40 replies to this topic

[Icewolf]

We all here horrible stories about housemates. I have had more than my fair share, yet I still here many many more "wtf" stories that make me sometimes (rarely) feel that I have been lucky. They are a feature of university and young adult life. SO here are a few of my stories.

Names, dates and places are left out. I would ask you all do the same when sharing your stories.

Living in a flat of six people in university accommodation, there was one girl who was not so much actually bad as just incapable of considering when she might be about to do something that would be really annoying. Three incidents stick in the mind from this person, all about level 2 or the 1-5 level of annoyance.

The first concerned the glass that builds up in any kitchen. Any student kitchen will develop a lot of bottles and jars. To get rid of these they had to be carried down 3 flights of stairs and thrown into the glass bin just outside the door. A very minimal amount of effort. I generally carried about 4 items down everytime I left for class in the morning. Then it occured to me that I was producing none of the glass, and there was no way it could maintain that level of buildup if anyone else was taking their glass out. So I stopped. And as you might expect, a cleaner told the flat we would be fined if they were not taken out. And guess who is the one to give us all the lecture about how we should clean up after ourselves? Miss never takes the glass out.

The second incident concerned as most stories do, cleaning. Under university policy there was never a vacuum cleaner left in the corridor. It had to be requested from a cleaner at the start of the day and it would be left out and then locked away that night. I wanted to clean my room (I think i had dropped something and it had spilt) but was due in class before the cleaner would arrive the next morning, so asked if someone could ask the cleaner for me. When I return from class the vaccum is in the hall ready to be used. I go to take it into my room and this girl runs up and says that SHE asked for it and she wanted to clean her room. Being not too rushed I let her take it away. And wait. After half an hour, no sound of vaccuming has emerged from her room, so I go and ask if I can use it because it only took 2-3 minutes to vaccum our rooms (they were tiny). I see that when she asked for the vaccum it was not because she wanted to use it, it was because apparently tidying the floor and making the bed can only be done with it in the room, and she still had, at a conservative estimate, 3 1/4 million tons of crap to move before she could actually use it. However, apparently I was being ridiculous in asking if I could use the vaccum for three minutes.

The final incident is more of being careless towards friends rather than housemates, but I'll still stick it in. For her birthday she asked everyone to buy tickets and go with her to one of the Universities club nights. They had a policy that if it was your birthday you could go for free in that week, so she didn't have to pay. The tickets where about £3 each, and about 15 people agreed to go. On the night she was suddenly "tired" and refused to go and wanted everyone to stay in. The next day she went on a sports trip and stayed out until 3am, apparently oblivious that she had just asked for and then snubbed a £45 gift. (total cost of wasted tickets).

Second person shall be nicknamed useless lard arse. I have had a great many very bad experiences with him and he was a foul and nasty person. But a few funny things came out of it. Not least when fed up with constant slow internet from his streaming we blocked porn on the router and it took less than 10 minutes for him to be shouting. To give an indication of what he was like, on top of the usual not paying bills, using others food and equipment and not cleaning, he once screamed at us for being loud at 11:25am. The Night before he had slammed through the front door at 5am. Two weeks before, when he knew I was quite seriously ill he had done the same thing. He also accused me of being patronising two seconds after telling me I knew nothing about life. (brought on because I pointed out to him that it was a fact of life people get pissed of when they are owed over £100 in bills for 2 months without apology). I still have very fond memories of his total flip out (banging on walls, trying to get into the room) when he realised I was hooking up with the girl he had desperately hit on and bad mouthed me to. And the time my female housemate beat him in a downing race 5 times in a row when he tried to prove his manliness.

There are many others who I may right about later. I just want some other people to share stories so I know I am not alone in dealing with this ****.

[ccabal86]

Fortunately, I never had to deal with any of this. I always lived relatively close to my universities when living with my parents, and then I moved in with my now-wife

[Imran Ehsan]

This is why when I was in college I tried to make sure to share apartments only with my close friends..not with random people found through fliers on campus. I only lived with one guy for a year or so who was not a friend of mine..but he was pretty cool. The only complaint I had about him was that he used to smoke weed in his room all the time..but since he had a separate room I didnt make much of a deal of it.

[Icewolf]

This is why when I was in college I tried to make sure to share apartments only with my close friends..not with random people found through fliers on campus. I only lived with one guy for a year or so who was not a friend of mine..but he was pretty cool. The only complaint I had about him was that he used to smoke weed in his room all the time..but since he had a separate room I didnt make much of a deal of it.

I've tried to do this. But for two of the 4 years I have been in large student halls that means no choice, and for the other two I got stuck in a situation where I risked having nowhere to live at all.

Also being friends is no guarantee of happy livingship. Some good friends are enemies within a year of moving in with each other.

[Blade 619]

I will write up my experiences from freshers later, but one of my house mates has just set up his desk top (only took him a month) and one of the fan bearings is loose... so loud.

[Rand0m her0]

I will write up my experiences from freshers later, but one of my house mates has just set up his desk top (only took him a month) and one of the fan bearings is loose... so loud.

[wornoutcasefan]WARRRRRRIWILLDEVOURYOURSOULAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR[/wornoutcasefan]

Smack him for me, that takes maybe 5 minutes and 15 bucks to fix. If that.

Edited by Rand0m her0, 09 October 2012 - 11:02 PM.

[DeathMerchant]

My parents lived about 5 minutes from where I went to college, so I just stayed with them. Worked out well since I had very few expenses.

At one point I did consider moving out and renting a place with a couple friends, but unfortunately none of them ever had stable jobs.

[Samus]

I'm in freshers year now.

It's ****ed, but fun as hell.

[Niels]

Many years ago I had a roommate who was a little unpleasant, but tolerable.  He rarely washed his dishes and yelled at me one time when I didn't wake him up for his exam (because I guess one's roommate with a different class schedule should be your planner and alarm clock).

Then one day I came home to find a large German flag (of the WWII variety) pinned to the wall above his bed and he calmly announced to me that he was a big fan of Hitler's work.

 

Luckily, it wasn't too long after that he was expelled for low GPA.

[Rhizoctonia]

Many years ago I had a roommate who was a little unpleasant, but tolerable.  He rarely washed his dishes and yelled at me one time when I didn't wake him up for his exam (because I guess one's roommate with a different class schedule should be your planner and alarm clock).

Then one day I came home to find a large German flag (of the WWII variety) pinned to the wall above his bed and he calmly announced to me that he was a big fan of Hitler's work.

 

Luckily, it wasn't too long after that he was expelled for low GPA.

 

 

Yea....the flag might of put me over the ledge.  I couldn't live with someone who had such a flag, and supported what Hitler did

[Icewolf]

Many years ago I had a roommate who was a little unpleasant, but tolerable.  He rarely washed his dishes and yelled at me one time when I didn't wake him up for his exam (because I guess one's roommate with a different class schedule should be your planner and alarm clock).

Then one day I came home to find a large German flag (of the WWII variety) pinned to the wall above his bed and he calmly announced to me that he was a big fan of Hitler's work.

 

Luckily, it wasn't too long after that he was expelled for low GPA.

Expecting other people to know your exams is...yeah. Was he also one of the people who knows their housemate has a 9am class three times a week but insists that everyone lives to their 1pm start schedule (loud until 4am, demand silence before midday)

 

EDIT: Couple more stories. 

 

1. Housemate is cooking in the kitchen using a wok. They oil in the wok catches fire. They immediately turn on the tap, then pick it up and start walking towards the sink. Intervening rugby tackle saved the house.

 

2. This is a confession of mine. I was making lasange. In the house we had oven trays that fitted straight into the oven and could also be used as a rack to put dishes in. Not really paying attention I adjust the temperature and put in my lasagna dish ontop of one of the trays. Turns out the home made croissants don't taste so good when they are flattened to the underside of lasagna. 

 

3. The person who "cleans" the kitchen and leaves a bitchy note about how other people should clean up after themselves. A quick inspections shows the microwave is still full of their greasy crap and they haven't bothered cleaning around any of the jars on the surface (the place where you find most of the dirt in a kitchen). 

 

4. The person that invites friends round who proceed to "borrow" a bowl from my other housemate without asking to use as an ashtray (smoking is forbidden in the contract). This is then shoved under a table to be hidden and is found by myself 2 days later searching for why the room stank. He states that his friends are grown ups and they get to decide what to do and he is not taking any blame for what they do in the house. He does not understand why this might be a problem. 

Edited by Icewolf, 18 February 2013 - 11:55 AM.

[Blade 619]

3. The person who "cleans" the kitchen and leaves a bitchy note about how other people should clean up after themselves. A quick inspections shows the microwave is still full of their greasy crap and they haven't bothered cleaning around any of the jars on the surface (the place where you find most of the dirt in a kitchen). 

 

SO Familiar with this story! If you've expereinced it you'll appreciate the irritation, especially if you actually clean up after yourself and they're just makign a point of the one time they bothered to clean up after themselves.

[thepsytron]

Shared houses can be the best experience, or the worst bummer imaginable. Course, the bad memories are the ones that stay with you the longest.

Here's a warm memory of mine:

One house I lived in, I would always find my towel soaking wet, on the bathroom floor, when I went for a shower. It's a common grumble, to be fair. In the end, I put a spot of Marmite slap dab in the middle of the towel. Marmite is a savoury spread you might put on toast. It looks remarkably like poo. It showed up real good, because the towel was light-blue.

I folded the towel, so the skidmark couldn't be seen. Next time I came to use it, it was a trifle damp, but not wet. After that it was always dry.

Just a matter of working out good survival strategies, I think.

I would tell you what I did to thwart the Phantom Yoghurt Thief, but it would just give you nightmares.

 

Edit: A typo and some italics. Oh, and an apostrophe. Damn, must have OCD kicking in.

Edited by thepsytron, 27 March 2013 - 09:20 AM.

[President Mudbrick]

Years ago, I had a room-mate that was a real mooch. He paid his half of the bills on time, but never seemed to have his own food, detergent, toiletries, etc. When I commented on how those expenses should probably be split too, he agreed, then promptly "forgot" to toss me any money. I'd politely encourage him to purchase his own items when he'd use the last of mine, and the longer he lived with me, the angrier he'd get about the conversation (despite being the reason we had to have it in the first place). Eventually, I gave him notice and told him he had to go.

 

A couple of years later, we became friends again, putting that behind us. He was living with another mutual friend at the time, and over a few beers, he was telling me about what a "pain in the ass" his room-mate was. He then recounted (and this is a quote here): "Doesn't matter. When he pisses me off too much, I run the bristles on his toothbrush over my brown-eye a few times. It's always been my go-to revenge." He didn't realize what he was saying, and I didn't either until I sobered up the next morning and went to brush my teeth.

 

I felt ill for days.

Edited by President Mudbrick, 27 March 2013 - 05:39 PM.

[Lorikz Kain]

Meh the only time I shared living space was BCT with 51 other dudes or AIT with 7 other dudes. The room stayed clean because there was no option and after the initial month or two in AIT I finally got in a room with people that weren't retarded and then it was pretty enjoyable. Other than those two times I've never had any extended periods of time living with others outside of family of course.

[Icewolf]

Ok, so now I am angry. The cold ice angry that only a very few buttons can push. Probably shouldn't reveal my buttons to the wider world but one sure fire way to drive me to fury is is hypocrisy. 

 

My housemates (who basically ignore us) suddenly decided that we had to have a cleaning rota. Fine. I can live with that. Fair enough the house is not as spotless as it could be. Day 1 yesterday they said they were to do the Kitchen and we had to do the Bathroom. 

 

The Bathroom is now spotless. Far cleaner than when they have ever cleaned them. 

 

They however fail to do the kitchen. They "clean" by wiping the surfaces and the oven top. However they do not bother cleaning out the sink (not even taking out the bits of fish they dumped into the drain) or the microwave or cleaning behind anything on the surfaces. It took me an hour to do the bathroom, and they spent maybe 15 minutes on the kitchen. 

I point this out to them. I also point out the fact that it is an extremely bad idea to leave broken glass just wrapped up in a plastic bag on the window sill. Today I find a note telling me that I can't expect the kitchen to "look tidy" if I don't wash my plates up immediately after cooking. The broken glass is still there, as our their empty cans etc. And the sink is still not cleaned. 

Now I will admit that it generally takes me a few hours to do my washing up as I prefer to wait and do it all in one go rather than little bits throughout the day. At most something will sit out for 24 hours. Last night, there was a cheesgrater and one plate. 

So yeah, I'm pissed. Day 1 of their fucking rota and they have done a half arsed job, and then have the audacity to tell me off. Bear in mind that they never actually wash stuff up either, they just rinse it off and shove it in the cupboard still wet and with bits of food on it, to an extent that I do not use anything communal anymore because it is very unhygienic. 

[Blade 619]

They sound like asshats....

[Crusty Juggler]

Ok, so now I am angry. The cold ice angry that only a very few buttons can push. Probably shouldn't reveal my buttons to the wider world but one sure fire way to drive me to fury is is hypocrisy. 
 
My housemates (who basically ignore us) suddenly decided that we had to have a cleaning rota. Fine. I can live with that. Fair enough the house is not as spotless as it could be. Day 1 yesterday they said they were to do the Kitchen and we had to do the Bathroom. 
 
The Bathroom is now spotless. Far cleaner than when they have ever cleaned them. 
 
They however fail to do the kitchen. They "clean" by wiping the surfaces and the oven top. However they do not bother cleaning out the sink (not even taking out the bits of fish they dumped into the drain) or the microwave or cleaning behind anything on the surfaces. It took me an hour to do the bathroom, and they spent maybe 15 minutes on the kitchen. 
I point this out to them. I also point out the fact that it is an extremely bad idea to leave broken glass just wrapped up in a plastic bag on the window sill. Today I find a note telling me that I can't expect the kitchen to "look tidy" if I don't wash my plates up immediately after cooking. The broken glass is still there, as our their empty cans etc. And the sink is still not cleaned. 
Now I will admit that it generally takes me a few hours to do my washing up as I prefer to wait and do it all in one go rather than little bits throughout the day. At most something will sit out for 24 hours. Last night, therem was a cheesgrater and one plate. 
So yeah, I'm pissed. Day 1 of their fucking rota and they have done a half arsed job, and then have the audacity to tell me off. Bear in mind that they never actually wash stuff up either, they just rinse it off and shove it in the cupboard still wet and with bits of food on it, to an extent that I do not use anything communal anymore because it is very unhygienic. 

You may have moved in with my gf's old roommate. :/

[Icewolf]

Maybe.

 

Its Tuesday and they still haven't finished of the cleaning job. I really fucking hate the landlord that forced me to move in with these twats.

[Icewolf]

Still not done. They haven't fucking finished the kitchen yet they are bitching about "how this house has to be clean and tidy at the end of the contract."

 

I really am going to fucking tear them a new one.