Roommate Trouble

[SobaAddict70]

I think Soba just needs a new roommate. Isn't this the same one who is inadvertently breeding mice in their apartment?

No, I'm sorry if you think the above is because of my current roommate. He's not that bad, although he has occasionally scarfed stuff even though it's pretty clear that I'm the one who eats REAL food and not junk food. Things like bananas and orange juice. (However, along the lines of keeping things in the refrig way past the due date, it may interest folks to know that he kept a tin of foie gras from Paris -- two years after he came back from France. He's absent minded that way. I eventually threw it out (unopened) the last time I defrosted the freezer.)

I only posted the above to get the conversation going.

Soba

[Cusina]

Around here, it's not what the kids or husband eat, it's what they put back in the fridge and cupboards. Empty containers. Empty bags. Empty boxes. Just because the cupboard looks full, doesn't mean it is. Let'e not mention just how much more work it is to open the dishwasher to put that empty glass in than it is to just set it on top of the dishwasher.

Oh I HATE this... you think you have 2 cartons of orange juice when in reality you only have a little bit in the bottom of one and an empty. Ice cream is the absolute worst. Nothing good at all about pulling out an empty pint of B & J when you are in the mood for a splurge!

[HeatherM]

When I was in university, I lived in residence for two years. The first year roommate I won't even get started on...

The roommate I had in second year was a bit flighty, and didn't think anything of leaving dirty dishes all over our *tiny* dorm room until they were science experiments. I quickly got sick of picking up after her, but didn't think of dumping the dishes in her bed (wish I had). I bought a few HUGE plastic cockroaches (very realistic, very big) and carefully placed them under the lips of plates that were around the room.

One afternoon after my careful cockroach placement, she was on the phone with daddy (she was daddy's little girl...), when out of the corner of her eye, she noticed one of the bugs, and then another. I don't think I have ever heard someone scream that loud since. She started screeching, cursing like a longshoreman, and jumping up on the furniture, all while on the phone with daddy...

Needless to say, I was rolling on my bed laughing myself silly.

She got much better about putting her dishes away after that...

[hillvalley]

I had 10 roommates in 4 years and blocked out most of the food memories I put up with. I did have one roommate who had very long hair and it would end up in all over the kitchen and in the fridge.

Another roommate used to number her Tupperware and if we used it we would get a note asking us to use the unnumbered containers.

[Rhea_S]

No, I'm sorry if you think the above is because of my current roommate. He's not that bad

Sorry for jumping to conclusions. It looks like you picked a hot topic. I've never really had problems with roommates except that a couple of my three roommates in university always let veggies rot in the fridge and wouldn't let me or the other roommate throw them out. They both claimed that the veggies were still good and were going to be used for some dish. They were slimy and stinky! I just remembered another thing that bothered me about one of those veggie-rotters. She would bake bread, freeze the loaves, use up valuable freezer space and bake/freeze more before finishing the frozen ones. Other than that, we all got along quite well while I lived there. The three remaining plus my replacement had major problems the following year and were split up to maintain the residential advisor's sanity.

[AlexP]

My senior year in college I did not lived in an apartment. I lived in a trash can, a big trash can with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living room / kitchen. You could walk pass the living room without even seen the carpet. It was truly disgusting. Weeks old Chinese take out and fast food beverage cups full of chew spit... My roommates were the primary source of garbage (I did not clean after them, so I was responsible to a certain degree). It was quite disturbing but I manage to survive spending enough time in the library or completely intoxicated in the apartment, talking about "trying to escape". I call it the "Dark Period" in college. It is a blurry memory now.

After that I had a roommate that liked to use my towels and my used razors!!!!!!!

Jeez!!!!!

Alex

Edited January 26, 2004 by AlexP (log)

[Suzanne F]

Around here, it's not what the kids or husband eat, it's what they put back in the fridge and cupboards. Empty containers. Empty bags. Empty boxes. Just because the cupboard looks full, doesn't mean it is. Let'e not mention just how much more work it is to open the dishwasher to put that empty glass in than it is to just set it on top of the dishwasher.

Sounds like they're all in training to work in restaurants.

The only experience I can remember (yes, probably blocked out the rest) was of one period working at a summer theater. The entire company -- student interns, actors, techies -- lived in a couple of off-campus houses. I would make a batch of hard-cooked eggs and keep them in the fridge. One of the "famous" actresses always wondered why she couldn't make a scrambled egg in the morning. I was to cowed to complain; I mean, she had been on Broadway!

[KateW]

At college before I went to JWU, I went through 3 room mates in a year in a half. My first room mate was a psycho, and I know a lot of people say that, but this one really was. She thought I poisoned her juice. (Hey, this is a food site, right?) I wasn't even there on the night she got sick from said juice, but the whole thing got out of hand and practically ruined that college for me. I wasn't one to give up though, even though the allegations had ruined my social life. She was a sophomore and I was a freshman so even though nobody really loved her, they were still inclined to believe her and not me. I was very shy, didn't have any friends in the first place, and this did not help.

She also accused me of other food crimes such as leaving a Dinty Moore stew can in the sink (I did no such thing because I don't even eat the stuff). So anyway I stayed on, and she ended up moving out because the policy was that if a room mate accuses the other of something she is not happy with (understatement of the year, eh?) the accusor has to be the one to move out if it comes to that. So then another room mate came, and she was alright, although a little conservative. No food issues there.

That year ended and I returned for my second year, boyfriend in tow. He lived off campus while I technically lived on campus, but I was never there. My room mate that time was deaf, blind and mentally retarded. She used to sing at the top of her lungs all the time and scream at me if I was unable to help her with something, like once she asked me to fix her walkman and I couldn't, and she threw it at me. Thank heaven I could escape to my boyfriend's place. No real food issues there. We had a kitchen that the whole dorm shared, which I really miss. It also had a fridge which I used sometimes. I ate odd things compared to most, so my food never got stolen.

I have a room at JWU, and two very nice room mates, but I'm rarely there either. They offer each other and me food from care packages and stuff. I had some really good fudge not long ago.

[MRX]

Yet another reason for not having a roommate:

I, thankfully, have avoided roommates since 1986, when I lived in a fraternity house. However, today, while having dinner with a friend, she started relating some of her roommate horror stories. She has two roomies.

Last week, one left oven on one day and the gas (unlit) on the range top another day.

Today was the biggie though, she got home at 3:30 PM and found the gas on again while roommate number two left a candle burning in the living room. Anyway, anyone living in Manhattan should look in the direction of Normandie Court this evening...because one way or another I expect that there may be some fireworks later.

Edited January 27, 2004 by MRX (log)

[JennyUptown]

I once discovered my drunk, male (and this is critical to the story) roommate doing something unmentionable in the kitchen sink. In spite of much scrubbing on his part, I didn't use that sink for the remainder of the time we lived there together.

[JennyUptown]

Yet another reason for not having a roommate:

I, thankfully, have avoided roommates since 1986, when I lived in a fraternity house. However, today, while having dinner with a friend, she started relating some of her roommate horror stories. She has two roomies.

Last week, one left oven on one day and the gas (unlit) on the range top another day.

Today was the biggie though, she got home at 3:30 PM and found the gas on again while roommate number two left a candle burning in the living room. Anyway, anyone living in Manhattan should look in the direction of Normandie Court this evening...because one way or another I expect that there may be some fireworks later.

They don't joke about that place as "Dormandie" for nothin'. For a lot of people, it's their first time living away from home. Sheesh that's scary.

[MRX]

I love the Dormandie name...I hadn't heard that before, and the name suits the place perfectly.

And yes all three roomies are in their mid-just-outta-school-twenties.

[Marlene]

Around here, it's not what the kids or husband eat, it's what they put back in the fridge and cupboards. Empty containers. Empty bags. Empty boxes. Just because the cupboard looks full, doesn't mean it is. Let'e not mention just how much more work it is to open the dishwasher to put that empty glass in than it is to just set it on top of the dishwasher.

And they never close the cupboard doors either! Here it's not so much the leftovers they eat, it's the stuff I've got in the fridge to make dinner with. They eat it before I get home - we order pizza.

[bloviatrix]

And they never close the cupboard doors either!

You just hit on another of my pet peeves. I hate open cabinet doors. They look like open mouths. Plus, they're dangerous. It's always me who ends up banging her head on a sharp corner.

[snowangel]

Our house is on the market, and my kids and husband are calling me a dirt and dust nazi.

New complaint. Me "Please clean off the counter after you've made your sandwich." Them: sweep crumbs onto the floor. Me: "do you think this is a self sweeping and mopping floor? Do you want this house to sell? Do you want that next house that is perfectly ideal that we really, really want? So, why don't you just sweep the effing crumbs into your hand and dump them into the trash?"

[melkor]

The onion has an infographic here with their roommate trouble survey.

[Marlene]

Our house is on the market, and my kids and husband are calling me a dirt and dust nazi.

New complaint. Me "Please clean off the counter after you've made your sandwich." Them: sweep crumbs onto the floor. Me: "do you think this is a self sweeping and mopping floor? Do you want this house to sell? Do you want that next house that is perfectly ideal that we really, really want? So, why don't you just sweep the effing crumbs into your hand and dump them into the trash?"

Now that I've finally got my son trained to bring his plate back to the kitchen, next steps are to teach him where the garbage is to scrape it off, and then the location and operation of the dishwasher to put said plate in

[Mudpuppie]

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

My ex and I had this problem. Ex claimed to have a compulsive eating disorder. (Maybe it was legitimate, but I'm dubious.) This meant that I would go to bed and in the morning, most of the food I was looking forward to eating would be gone.

The final straw was when Ex ate the birthday cake that my coworkers had bought for me. I was perfectly willing to share, but didn't expect that it would be gone in the morning and that I, the birthday girl, would only end up with one slice.

From then on, Ex insisted that I put my initials on all food that I wanted to consume myself.

And from then on, Ex claimed I was ungenerous with my food.

Dude, you hit a nerve.

[reesek]

sometimes it's a mystery why relationships fail...sometimes it's not.

"ex" sounds like a real prince.

[snowangel]

Now that I've finally got my son trained to bring his plate back to the kitchen, next steps are to teach him where the garbage is to scrape it off, and then the location and operation of the dishwasher to put said plate in

Remember that is takes untold more effort to open dishawasher and insert dish than it does to merely leave it on the counter. Like a bazillion calories. Trust me, as mom of three (make that four if one counts The One I Married).

[Marlene]

Now that I've finally got my son trained to bring his plate back to the kitchen, next steps are to teach him where the garbage is to scrape it off, and then the location and operation of the dishwasher to put said plate in

Remember that is takes untold more effort to open dishawasher and insert dish than it does to merely leave it on the counter. Like a bazillion calories. Trust me, as mom of three (make that four if one counts The One I Married).

Yes, but think of the calories I'll expend harranguing them.(put dishes away, wipe up spills, put your clothes in the laundry basket, hang your coat up, do your homework and CLOSE THAT KITCHEN CUPBOARD DOOR! There's a much longer list, but I thought perhaps i might run out of room. And one always must count the man (men) we marry in the grown up kid category.

[KatieLoeb]

I had a Roommate From Hell at one point. Food was the ONLY thing that wasn't an issue as he was very into sharing the groceries and cooking responsibilities.

It turned out that the seemingly normal guy was actually an alcoholic pig. He'd be trashed all the time, he'd tape pornography over my VCR tapes and run up the cable bill with pay per view porno, brought all manner of strangers home, etc. The last straw was when some drunken stupid bitch he'd picked up in bar got lost on the way back from going to the bathroom in the middle of the night and climbed into bed with ME! And my bedroom was on a different floor!

I made him move out after that. Invading my effin' bed with drunk bimbos was more than I'd signed up for.

[tommy]

I made him move out after that. Invading my effin' bed with drunk bimbos was more than I'd signed up for.

i'd think that some people would look for that quality in a roommate. in fact, where i come from, that'd be considered an "awesome roommate".

[chromedome]

I don't remember any *REALLY* bad roommates...though I did share an apartment for a while with a schizophrenic Uraguayan.

He was a nice enough guy, except in his taste for bad cologne and polyester shirts. Problem was, he was too macho to take his meds consistently, and began to see strange things in the refrigerator (okay, there were a few items in there that I was unsure about too...but they never moved while I was looking).

I found it rather funny in the movie Moulin Rouge when the narcoleptic Argentinian crashed through the ceiling. Not quite the same as a schizophrenic Uraguayan, but it felt oddly familiar.

[Katherine]

Grrrrrrrrrrr. 

My ex and I had this problem. Ex claimed to have a compulsive eating disorder. (Maybe it was legitimate, but I'm dubious.) This meant that I would go to bed and in the morning, most of the food I was looking forward to eating would be gone.

The final straw was when Ex ate the birthday cake that my coworkers had bought for me. I was perfectly willing to share, but didn't expect that it would be gone in the morning and that I, the birthday girl, would only end up with one slice.

From then on, Ex insisted that I put my initials on all food that I wanted to consume myself.

And from then on, Ex claimed I was ungenerous with my food.

Dude, you hit a nerve.

I had the same problem with my ex, but he never attributed it to an eating disorder. He just figured that, no matter how much food I prepared and put in the refrigerator, it was fine for him to eat it all, and everybody else, including the cook and the baby, were on their own.

So if I made a pound of meat into a pot of chili, he'd eat the whole thing, leaving none for me when I got home from work. You see, he deserved to have all the meat in the house, and I, not as thin as a model, didn't need to eat at all.

In other words, he was a greedy, self-centered, controlling jerk.

The last straw was the time I picked out a quart of grapes, figuring that I should make extra so there'd be some left for the baby to eat. There weren't. Guess what? It was my fault! I forced him to eat all of them by not buying whatever else he was going to be in the mood for at that time.

Don't get me started. You know how I get.