another story...

Don Julio Anejo

2013-10-07, 04:36 AM

Ahhh, now I see it. Well, it could've been another Asian house, and that would've been fine with me. I just wanted people that seemed relaxed and friendly, regardless of their nationality. Most of the houses were somehow distinctive, such as some houses only had Europeans, Asians, Swedes or females. Usually you referred to the houses according to their distinctive trait. A truly mixed house, without any distinctive quality, was somewhat of a rarity.

But given the harsh experience that I had had, I welcomed a complete change of scenery, including a new house in a different area with different people. But what happened then is another story...
Eh, there's likely a good reason for it: if you're new somewhere, you want something familiar. If say, I (Russian/Canadian) move to a different country, I'd prefer to live with someone familiar to me, or at least from a familiar culture. An American, a German and a Pole would be familiar to me. An Indian too, actually, but that's because I live in Vancouver. A couple of Somalians or Arabs? Not so much, and it would have absolutely nothing to do with race, merely what culture you'd want to be surrounded by.

Most immigrants feel this way. I actually find my own family as something of an oddity as we barely interact with other Russians/CIS people and all our friends/acquaintances tend to be pretty much everyone other than Russians.

Balain

2013-10-08, 12:16 AM

This isn't my story but I heard watching The Simpsons DVD. I forget what season. During the commentaries one of the producers is telling this story of living with this old gay fellow that was always making passes at him.

One night the old guy stands behind the producers door and starts making ghost noises. In the morning he tells producer that he forgot to inform him that the place was haunted and if he is ever scared and wants to crawl into bed with him his door is always open.

Laurellien

2013-10-08, 05:44 AM

I've had a mixed bag of room mates over the years.

One of them never cleaned up. His room was full of plastic bags filled with rubbish, he hoarded the crockery and when we came back from vacation, he had filled the kitchen with hundreds of empty bottles of Yop and Diet Coke.

Another went and lived with his girlfriend and so we didn't see him for half of the year.

I also had one who would storm into the living room while the rest of us were playing computer games, complain about the state of the kitchen, and get irrationally angry when it was pointed out that the specific things of which he was complaining had all been caused by him.

Tebryn

2013-10-08, 06:00 AM

I've had roommates since freshman year of high school and my experience has been...most of them kinda suck. Not in the never want to speak to them again level but just not good. The ones I currently have don't understand slamming doors shake the entire apartment or don't care but I don't really ever see them since we only share a kitchen.

Feste

2013-10-09, 12:46 AM

I am evidently a "weird roommate," as my most recent roommate moved out within a week of meeting me, without telling me in advance. He lives in the room next door now.

Aha...

Deathkeeper

2013-10-09, 01:11 AM

This semester is my first one with a roommate. Save for one night, it's been pretty weird.
Now, I'm a bit odd myself. My side of the room is always cluttered, although I wouldn't call it messy since I always clean up actual trash. I also have a few issues going to sleep, so sometimes I just lay in bed for a long time moving around. He says it doesn't bother him. I'm also one of those guys who has to hit snooze once pretty much every day, and all my morning classes are before his.
For the most part, we don't talk. His side is much neater although he leaves stuff around too. I usually take the trash out. I asked him to do it once and he didn't but that's no big deal. If I take it out before classes he's nice enough to replace the bag. He barely uses our fridge. Heck, he lives half an hour away so sometimes he just sleeps there.
The only thing is this odd chain of texts he sent me once. They looked exactly like his emails in terms of grammar and writing and he's never apologized saying someone took his phone or he was drunk. It was just a somewhat personal question that I won't go into for various reasons. I have no clue what prompted it. He was as polite as he could be, but after I gave an answer he just kept asking about it, and seemed surprised when I said I'd like to end the discussion. He's never brought it up since. So, it's not what I'd call bad, it was just a decidedly odd occurrence.

Manga Shoggoth

2013-10-09, 08:54 AM

edit: She's been doing those weird grunting, gasping noises for ages, and then she just did a nice big fart. My cue to leave the room for a bit before I throw something hard at her, methinks...

May I suggested scented candles? Carefuly placed for maximum effect...

EDIT:
This has brought back memories of my roommate during my first year at university. Let's call him "Roommate X".

By and large, he was a reasonable person. The worst I could accuse him of was eating too much curry and plastering his side of the room with Page Three girls and the poster from a well-known Queen single.

But, oh, after a night's drinking...

The room was a standard university-furnished room. We each had one bed, one cupboard, one desk, one chair and one shelf, and finally one sink (shared).

Roommate X would come in at about 2am, and attempt to go to bed. Considerately, he would do this without turning on the light in order not to disturb my sleep. In doing so he would collide with every single thing except the shelves (out of range - half way up the wall and above the desks) and my bed. And he steadfastly refused to turn on a light, even when I pointed that I was already awake.

He never understood how I could walk across the room without making a sound.

I had my revenge, though. I was an early riser (us Physics students had all the early lectures), so the day he had an important interview he asked me to make sure he woke up in time. So, when I woke up in the morning, I quietly moved to the foot of his bed and considered my options.

Almost immediately, there was a panicked "I'm awake!" as a half-asleep roommate tried to get out of bed before something dreadful happened.

I swear, I don't know how I get this reputation...

Jon_Dahl

2013-10-09, 03:08 PM

Eh, there's likely a good reason for it: if you're new somewhere, you want something familiar. If say, I (Russian/Canadian) move to a different country, I'd prefer to live with someone familiar to me, or at least from a familiar culture. An American, a German and a Pole would be familiar to me. An Indian too, actually, but that's because I live in Vancouver. A couple of Somalians or Arabs? Not so much, and it would have absolutely nothing to do with race, merely what culture you'd want to be surrounded by.

Most immigrants feel this way. I actually find my own family as something of an oddity as we barely interact with other Russians/CIS people and all our friends/acquaintances tend to be pretty much everyone other than Russians.

I prefer experiencing new things to surrounding myself with familiar things, even at my own home. It's just that ********ness is something that I can't tolerate, and I get all worked up if I get the cold shoulder, which was something that the Asian housemates were giving me quite a bit. I don't know what it was all about, but I don't have any prejudice against Asians. I was just very unlucky to end up with those three, that's for sure.

ItWasFutile

2013-10-09, 05:56 PM

I was the wierd roommate. I got kicked out of my house at 16, was homeless for close to a year, then moved into a complete strager's house. I then never left. Stopped sleeping on his couch, and started sleeping in his bed. We started dating about 2 weeks later. Been together ever since. He calls me a vagrant, and I call him a dirty old man. It works for us

Jaycemonde

2013-10-09, 06:32 PM

Don Julio Anejo

2013-10-10, 11:15 PM

I prefer experiencing new things to surrounding myself with familiar things, even at my own home. It's just that ********ness is something that I can't tolerate, and I get all worked up if I get the cold shoulder, which was something that the Asian housemates were giving me quite a bit. I don't know what it was all about, but I don't have any prejudice against Asians. I was just very unlucky to end up with those three, that's for sure.
They considered you a weird outsider, but would never say it to your face directly. The only cultures I've found are universally inclusive are (non-US) Latinos and Philippinos, they'd take you in and make you a part of the family. Pretty much everyone else tends to keep to their own or similar culture.

Obviously I can only talk about the cultures I've met, but it's quite a few.

Tebryn

2013-10-11, 05:53 AM

May I suggested scented candles? Carefuly placed for maximum effect...

EDIT:
This has brought back memories of my roommate during my first year at university. Let's call him "Roommate X".

By and large, he was a reasonable person. The worst I could accuse him of was eating too much curry and plastering his side of the room with Page Three girls and the poster from a well-known Queen single.

But, oh, after a night's drinking...

The room was a standard university-furnished room. We each had one bed, one cupboard, one desk, one chair and one shelf, and finally one sink (shared).

Roommate X would come in at about 2am, and attempt to go to bed. Considerately, he would do this without turning on the light in order not to disturb my sleep. In doing so he would collide with every single thing except the shelves (out of range - half way up the wall and above the desks) and my bed. And he steadfastly refused to turn on a light, even when I pointed that I was already awake.

He never understood how I could walk across the room without making a sound.

I had my revenge, though. I was an early riser (us Physics students had all the early lectures), so the day he had an important interview he asked me to make sure he woke up in time. So, when I woke up in the morning, I quietly moved to the foot of his bed and considered my options.

Almost immediately, there was a panicked "I'm awake!" as a half-asleep roommate tried to get out of bed before something dreadful happened.

I swear, I don't know how I get this reputation...

If that's your worst roommate you have got super lucky in the lotto.

Manga Shoggoth

2013-10-11, 07:20 AM

If that's your worst roommate you have got super lucky in the lotto.

Indeed I did. Our house alone had 9 people (4 shared rooms, one single), and we had:

The person who insisted on maintaining their motorbike in their shared room.
The one in the only single room whose activities I can't mention because of forum rules.1
The pair who argued so much that one of them moved into the attic.

And that was just our house. Some of the other houses had stranger tales, including the one that involved the sheep's head in the basement. Although I suspect that the tales grew in the telling...

Mind you, we all got along well enough overall. There was no deliberate anti-social behaviour. My door was once kicked in during a fight, but it was totally an accident. My girlfriend wasn't much impressed, though.

1 - Who had the good grace to keep it to his room, and apologised on the one occasion I saw him in the act. After the first year he cleaned his act up and graduated with a first class honours degree.

shadow_archmagi

2013-10-11, 07:31 AM

On tuesday I was running my weekly Skype game of Adventurer Conquerer King for my friends, when I heard a strange sound emanating through the walls. Transfixed, I had to investigate, so I set down my headphones and discovered that my roommates had decided that before going to the bar, they needed to psych themselves up by singing at the top of their lungs. This song. (http://blackacrebrewing.com/hey.swf)

I haven't felt this at home since I was at home.

tomandtish

2013-10-11, 09:09 PM

Don't you have to actually pay rent to be considered a renter? Or at least have a signed lease?

In the state I live in they have residence laws to protect renters and such. You have to go to court to kick someone out of your house who is living there. It's frustrating to deal with when you want someone out of your house, but if you are in a bad spot and a renter, you will have time to find a new place and get your stuff in order as a result, and I don't dislike the law...just the police officer who upheld it. He was really rude about it.

Lady Tialait has hit it on the head. Most states have tenant laws that protect a person from being instantly kicked out of the place they "live" whether or not they are on the lease, whether or not they pay rent, and whether or not they are behind on that rent (if they are expected to pay it).

For example, in Texas if you let a person move in with you (where this is obviously their residence), then even if they are not on any lease agreement or paying rent, they are considered a month to month tenant. Translation: They are basically considered renters with a rent of $0. As such you have to file a notice to vacate no less than 3 days before the end of the month (remember, they are on a month to month stay). So if you want them out 11/1/13, make sure you give them notice 10/28/13 or sooner.

If they refuse to leave, you then file a suit to have them removed. This results in a court hearing (assuming no one changes their mind). Even if you win, they can appeal.

It's always at least 30 days after the date you wanted them out (if you lucked out and got a fast hearing), and sometimes 3 months (and this assumes you win).

Sometimes you'll hear people say "Well, when they leave next time I'll just put all their stuff out and presto! They're no longer living here". I'd strongly advise talking to a lawyer before doing that one. If they sue you and the court rules that they were living there, you're in trouble for illegally evicting them (and heaven help if their stuff is stolen from the curb in that case). This tactic would only work if the court determined that they weren't actually living there (not officially primary residence).

Anarion

2013-10-11, 09:25 PM

I have a few weird roommate stories. I shared a suite with three other people my freshman year of college, and one guy was that guy who brings back his lady friends to the room and does R rated things because he's too darn cheap to check into a motel. Not...fun. :smallmad:

I also had one great roommate later on where, somehow, we both ended up on the same insane late night schedule staying up until 4:00 AM or later and it was great because we were both like "thank god this other guy is as crazy I am so I'm not ruining his life."

My most recent roommate was also totally amazing. He gets special props for
1. Getting into cooking, turning out to be good at it and using me to test new recipes and
2. Being able to sew, which came in super handy a couple times.

For example, in Texas if you let a person move in with you (where this is obviously their residence), then even if they are not on any lease agreement or paying rent, they are considered month to month tenants. Translation: They are basically considered renters with a rent of $0. As such you have to file a notice to vacate no less than 3 days before the end of the month (remember, they are on a month to month stay).

If they refuse to leave, you then file a suit to have them removed. This results in a court hearing (assuming no one changes their mind). Even if you win, they can appeal.

It's always at least 30 days after the date you wanted them out (if you lucked out and got a fast hearing), and sometimes 3 months (and this assumes you win).

That assumes they can prove you let them live there. If there's no writing of any kind, they're not on the lease, and their name isn't anywhere in the apartment, you can just call the police and tell them someone is trespassing in your apartment and you need help.

tomandtish

2013-10-11, 09:48 PM

That assumes they can prove you let them live there. If there's no writing of any kind, they're not on the lease, and their name isn't anywhere in the apartment, you can just call the police and tell them someone is trespassing in your apartment and you need help.

As pointed out, if it appears they live there (whether lease or not), then police will see it as their residence.

"Here's the room I sleep in with all my clothes, books, etc. Here's my cell phone bill mailed to this address".

Now I agree that if the person can't show any of that, they probably aren't living there anyway (it's not their primary residence).

But if they have been living there and you report as a trespasser, even if the police initially side with you, if it comes out that the person was living there, then you've falsified a police report (a crime in most jurisdictions).

In short, my previous post was on ways to do it legally. Your way might work, but would be considered illegal if you were caught.

FlapjackStudios

2013-10-12, 12:58 PM

Oh do I have roommate stories. But they're so nutso that I decided to weave them into my webcomic. Dishes and crying. Those are two little issues that I'll throw out there.

Juggling Goth

2013-10-12, 01:23 PM

My housemate became, as far as I can tell, manic. Like, clinically. She'd always had weird moods - she had an appalling temper - and one day she came back from a trip to Canada (we're English) floridly manic. She was talking about how she'd been nervous about going through customs with a nuclear bomb in her head, and getting messages about the universe from the backs of DVDs, ferry ticket stubs, you name it. She was stringing similar-sounding words together to reach a grand philosophical point - I looked it up on the internet and found out it's called 'clanging' or 'clang association'. It was all very odd. Her first night back we got treated to a loud nonstop rendition of her racing thoughts that lasted several hours. She'd found the secret of the universe, and she was determined to share.

She made an arrangement - somewhere between a shrine and a trip hazard - of coffee jar lids and a bottle of witch hazel on my bedroom doorstep. I'd decided non-interference was the Prime Directive by this point so I wasn't asking, but one day she explained to me that I was Witch Hazel, because I could do magic and I had hazel eyes. (I didn't have the energy to tackle the first one, so I just pointed out that my eyes are blue.)

Probably a better person than me would have staged an intervention, but even when she wasn't psychotic she was angrily resistant to the idea that she might have a mental health problem. I was in the midst of my own depression at the time and going crazier by the day as I couldn't get any sleep with this going on in the next room. I actually stuck it out for another six months before I fled screaming and moved in with my girlfriend.

WarKitty

2013-10-12, 04:53 PM

All I'll say: Never move in somewhere where the landlord is anywhere near you.

Juggling Goth

2013-10-13, 01:38 AM

All I'll say: Never move in somewhere where the landlord is anywhere near you.

SECONDED. My manic housemate? She was also the live-in landlady.

Jon_Dahl

2013-10-13, 04:16 AM

All I'll say: Never move in somewhere where the landlord is anywhere near you.

Tell me about it. After I had moved to the European house (referring to my first post to this thread), things were somewhat ok, until suddenly we heard that the landlord was returning back from Oceania, and he was taking the house back. Pretty soon after that everyone was leaving, but I had the chance to talk with the landlord's brother and he said that it was fine that I live in the house. It was weird to live in the house all alone, just waiting for the unkown landlord to come.

Then he came and told me that he wants to live in privacy with his girlfriend, and I had two weeks to go. For about three days I was trying to find a new house like a madman. Then the girlfriend arrived to the house and I had a chance to speak with her. When the landlord came the girlfriend said:
"Jon Dahl is nice! Let's keep him!"
"Yeah, sure."
Talking about whims, for Christ's sake!

The couple fought a lot. One time she took off with his car, and he managed to run to the car and punch the windscreen before she drove off. She was gone for two days and the landlord was pretty broken mentally and I thought that how all this was going reflect on me and my stay in the house.

Landlord's girlfriend was dangerous as hell. I was exercising and she came to me, smiling in a sort of mischeavous way and biting her lip. I guess she was trying to flirt with me, so I escaped as fast as I could.

When I was finally leaving and returning back to my country, the landlord was saying that I shouldn't find a new tenant and the girlfriend was saying that I should. The landlord also thought that the rent deposit is never paid back. He did pay it back though... In the end, I had a nice evening with the landlord while watched football in a bar and he taught me a few words in Irish. They weren't a bad couple, but my stay with them certainly increased my hair loss.

WarKitty

2013-10-13, 05:49 PM

Yeah. The trouble is that the landlord living there or nearby tends to encourage a "my house my rules" mentality. Either trying to set new rules that weren't in the lease, or not wanting to abide by the rules in place.

Anarion

2013-10-13, 07:06 PM

Oh do I have roommate stories. But they're so nutso that I decided to weave them into my webcomic. Dishes and crying. Those are two little issues that I'll throw out there.

Does anyone else have the experience where "The Dishes" are basically a stand-in for a whole passive-aggressive thing where somebody is trying to suggest that the person not doing the dishes is not pulling her own weight in some much broader sense of failing at life and making all the other roommates angry?

FlapjackStudios

2013-10-14, 07:46 PM

Does anyone else have the experience where "The Dishes" are basically a stand-in for a whole passive-aggressive thing where somebody is trying to suggest that the person not doing the dishes is not pulling her own weight in some much broader sense of failing at life and making all the other roommates angry?

I do think dishes can be a stand in for any problem ever that is known to mankind. In short, totally. I totally agree.

hotrodlincoln

2013-10-14, 08:19 PM

I've a couple of stories. I'll tell the worst one first.

This happened whilst staying with my mother and father. My father had a friend, who had been his friend for 20 some odd years. He had been a friend of the family for all that time, and we often had him around the house, paying him to do this or that odd job.

A little while ago, he got evicted from his apartment and needed a place to stay. It was a bit crowded, but my dad opened the door to him and we made it work. In retrospect, we probably should have asked /why/ he was being evicted, but we all liked the guy so we were more than happy to put him up.

It soon became apparent that he had begun drinking very, very heavily once again, as he would stumble in at the oddest hours of day and night, drunk off his pants, leaving the doors unlocked or even wide open. This was the first red flag.

During this time, I went and bought myself a new car, as I was getting rather tired of my old one. My parents talked me out of trading it in, and bought the car off of me, with the plan of letting my dad's friend drive the car and pay, say, $100 or so a month on it. This seemed reasonable enough to me, as he lacked a way of getting himself to work, although I had my reservations, as I seriously doubted his ability to pay for it.

This whole situation was supposed to last for a month, and ended up stretching on for four months, as they are wont to do. During this time, he started to really, really grate on our collective nerves. Leaving messes all over the place. Eating and drinking us out of house and home. Leaving lights and TVs and things running. Standard bad housemate behavior.

Where it all came to a head, was when my dad started complaining about bug bites. My blood immediately ran cold when he showed me all the bites he would get while staying at the house (He is a truck driver, so he's only home 2 or so days a week). I had a bad feeling of what was causing those bites, but I prayed I was wrong. I went upstairs, lifted up his mattress, and immediately a whole bunch of little reddish-black bugs scattered from the light. BEDBUGS. I stripped down as quickly as I could and immediately went to take a shower.

My next move was calling around to exterminators to figure out what the heck we were going to do. At this point, I was seriously freaking out. I do not do blood-sucking insects. We brought in a specialist with a bedbug sniffing dog to go around the house. Sure enough, the whole freakin' house was infested. :smallfurious:

We confronted my dad's friend, and at first he tried to deny his responsibility for the matter. Eventually, he admitted that he had bedbug problems at his old apartment. His blase attitude about the whole thing was enough to send me into a berserker rage. The guy didn't think they were a big deal. He didn't seem to care or have any remorse for the fact that he infested our whole dang house, top to bottom, as repayment for everything we had done for him. He had stayed with us for 4 months, rent free. We cooked him dinner most nights. Gave him a great deal on a car.

We kicked him out immediately and threw all his junk outside. He never paid more than $200 for that car. For all that, we were repaid with a serious bed bug infestation, and a stolen car. I was going to report the car as stolen, but then, I found out that my parents trusted him enough to just let him have the title to the car, so we couldn't even do that. :smallfurious:

My mother and I had to spend the next several days bagging up every piece of clothing, every towel, ever sheet, every blanket, every piece of luggage, anything made out of cloth and throwing it outside to bake in the sun. We had to bring in exterminators for months to treat for the creepy things, and they still occasionally pop back up, requiring another round of treatments.

It took months to get his creditors to stop calling, as well. The only reason they stopped is because I personally made it a point to help them out as much as I possibly could, down to giving them the name, address, and phone number of his last known workplace, and likely locations he might have moved on to.

After this, I learned that I will never, ever let a friend crash at any residence I own or rent, without a formal agreement. One that will enforce legal responsibility on them for any property damage, pest infestations caused by their negligence, etc., and more importantly, one that will allow me to eject them from the household without a protracted legal battle. What a freakin' nightmare.

Jon_Dahl

2013-10-15, 01:10 AM

@hotrodlincoln
If someone was casually bringing parasites to my household, I would just burst from anger. It was a mess, but I'm glad things turned out ok for you and your faimly.

tomandtish

2013-10-18, 12:39 PM

Juggling Goth

2013-10-20, 05:17 PM

When the immediate trauma's faded and you can see the funny side, I recommend John Birmingham's book 'He Died with a Felafel in his Hand', and its sequel, 'The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco'. I bought the audiobook of the first one by accident in Tower Records many many years ago. They're both hilarious.

Morgarion

2013-10-21, 08:04 AM

Aolbain

2013-10-21, 01:38 PM

Juggling Goth

2013-10-23, 05:08 PM

Do we want to know what you meant to buy instead of 'He Died with a Felafel in his Hand?'

I had no idea what I was buying! It was in the sale. It was a tape with a lurid pink and yellow cover with a picture of soap with pubic hair on it. I think I thought it was punk rock.

Ravens_cry

2013-10-25, 10:18 AM

Not a weird room-mate story, as I never have had a room-mate, but I did have two of the residents at a group home I was staying ask me out. One was a a good acquaintance and still is though we didn't go out and the other . . . . Nope, nope, nope. Even with my dry spell that's lasted for about 5 years, nope.
She just gave me this really creepy vibe, and the fact she has tried to friend me several times on facebook under multiple accounts does not help.

Roomie-Assn

2016-09-28, 05:35 PM

... he has a habit of setting his alarm to play radio in the morning to wake him up. the problem is that it wakes me up about 30 minutes before he moves.

Sounds like there needs to be a mandatory roommate meeting with a "living coordination" program initiated. An intervention counselor/student could be hired. Personally I have to ask him to move out if he showed no effort to learn how to get along. You may be able to work towards this or another an effective solution and to help others through the Roommate Association at roommates.association wild apricot dot org

lunaticfringe

2016-09-28, 05:51 PM

Driderman

2016-09-29, 03:21 AM

I live in a house with 5 separate leased rooms, changing roommates. About a year ago one of my housemates called me up because a police car had arrived and another of our housemates had gotten into an honest-to-god physical altercation with the police. And apparently it was a hefty fight because during the course of our phone conversation another police cruiser, a police motorcycle AND a police van also arrived, all to handle one short and angry Sri Lankan.

Turns out his boss had been skimming off his pay and put it aside for himself, and instead of going to the police my housemate had gone to his boss and beat him up, which caused the boss to call the police, and instead of explaining the situation my housemate decided to fight the police.

Chen

2016-09-29, 11:34 AM

All I'll say: Never move in somewhere where the landlord is anywhere near you.

I find it rarely a problem in multi-unit buildings. Can definitely be problematic in more single houses or small buildings like a duplex or triplex though.

Amaril

2016-09-29, 10:26 PM

Aedilred

2016-09-30, 07:10 AM

Hang on...is that really forbidden? I've never heard of bringing someone back to your room like that being a bad thing, unless your roommate really needs to be there at that moment for some important reason--otherwise, people seem to do it all the time. I mean, few people I know at school right now could even afford to get a room somewhere else. Does it have something to do with my campus being right in the middle of a big city?

I think as with most of these things it's a question of degree and consideration. I don't think that there's an inherent problem with bringing partners back to a shared room and doing whatever with them, but if you're doing so consistently while your roommates are present, without warning, or you have some kind of doorknob system but abuse that so they can't get into their own room, that's not really on. Equally, maintaining a strict "no guests" policy for your roommates and expecting them to check into a motel every time they want to see their girlfriend is also pretty unreasonable.

Living with other people always requires a degree of compromise and give and take, especially when you're sharing sleeping quarters too.

tantric

2016-09-30, 06:21 PM

okay, i was sharing a house with this nice pagan girl. a few months in she comes up pregnant and wants to move in her bf from another city til they can get their own place. i make way for pregnant women, so sure. but he's a bit much....macho, whatever. when the topic of me being gay comes up, he says, 'i'm from texas, we got steers, we got queers, and i know the difference. no sweat off my back, bro". i decided to be amused by this.

a week later he asks to use my computer to job hunt. sure. then a few days pass and i find a weird folder on my desktop. i open it. it's pics of what are called 'chicks with *****'. lots of them. i'm not really shocked, but i'm put out. bro code says i don't tell, but my roommate and friend is pregnant with this guy's kid. i hold it until one day roomie is bitching, 'he drank a whole bottle of champagne - what the hell is he doing all day?" i lost it - fell out laughing. then i told her. know what she said? 'dammit, he's doing it again.'

The Great Wyrm

2016-10-01, 09:34 AM

Hang on...is that really forbidden? I've never heard of bringing someone back to your room like that being a bad thing, unless your roommate really needs to be there at that moment for some important reason--otherwise, people seem to do it all the time.

Ah yes, the dreaded "sexile (https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sexile)."

One of my two roommates this year was storing quite a bit of marijuana in our room. Luckily, I found out before the authorities did, and made him get rid of it.

Amaril

2016-10-01, 03:23 PM

Ah yes, the dreaded "sexile (https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sexile)."

Indeed. I'd just never heard of it being taboo. More a sometimes annoying inconvenience that people just have to deal with.

Goodkill

2016-10-01, 06:01 PM

i was the weird depressed vegan roommate. i got better shortly after i quit being vegan and eating all that tofu....

Winter_Wolf

2016-10-01, 07:15 PM

I had a roommate who was actually pretty decent. He had one habit I hated, though: using the tv I bought to watch Samurai Pizza Cats at 7am with the volume too loud. I told him I didn't care if he wanted to watch tv, but damn, I don't want to hear it at seven in the morning. He elected to start watching the show in the common room downstairs.

And I hated his bloody bitch girlfriend. I'd have happily pushed her in front of a full-speed freight train. Specifics aren't really that important, but basically I started looking for a place off campus to rent, and when he found out and asked why, I explained as diplomatically as I could that I wasn't keen on sharing our room with his female companion for ANY length of time. As it happened it was easy to have real or fake reasons to need to be elsewhere when I got to the room and she was there. And mostly I did, because campus was small and hey if he wanted to get his Mac on, good for him.

He was actually a pretty cool guy all things considered, but those two things. They just got under my skin for some reason. Come to think of it, it was a really good setup and we got along pretty well, but a year of that was enough for both of us. I've lived with far worse people.

Aedilred

2016-10-01, 08:26 PM

Interfering with someone's sleep, whether preventing them from going to sleep when they want to, or waking them up earlier than they want to be woken, is one of the quickest and easiest ways to drive somebody crazy. It's amazing how many murder fantasies even normally well-balanced people can concoct when they're being kept awake against their will by someone snoring/listening to loud music/talking loudly/whatever. So if your roommate was habitually waking up early and putting the TV on in a way which forced you to wake up too, I'm not surprised it got under your skin.

Living with anyone is always a slightly stressful experience even at the best of times, because you have people in your space whose habits you are forced to endure (or kick up a fuss about, which may be unreasonable depending on what they are). Sharing a bedroom, where you have no real privacy at all, is even worse. Fortunately I've never had to share a bedroom (at least, for any more than a couple of days when travelling or whatever) although I did share a suite in uni (come to think of it, my roommate there was probably the easiest person to live with I've ever experienced, though that it was only for a few weeks at a time undoubtedly helped); however pretty much everyone I've shared a house or flat with has had something about them which has been annoying even if the overall experience was positive. Even the hypothetical perfect housemate may be irritating, if only because you find yourself thinking they're judging you for failing to live up to their standards.

Fri

2016-10-02, 10:55 PM

I've never technically have room mates, since I lived in sort of boarding houses in college (with one person per room), and started renting small apartment for myself afterward (having cheaper rent for better apartment by sharing it is tempting, but I enjoy being a hermit more I guess).

Though, I got politely kicked out of a boarding house once in first year of college. It was the middle of the night (about 2 in the morning I think), I just did some college events, and was dead tired, but I found out that I lost the outer key to the boarding house as I arrived there. Usually I'll just sleep it off somewhere else (in a cafe, whatever, since it's weekend after all), but I was dead tired and want a real bed, so I climbed the boarding house fence, tiptoed on the roof, reached a second room window, and knocked it, asking for the occupant to open the door for me. I thought I was being silent as cat, but turned out I woke people (other than the one I intended to wake) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The next day, the caretaker/landlord politely told me that my room is due for renovation, and I should find a new living place. When I passed there a few times, I saw no sign of renovations :smallcool: