If my roommates are going to act like pigs, I am going to treat them like pigs.
Is cleanliness a way of life?
Last night my boyfriend and I were discussing our awful roommate situation when he stated, “part of the problem with you is that you force your way of life on them.” To which I angrily retorted, “Excuse me? I force my way of life on them? Since when? I don’t force them to believe in God or vote conservative. What the hell do you mean by that?” He looked at me for a few seconds before replying because he could tell that comment had pissed me off. “You force them to be clean, which is your way of life, not theirs.”
And to be honest, this is something I have never thought about. Both my boyfriend and I are clean people, we don’t want mold in the shower or food in the sink. I view cleaning as a form as self respect, as well as respect for the owner of our apartment. I grew up in a clean household (my mother in a clean freak), and it’s second nature to me to want to clean. I don’t view cleaning as a choice, but as a necessity. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, after all.
But for my roommates, their natural state of living is a pigsty. They will leave their dishes in the sink for over a week, letting them build up to the point you can’t use the sink and the smell of rotten food can’t be tamed by Febreeze. They don’t flush the toilet after using the restroom and one time I even came home to poop on the toilet.
Which comes down to the question: Is cleanliness a way of life? I suppose you make an active choice whether to clean or not, to live like a pig or not. Technically I choose to clean and live in a clean place, making it my way of life. Whether or not I view it as a necessity does not change the fact that I choose it versus I have no other option.
This question has plagued me all night, and my final thought is: Yes, cleaning is a way of life in the literal sense. I choose to clean, and make it a part of my daily existence. And I guess I will continue to force my roommates to live my way of life because I live in America, not some squalor shack in Guatemala. It comes down to the issue of respect though, and since I have a high standard of self respect as well as respect for my landlords, the cleaning will go on, and my roommates will just have to live with it because I respect myself more than I respect them.
You know what really peeves me?
After living with my dumbass roommates for 6 months, you think they would have my morning bathroom schedule down. But consistently they use the bathroom whenever it is, what I thought was, my allotted time. So starting today, I am putting up a schedule on the door because if my 6 month routine isn’t obvious by now, it never will be to them.
On a side note, how is it that I always end up with the stupidest of roommates?
Roommate drama
If I have to be the Mom of the house, then yes, I am going to act like the Mom of the house. If you don’t want to be told what to do, then God Dammit you are a fucking grown ass man and it is time you started acting like one. But since you persist on being nothing more than a wannabe rebellious teenage boy without a care in the world, than that is what you will be treated like.
The bathroom gets mold in it if you leave the window closed after you shower. So if I have to tell you to open the window because I don’t like showering in a moldy cave, then yes I will repeatedly tell you to leave the window OPEN. Just because you tell me that you find me bossing you around “annoying” isn’t going to change the fact THAT YOU DIDN’T OPEN THE FUCKING WINDOW. I will be the most annoying person on Earth if that is what it takes so I don’t have to have a moldy bathroom. And it isn’t like your ass is in there scrubbing the mold away, it is mine you filthy son-of-a-swine.
That moment when you find out that your roommate has been using your razor and now tries to claim it's his...
I am absolutely disgusted and fuck him.
Why you don't talk politics with your roommates.
So, as the Republican debate was ending and the closing statements just begun, my roommate Kris comes home. He looks at the tv and yelled incredulously, "What?! Ben Carson is a Republican?!" I looked at him and said, "Yes, he is. There are many black Republicans and he is one of them." To which Kris looks at me still in shock, "Well, I know there are black Republicans." From the tremble and waver in his voice though, I could tell he was having a hard time believing it.
I go back to watching the debate, but I knew he wasn't done interrupting. He just looks at me and asks, "Are you Republican?" "Yes I am," I replied, hoping he could see that I was becoming annoyed with his persistent chatter and his interruption of the closing statements. For a guy who claims to be "very observant," I would say his social skills regarding reading facial expressions are zilch. He decides that it is time for an "intervention" conversation, and I knew at that moment that I was not going to get to watch the closing statements.
Kris begins on this long tirade, opening with "how did I become Republican." I tell him my thoughts, my philosophy, and end it with that is why I am Republican. Once again, that flabbergasted face comes back. What happened next was a typical liberal response. "Well, why are you so rigid in your beliefs? Have you ever thought about the other side to these issues? And since this is your view on things, how can you appreciate/love yourself?"
At this point I am trying to not laugh in his face, because little does he know I love myself and respect myself quite a lot. With the exception of my boyfriend, I am numero uno in my life.
This debate ends up lasting about an hour, with Kris bringing in all sorts of cheap shots and arguments ranging from religion to government. He tried to say Jesus was a liberal, that foreign countries view America as a joke, that because I don't love myself I can't understand what other people go through. It was ridiculous to say the least. So I broke down each point with him. "No, Jesus was not a liberal." "There are other alternatives to government for welfare like programs through churches and private and public charities." "Yeah, France and other countries have a ridiculous tax rate, you really want to be like them, so called 'advanced countries.'" And every fact I stated, he tried to refute with a feeling or emotion rather than a fact or example.
Finally, I think he realized that he would not be able to change my opinion, but he plays it off as "he has gotten through to me" and that we "really connected." Really meaning he is ready to quit this conversation. He gives me a hug and goes back to his room, and I am left there feeling annoyed, irritated, and unconnected as ever. Annoyed that Kris would try to pull this crap, irritated that I didn't get to finish watching the closing statements, and unconnected because now I hate him more than I did before and I hate being hugged by people I don't like.
I do want to point out my boyfriend was in the other room this whole time, and when I got back to him all he could say was, "Kris lost that debate." He hadn't heard the whole conversation, but what he had heard Zac knew I owned him. I repeated the highlights back to him. Zac about lost it when I told him Kris thought I didn't love myself. He laughed for several minutes. The best part about this is, Kris has a bachelors in Psychology. Zac and I already thought Kris was a joke and a phony, but now there is evidence to back up our assumptions.
Roommates...
I really hate telling someone to clean. But when push comes to shove, I will tell you what to clean because clearly you can't see it for yourself. Next time you feel like giving your boyfriend a haircut, do it outside, not in the kitchen.
Trying to use the bathroom in a house full of roommates sucks.