Living with roommates can be a great way to save money, or an easy way to lose your sanity, depending on the person you’re sharing space with. In most cases when things go awry, our living situations are beyond our (immediate) control, usually for financial reasons. Sometimes we’re forced to live with someone we normally would never consider, if our wallets had the power to be more choosy.
Roommate drama can range from petty, (your beloved Blue Machine drinks always somehow end up half empty, though your buddy swears she never stole a sip,) to borderline unbearable. There are some very explicit, very crude stories of bad roommates out there, (you probably heard a few). So here are five types that don’t quite make your pad a place you call home-sweet-home.
The Drama Queen (applies to both women, and men)
She’s not an all-around bad person, she just doesn’t know when to hold her tongue. (we will continue to call her a “she” even if “she” is a “he”) If we were to say everything we think at any given moment, you’d quickly watch your acquaintances and even friends shift roles into potential enemies. Sometimes you just gotta let things go. So your roommie used up the last of the toilet paper roll and didn’t put a new one out. Annoying, but there’s really no need to bring it up the first time it happens. Sometimes you gotta leave petty things unsaid to preserve the peace, provided they haven’t escalated into repetitive acts of rudeness. She banters about every. Little. Thing.
The Chatty Cathy
Granted you’re roomies, you’re going to know about each other’s lives, but unless you’re super-close friends, it can be annoying to deal with your housemate constantly up in your business. Sure you share dishware, a shower, and occasionally a meal together, but this doesn’t include secrets you’d rather not divulge. She’s cool to live with, but you need your privacy too. When you come home at night, she’s guaranteed to be at the kitchen counter waiting for you to spill a minute-by-minute replay of your day because she had an uneventful one. Some nights you feel like kissing and not telling, figuratively-speaking.
The Playboy (or girl)
While your roommate’s “mack daddy” ways may be entertaining to observe on party nights, it’s a bit unwelcome when he’s bringing home different chicks every night when you need to sleep. You don’t mind having company over. But the wall dividing his room and yours certainly isn’t soundproof, and when he’s doing loud “activities” with his companion late at night and you’ve gotta get up in 5 hours for work, it’s too close for comfort.
The Freeloader
You’re certainly not stingy, you’ve employed the “sharing is caring” advice given to you as a child to an acceptable degree in your life so far, but “mi casa es su casa” doesn’t also mean your everything is their everything.
Using your hair dryer or hand soap every once in awhile is one thing, but when you suddenly find yourself being responsible for supplying most of the household necessities, because your roommate simply never restocks anything, you know you’re being taken for a ride. Or while you guys are watching TV and somehow her hand always makes it into your bowl of chips and dip (that you bought) She munches away as she babbles on about god-knows-what while you’re sitting there, nursing a little self pity, wondering why she doesn’t buy her own damn snacks.
The Binge Drinker
He’s really handy when the need to round up players for a game of beer pong arises, and you enjoy a night of some good, clean drinking fun as much as the next guy. But every single time you have a party he ends up breaking a lamp or passing out half-naked on the balcony. He doesn’t know his limit with drinking, and honestly, you’re just sick of the stench of alcohol on his breath five nights out of the week.
About the Author
Kristen Bright is the social media consultant for Instant Checkmate. Instant Checkmate is a personal criminal background check provider, and does not perform employment screening of any kind.
