Truly great roommates who match your character are a bit like winning the lottery—the chances of you getting this lucky are quite slim. Unfortunately, not everyone is so blessed! They sometimes have to live with people who have a very different philosophy about cleanliness. That's a nice way of saying that some roommates feel like they've moved in with you straight from hell.
In a viral post on ‘Petty Revenge,’ user u/Ok_Presentation6442 regaled the internet with a story about how she got back at her former college roommates. They had huge issues with picking up after themselves and got frustrated when the author tidied their things. So, they demanded that she leave their stuff where she found it… only to regret it almost immediately.
Scroll down for a primer on dealing with messy, entitled roommates and to read the internet’s reactions. Meanwhile, Bored Panda has reached out to the author for comment, and we’ll update the article as soon as we hear back from her.
It's infuriating when you're the only one who cleans up at home because your roommates are too lazy to pick up after themselves
Image credits: Cristina Radulescu / unsplash (not the actual photo)
One woman entertained the internet with a story of revenge against her incredibly messy college roommates. Here's how everything unfolded
Image credits: A. C. / unsplash (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Martin Jaroš / unsplash (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Oleg Ivanov / unsplash (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Ok_Presentation6442
If you want to avoid clashing with your roommates, you have to set out some very clear expectations and boundaries right away
Image credits: A. C. / unsplash (not the actual photo)
To be clear, everyone has their little character quirks and habits. While some might find them endearing, they might annoy others. And no matter the person, there’s bound to be at least a little bit of friction when you live with them for a long time.
Finding someone to live with who ‘perfectly’ matches all or most of your values, character features, habits, and lifestyle is pretty rare. So, looking for someone who is ‘good enough’ is much more practical than holding out for that mythical ‘perfect’ roommate.
That means having some basic, common-sense guidelines for things like cleanliness, chore distribution, noise levels, budgeting, guests, and so on. If you can agree to these rules before moving in together, you’ll avoid quite a few conflicts further down the line.
Writing everything you agree on down and having a physical or digital roommate ‘contract’ can help a ton, too. Even if you agree about everything verbally, people tend to forget some details. Not to mention their tendency to misinterpret things that you thought you were on the same page about.
It is absolutely unfair to force a single person to be in charge of the chores in the house or apartment. Everyone should be pulling their own weight! That means keeping your own room tidy, as well as picking up after yourself in the common areas.
And, yes, that also means getting your hands dirty and helping out with cleaning the shower and toilet, scrubbing the sink, wiping the counters, washing the dishes, vacuuming, taking out the trash, doing the laundry, doing grocery runs if you cook together, etc. If you hate a particular chore, you could talk with your roommates about everyone focusing on the housework they don’t mind doing, and then dividing up the most loathed tasks equally.
Doing chores is an unavoidable part of grown-up life. You've got to find a way to fairly divvy them up between everyone at home
Image credits: No Revisions / unsplash (not the actual photo)
A key part of becoming a mature, functioning member of society is taking responsibility for the messes you create. Having some sort of chore schedule can help. But you also need to clean as needed, not just when the schedule says so or you ‘feel like it.’ If you spill something, clean it up. If you make a mess in the bathroom, clean it up. If you’ve thrown your clothes everywhere after a hard day at college or your part-time job, clean it up.
Naturally, everyone makes mistakes and slips up from time to time. Not every bit of messiness is intentionally malicious. So, they might need their friendly roommates to remind them to do one chore or another, or a keen eye to point out a bit of dirt they didn’t notice.
But if someone is intentionally dodging their duties and making up excuses, you need to sit down with them and address their behavior. Don’t be judgy or angry -- stay calm, collected, and even friendly, but also don’t be vague about what you need. Be very specific with your expectations.
Some people are walking-talking red flags, and you're better off not continuing to live with them
Image credits: Andrej Lišakov / unsplash (not the actual photo)
According to ‘Bustle,’ some of the biggest roommate red flag behaviors are:
- Lack of cleanliness
- Eating your food
- Avoiding talking to you and leaving passive-aggressive notes
- Having guests over without informing you first
- Not paying rent on time
- Damaging your things without replacing them
- Having their significant other living there without contributing to the rent
- Bringing out the worst in you
- Infringing on your personal space
‘Dorm Therapy’ suggests that if your roommate has a habit of leaving their clothes in random places, you should gently remind them about how their behavior affects everyone living there.
For instance, you could say something to the tune of: “I’ve noticed that clothes on the floor make it harder to keep the room tidy. Can we work on a solution together?”
Pitch some ideas to them, like getting a hamper for their dirty clothes or some sort of storage for their fresh ones. Meanwhile, remind them that the communal areas shouldn’t be overloaded with personal items.
Who are the very best and worst roommates you’ve ever had, Pandas? Have you ever had to keep tidying up after the people you lived with? How did you handle the situation? What advice would you give anyone who’s about to go off to college and will live with roommates for the very first time? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
As the story started going viral online, the author interacted with some of her readers in the comments
Many internet users enjoyed the revenge story. Here's how they reacted to it
Unfortunately, bad roommates are far too common. A few netizens shared their personal nightmare stories
