Part II.
Erick and I weren't really surprised at Will's inability to pay rent on time, and we had prepared for it, but it still irritated us a bit, because we weren't really asking him for that much - less than his share, really. And, despite what he promised us before we got the house, he seemed utterly incapable of meeting any adult responsibility.
What irritated us further was the attitude of entitlement that Will seemed to exhibit and his tendency to become rabidly, irrationally defensive and rapidly lose his temper when challenged in any way. For example, in December, Will predictably told us he'd be late with the rent by a week. The week came and went, and there still was no rent money. He then told me he'd give us "something" in a few days. A few days came and went, and there was still no money. Erick and I were starting to become a little worried at this point, because our monthly costs had increased (due partially to high heating/electric bills Will was benefiting from yet not contributing to, partially due to the holiday season) and we were really stretched to our limit. When we attempted to ask him when he thought he might be able to give us some money, he immediately flew into a rage, stormed out of the room and wouldn't speak to us for the rest of the night. Mind you, we didn't actually ask for money right then, we merely asked WHEN he thought he might be able to pay us, because we needed to budget the rest of our month.
In the meantime, Will had quit his slightly shady job for an even shadier one that consists of selling trinkets and cheap shit outside Wal-Mart. I had interviewed at this same place before (MadTown Promotions), after I graduated from UW-Platteville. It was shady as hell, and I decided I wasn't interested after they told me that, to be considered for employment, I'd have to work an entire day FOR FREE, "just to see" if I "fit in." I told Will the place could be a scam, and that he should be careful. In response, he got mad at me, and didn't speak to me for the better part of a week.
This job he's working doesn't even pay him an hourly wage. He gets commissions from the shit he peddles, and that's his pay. (It operates on some kind of fucked-up pyramid scheme thing. I had thought those sorts of set-ups were illegal.) He works 6 days a week, for about 10 hours a day, and spends a couple more hours driving to and from his 'events' (i.e. various Wal-Mart, Target, and Pamida parking lots scattered throughout WI). He pays for the travel costs out of his own pocket. Once he gets there, he stands outside in the elements all day. In return, he gets paid less than minimum wage, most of which he spends on gasoline for his car.
As if Will's lackluster financial decision-making skills and inability to support himself wasn't bad enough, he rarely (if ever) would clean up after himself around the house. He would make himself meals and leave a sink full of dirty dishes that we would inevitably end up cleaning up. He constantly was leaving dirty cups all over the living room area. He would get things out and not put them back. When he brought his friends over, he wouldn't clean up after them, either. He didn't contribute in any way to performing the communal household tasks, except shoveling the front walk one time, at the beginning of winter. After he went hunting in October, he brought his blood-stained sneakers home and left them, untouched, in the entryway for weeks until I finally picked them up and threw them in front of his bedroom door. (We found them sitting by the trashcan in the kitchen after he moved out.) We rapidly grew tired of cleaning up after him, and it was impossible to talk to him about it, because he would immediately become defensive and deny responsibility for any mess that he left.
He also was very careless about home security, often neglecting to lock the house up securely when he left. He would deny responsibility for this, too. (Speaking of home security, there's also the time he brought one of his "friends" from work home - a methadone junkie who was trying to get a fix. The guy was obviously casing our house and spent an uncomfortably long time begging Will and me for money repeatedly before he finally left - but that's another story for another time.)
Once he got his new job, he would talk about nothing else. That's not really much of a surprise, considering how much it consumed all of his time. But, it was annoying for us to listen to, especially since we all thought he was a schmuck for continuing to work there.
Additionally, he was very wasteful with household resources. He constantly was leaving electronic shit on (like running his TV all the time, whether or not he was actually watching it), which irritated us because we were paying the electric bill and he wasn't paying any share of it at all. He would come home from his job and want to turn the heat up because he was cold from standing outside at his shit job all day - and, of course, he wasn't paying any of the heat bill, either.
We eventually came to the point where we stopped trying to say anything to him, because we simply didn't feel like dealing with the dramatic outbursts/flurry of excuses which would inevitably occur whenever we would approach him about something he was/wasn't doing around the house that proved to be inconvenient/unsafe for the rest of us living here. It wasn't the wisest course of action, because our irritation grew and grew.
Erick told me once that he was beginning to get the impression that Will believed we were obligated to help him - like we owed it to him somehow to take care of him because we were doing better than him financially. This understandably irritated him, and me.
Anyway, a couple weeks ago things came to a head. Erick had a talk with Will, and attempted to air our grievances with him. I don't know exactly what was said, but I know how Erick deals with people, and I have full confidence that Erick stated everything in the nicest possible way. I only heard Will muttering angrily to himself as he came down the stairs from Erick's room, something about Erick being shallow. Will then refused to speak to us.
We found out the next day (from our other friends) that his immediate response to Erick's talk was to call everyone else in Rabid Badger and tell them that we were angry at him and he didn't know why (other than Erick and I are shallow, judgemental and elitist), that we were running him out of the group (which was NEVER mentioned by either of us) and he was moving to Nebraska.
To be continued... when I'm not so irritated thinking about this.
What irritated us further was the attitude of entitlement that Will seemed to exhibit and his tendency to become rabidly, irrationally defensive and rapidly lose his temper when challenged in any way. For example, in December, Will predictably told us he'd be late with the rent by a week. The week came and went, and there still was no rent money. He then told me he'd give us "something" in a few days. A few days came and went, and there was still no money. Erick and I were starting to become a little worried at this point, because our monthly costs had increased (due partially to high heating/electric bills Will was benefiting from yet not contributing to, partially due to the holiday season) and we were really stretched to our limit. When we attempted to ask him when he thought he might be able to give us some money, he immediately flew into a rage, stormed out of the room and wouldn't speak to us for the rest of the night. Mind you, we didn't actually ask for money right then, we merely asked WHEN he thought he might be able to pay us, because we needed to budget the rest of our month.
In the meantime, Will had quit his slightly shady job for an even shadier one that consists of selling trinkets and cheap shit outside Wal-Mart. I had interviewed at this same place before (MadTown Promotions), after I graduated from UW-Platteville. It was shady as hell, and I decided I wasn't interested after they told me that, to be considered for employment, I'd have to work an entire day FOR FREE, "just to see" if I "fit in." I told Will the place could be a scam, and that he should be careful. In response, he got mad at me, and didn't speak to me for the better part of a week.
This job he's working doesn't even pay him an hourly wage. He gets commissions from the shit he peddles, and that's his pay. (It operates on some kind of fucked-up pyramid scheme thing. I had thought those sorts of set-ups were illegal.) He works 6 days a week, for about 10 hours a day, and spends a couple more hours driving to and from his 'events' (i.e. various Wal-Mart, Target, and Pamida parking lots scattered throughout WI). He pays for the travel costs out of his own pocket. Once he gets there, he stands outside in the elements all day. In return, he gets paid less than minimum wage, most of which he spends on gasoline for his car.
As if Will's lackluster financial decision-making skills and inability to support himself wasn't bad enough, he rarely (if ever) would clean up after himself around the house. He would make himself meals and leave a sink full of dirty dishes that we would inevitably end up cleaning up. He constantly was leaving dirty cups all over the living room area. He would get things out and not put them back. When he brought his friends over, he wouldn't clean up after them, either. He didn't contribute in any way to performing the communal household tasks, except shoveling the front walk one time, at the beginning of winter. After he went hunting in October, he brought his blood-stained sneakers home and left them, untouched, in the entryway for weeks until I finally picked them up and threw them in front of his bedroom door. (We found them sitting by the trashcan in the kitchen after he moved out.) We rapidly grew tired of cleaning up after him, and it was impossible to talk to him about it, because he would immediately become defensive and deny responsibility for any mess that he left.
He also was very careless about home security, often neglecting to lock the house up securely when he left. He would deny responsibility for this, too. (Speaking of home security, there's also the time he brought one of his "friends" from work home - a methadone junkie who was trying to get a fix. The guy was obviously casing our house and spent an uncomfortably long time begging Will and me for money repeatedly before he finally left - but that's another story for another time.)
Once he got his new job, he would talk about nothing else. That's not really much of a surprise, considering how much it consumed all of his time. But, it was annoying for us to listen to, especially since we all thought he was a schmuck for continuing to work there.
Additionally, he was very wasteful with household resources. He constantly was leaving electronic shit on (like running his TV all the time, whether or not he was actually watching it), which irritated us because we were paying the electric bill and he wasn't paying any share of it at all. He would come home from his job and want to turn the heat up because he was cold from standing outside at his shit job all day - and, of course, he wasn't paying any of the heat bill, either.
We eventually came to the point where we stopped trying to say anything to him, because we simply didn't feel like dealing with the dramatic outbursts/flurry of excuses which would inevitably occur whenever we would approach him about something he was/wasn't doing around the house that proved to be inconvenient/unsafe for the rest of us living here. It wasn't the wisest course of action, because our irritation grew and grew.
Erick told me once that he was beginning to get the impression that Will believed we were obligated to help him - like we owed it to him somehow to take care of him because we were doing better than him financially. This understandably irritated him, and me.
Anyway, a couple weeks ago things came to a head. Erick had a talk with Will, and attempted to air our grievances with him. I don't know exactly what was said, but I know how Erick deals with people, and I have full confidence that Erick stated everything in the nicest possible way. I only heard Will muttering angrily to himself as he came down the stairs from Erick's room, something about Erick being shallow. Will then refused to speak to us.
We found out the next day (from our other friends) that his immediate response to Erick's talk was to call everyone else in Rabid Badger and tell them that we were angry at him and he didn't know why (other than Erick and I are shallow, judgemental and elitist), that we were running him out of the group (which was NEVER mentioned by either of us) and he was moving to Nebraska.
To be continued... when I'm not so irritated thinking about this.