(no subject)
I have a real problem with self-centred people, especially when I'm living with them. We're all self-centred to some extent or another, but I have tried to make an effort - particularly in regards to the people I have to spend the most time with - to at least try to see things from their point of view, and respect their points of view. But with my roommates, I can't comprehend where they're coming from. The nearest that I can get is that they simply don't CARE if they live in completely abysmal conditions.
I'm not a neat freak by any means, and I have a lot of bad habits of my own that I'm working on, if only for the sake of people around me who have to deal with it. I don't see this being the case with Tim and Natalie. I was talking to Laara, their last roommate, who lives across the street from us now, and she said that they were just as bad when she was living with them. Certainly Tim was like this when I lived with him a few years ago, but I'd hoped that his live-in girlfriend wouldn't be of the same stripe. Sadly, I was mistaken.
Simply put, they're slobs. There's food in the fridge that has been rotting for months... since we moved in, in fact. They never do dishes, take out the garbage or recycling (though they are oddly cautious about separating the two), pick up after themselves, or anything like that, leaving it to me with the full bulk of cleaning the apartment. On top of this, they use my projector and screen, Playstation 2, microwave, and the other things I've brought with me; refuse outright to share any food with me (usually served out of the very pots and pans that I have to scrub afterwards or else they'll sit in the sink and get moldy); ask for my help with everything from computer troubles to setting up shelves or the Christmas tree; and get unreasonably angry with me when I smoke inside (which is about 1% of the time). I have acceded to their demands that I smoke outside, even though it's freezing cold out there, and I understand someone resenting the smell of smoke, but occasionally I'll realise, why am I giving in to their demands - the only complaint they have about me, in fact - when they refuse to lift a finger on my behalf? Forget living in a nice, clean apartment for their own sake, just do it for the sake of the person you have to live with.
Whenever this topic has come up with them, however, they argue it on the grounds that smoking is a far more serious crime than being messy, and therefore they are not obligated to meet any of my requests and that for me to even ask them in exchange for my not smoking around them is a deeply heinous offense. And let me reiterate - I DON'T smoke around them. If, once or twice a week, I wake up and have a cigarette in my room, it's because they're out of the house, my window is open, my fan is going, incense is burning, febreeze is in the air, the cracks in the door are blocked, and I have taken every precaution possible to make sure they don't smell it. And they don't, unless they happen to come home, stick their head through my bedroom door, and sniff the air (which they always make a point of doing).
So they don't clean. And I don't particularly feel inclined to make any more concessions for them at this point. But the fact remains that this place is disgusting after a week of being away, and if I don't take care of it, no one will. So that's what I'm going to be spending my day doing - cleaning up other people's messes.
I'm not a neat freak by any means, and I have a lot of bad habits of my own that I'm working on, if only for the sake of people around me who have to deal with it. I don't see this being the case with Tim and Natalie. I was talking to Laara, their last roommate, who lives across the street from us now, and she said that they were just as bad when she was living with them. Certainly Tim was like this when I lived with him a few years ago, but I'd hoped that his live-in girlfriend wouldn't be of the same stripe. Sadly, I was mistaken.
Simply put, they're slobs. There's food in the fridge that has been rotting for months... since we moved in, in fact. They never do dishes, take out the garbage or recycling (though they are oddly cautious about separating the two), pick up after themselves, or anything like that, leaving it to me with the full bulk of cleaning the apartment. On top of this, they use my projector and screen, Playstation 2, microwave, and the other things I've brought with me; refuse outright to share any food with me (usually served out of the very pots and pans that I have to scrub afterwards or else they'll sit in the sink and get moldy); ask for my help with everything from computer troubles to setting up shelves or the Christmas tree; and get unreasonably angry with me when I smoke inside (which is about 1% of the time). I have acceded to their demands that I smoke outside, even though it's freezing cold out there, and I understand someone resenting the smell of smoke, but occasionally I'll realise, why am I giving in to their demands - the only complaint they have about me, in fact - when they refuse to lift a finger on my behalf? Forget living in a nice, clean apartment for their own sake, just do it for the sake of the person you have to live with.
Whenever this topic has come up with them, however, they argue it on the grounds that smoking is a far more serious crime than being messy, and therefore they are not obligated to meet any of my requests and that for me to even ask them in exchange for my not smoking around them is a deeply heinous offense. And let me reiterate - I DON'T smoke around them. If, once or twice a week, I wake up and have a cigarette in my room, it's because they're out of the house, my window is open, my fan is going, incense is burning, febreeze is in the air, the cracks in the door are blocked, and I have taken every precaution possible to make sure they don't smell it. And they don't, unless they happen to come home, stick their head through my bedroom door, and sniff the air (which they always make a point of doing).
So they don't clean. And I don't particularly feel inclined to make any more concessions for them at this point. But the fact remains that this place is disgusting after a week of being away, and if I don't take care of it, no one will. So that's what I'm going to be spending my day doing - cleaning up other people's messes.