Friday, September 5, 2008

Roommate Fail

I don't know if I've ever lived anywhere before where the roommates absolutely failed at taking care of biznass related to, you know, being on top of shit.

This is the roommate breakdown:
Roommate 1: Unemployed, getting PhD in forensic psych (finishing dissertation), looking for job as waiter. Roommate with whom I have had the most contact. Has lived here 1 year.
Roommate 2.: Grad student, socially awkward, have only seen for 5 mins since moving here. Also has lived here 1 year.
Roommate 3. Moved in a month ago. Stoner. Chill. Only person so far to acknowledge unfortunate bathroom sitch (see below).

I don't know if I mentioned it in my last post, but it bears repeating. The apartment smells kind of bad -possibly due to a mouse infestation, which I cleaned up a ton of mouse poop the other day from under the sink and filled up a black garbage bag with other plastic bags so as not to continue to leave a nice little habitat for mousersons. The other odor problem is a broken toilet. There are two bathrooms, which means less inclination to get said broken toilet fixed. But, as roommate 3 said, the toilet is STANK. It is so nasty. I don't know what it was like before...but I think my mover may have peed in the broken toilet. Thus, there has been piss just sitting in the toilet for a week.

So whatev, I have some issues with the roommates in general because they just don't really care about stuff. They had to have known about the mouse, but they just don't deal with it.

So then I was looking at the mail that is around and saw a bill from the electric company and noticed that they had missed a month. Roommate #2 is responsible for bills. So I was like, well I would prefer that bills were paid on time, but everyone forgets a month now and then and it's not in my name so I don't care.

Then I was looking at mail on the kitchen table today and saw a notice from the gas company. Apparently they owe $500 and they are going to shut off the gas.

Fabulous. These are all adults here, but absolutely nothing gets taken care of. It's ridiculous. And I was actually looking for bills to find the cable bill because I think I will take it upon myself to order us DVR. Given that Roommate #1 said he had been thinking about getting DVR since they moved in - 1 year- I'm just gonna go ahead and assume that this place is a DIY kind of deal.

On a positive note I cannot recommend highly enough DiscountContactLenses.com. I was reluctant to order online b/c I wanted contacts right away. But I went to a place by my work to pick some up and they were charging $35 a box. DCL.com was $13 a box. I put in my order and they emailed me 2 hours later (record time!) to say it had shipped. I ordered the expedited shipping (making the total per box about $16...still way cheaper), and they came today! And I ordered Weds!
Total fan.
Also, the new TJ's is opening up like 4 blocks from my work.

5 comments:

AndSheWas said...

That in general not caring about stuff on your roommates' parts? That was what would piss me off most about my roommate. But it never got to the point where they were going to shut off our gas from his lack of initiative - it's stuff like leaving empty food wrappers lying around, or allowing his food to rot in the fridge for months that's gets my goat.

What has happened is that I've stopped caring, too. Our apartment is a disgusting mess right now, and I'm like, whatever, I'm done cleaning up everything only to watch it get destroyed two days later.

This might happen to you too, and you know what? It's kind of freeing. But then again, my saving grace us that I'll be moving out in a few months and living with a person that DOESN'T enjoy living in squalor.

Caitastrophe said...

I could totally see myself not caring anymore at some point.
I'm hoping to set an example by not living like a frat boy, but I suspect it won't make an impact.

Today I took bags out of the fridge that used to hold shredded cheese and are now empty. I don't know what goes through someone's mind. Hmm, I've used up all my cheese. I could go ahead and throw it in the garbage that is right here next to the fridge. But I think I'm just gonna go ahead and put it back here in the fridge that is shared with 3 other people.

I foresee many blogs in the future about my living situation.

AndSheWas said...

UGGH that is totally my roommate!

For instance, he will drink a carton of milk until there is only a few drops left. Instead of dumping out what he doesn't want to drink and tossing the carton, he will let it sit in the fridge and crack open a new carton. Like, wtf? One day I cleaned out 4 jars of half-full Tostitos salsa that had been sitting in the fridge for months. He thinks that if the food container is less than full, that must mean the food is bad. Ok, fine, it's not my food you're wasting, but throw the shit out!

It must be hard being the newcomer into an apartment where the roommates have gotten used to each other and are content to live like pigs. Maybe they need someone to whip them into shape, and you're just the person they need. Oorrrr maybe they will resent your demands that they clean-up after themselves and conspire to throw you out. Maybe if your blog somehow found a way into their inboxes...

Caitastrophe said...

Yeah those are my exact thoughts...I'm trying to do just a little bit at a time so as to not be like, ok this is how we're gonna do things now.
The upside of no one caring is that they also don't care what I do to improve my situation. Today's mission is to get a garbage can to put the recycling in. Because:
Recycling=great.
Leaving the blue recycling bag in the middle of a tiny kitchen in no bin so that it spreads and gets huge and I can't open the fridge far enough to get to the drawer I keep my cantaloupe in = obnoxious.

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