The Coupon Cutter
I will never forget MVWR, no matter how hard I try. I lived with my brother and as two of our old roommates moved out, we needed a replacement. We decided to give Craigslist a try, had a few potential people over and decided upon S. S had only been living in the USA for about five years, he was originally from China. He came here for school and was going for a master’s degree at a nearby university. He seemed like a normal enough dude when we first met and even for the first week or so of him moving in, but things quickly went downhill. S quickly became the most annoying person I have met in my life.
The first thing my brother and I noticed were the blinds. Every night we would find them all closed and in the morning opened as far as they would go. That’s not too bad, but he was going into our rooms to do it as well and he’d open the windows no matter what the weather was. Next came the coupons. He would only buy something he had a coupon for. He once came home with 12 cans of Pringles chips because he could get $1 off. It was like an obsession, he would take every coupon he could find, print them from the internet, put the ones he thought I’d use on my desk, leave them on the kitchen table. Sure, kind of annoying, but then we took him grocery shopping. My brother and I were finished within 45 minutes and then had to wait two hours for him to finish. His explanation was that he had to keep running back and forth for things he had coupons for. The wonderful ending to that shopping trip happened as we were sitting in a McDonald’s eating some McNuggets. He took a nugget and then said, in a very loud voice, “There are two things that all African-Americans like, fried chicken and…” my brother and I cut him off before he could finish. He apparently didn’t notice that were the only three kind-of white kids in the place.
S also started to blow his nose in our sink (freaking gross), cook absurdly smelly food after midnight, spray Febreeze on our cat, talk incessantly during TV shows and movies (keep in mind the fact that his thick accent kept us from understanding much of what he said), pick through our trash can and the apartment building’s dumpster for recyclables and generally annoy the ever-loving shit out of us. After four months of what was supposed to be a year-long lease, S informed us that he would be moving out because he was attending a school 1.5 hours away, not the one just down the street as he told us originally. He offered to find someone to replace him, but after almost getting scammed out of $1000, we told him to forget it, we’d find someone. The best part? He said he couldn’t move into his new place as soon as he though and ended up crashing in our living room for almost a month as we had already had his replacement move into his old room.
“He apparently didn’t notice that were the only three kind-of white kids in the place.”
Was this guy Chinese? How does that make him “kind-of” white?
He sprayed Febreeze on your cat? I’d have been livid. Probably would have sprayed him with the damned Febreeze to see how he liked it.
He Febrezed the cat?!?!
I febreze my cat, when he jumps on my kitchen counters. He would open your blinds? In your rooms?? WHILE you were sleeping???
Jeeeeez, the coupon thing wouldn’t have been bad (I find it sort of cute) IF he hadn’t been all sorts of crazy and oblivious to everything else >.<
At least the Chinese dude only tried to Febreze the cat.
edit: (I’m kind of white too)
Hey Laura, water, or even vinegar will make your cat get down. You don’t need to spray him with perfume.
Opening the blinds during the day and opening the windows no matter what the weather is perfectly normal in other parts of the world. I was actually shocked to learn that people in the US keep their blinds closed all the time. Such a waste of daylight! Even his love for coupons and the unfortunate comment about fried chicken can easily be explained with cultural differences.
Kate, when it’s hot out, it makes more sense to keep the windows and blinds closed during the hottest hours of the day. It all depends on whether your priority is not using your overhead lights or not needing to cool down an apartment as much during the summer. I know people from Western Europe who think this way, too.
Besides, he shouldn’t have been going into other people’s rooms to open blinds. Period.
The coupon thing…kinda cute, but I can see how it would get annoying after a while. It’s probably a good thing he moved out voluntarily.
Hey laura….. try water instead of cleaning poisons to discipline your cat. Are you trying to kill it
I probably would have started hiding the Febreeze if he was spraying it on my cat. And I’m guessing talking to him about the opening the blinds and windows in your rooms didn’t solve anything. As for the talking during TV shows and movies, I’ve found that turning up the volume little by little, discourages conversation when you’re trying to concentrate on the show/movie.
I can’t believe the backlash of the Febreeze-cat. It’s 90% water, I mist my dog with febreeze between baths, it’s very clearly marked safe for use in contact with children and pets.
Also I don’t really think this guy is that bad, he was nice enough to put forth effort to give the OP coupons, that’s thoughtful IMO.
Windows/blinds, depends on where they live. Definitely shouldn’t have gone into others’ rooms without permission.
The rest of the stuff doesn’t seem like his fault.
Are you people kidding? That roommate sounds awful!
This is all cultural stuff he’s doind. I’m with Kate, people in other parts of the world open the blinds/ curtains during the day and close them at night!! What’s so abnormal about that? Even the windows too. Since I’ve been in the states on echange (almost a year) I’ve been depressed because my host family NEVER opens the blinds or windows. It’s like living in darkness. BUT ANYWAY, i guess it’s a cultural thing, I’ll just put up with not opening my blinds for another year.
I think he was trying to be helpful by doing that, not just doing something for himself but for others. I used to clean everybody’s rooms when I fisrt got to the States, because that’s how we do it back home. Like S leaving the coupons on the OP’s counter, he’s sharing with her, Or Febreezing the cat (it made me lol) it’s weird but I think he meant good by it, he also offered to find his own replacement so no need to bitch about that. Goodness, if you have a foreigner in your house EXPECT some differences in doing things.
* and scuse the many typos, typing too fast
Everyone has their own way of doing things but I think it’s rude to try to impose your own customs on others who may have grown up a different way. I’m sure many people find ways to preserve their cultural habits without imposing on others.
It’s fine to be helpful but sometimes it’s more helpful to actually determine whether something is wanted.
I really don’t find any of the things he did that awful. Maybe he Febreezed your cat because your cat was stinky and he didn’t want to hurt your feelings by telling you. It sounds like he was trying to be thoughtful and express himself a little. Even people in different parts of the same country have different customs, much less from a different country all together. Did you and your brother even try to talk to him about things that bothered you or that he should be aware of considering the change of customs, or did you just silently fume and hope your “change your ways” vibes found their way into his head?
I don’t think that he was trying to impose any of his cultural habits onto the OP – I think by the coupons and blinds were his way of trying to be helpful in his own way. I kind of sympathize w/ the guy, especially since it can be hard understanding every single social nuance of what works and what doesn’t here in the States. I can imagine it being kind of irritating having to live with someone who you may have to constantly explain things to – but I don’t think he did anything too obscene, and its hard figuring out the behaviors that we take for granted out for some people, especially if they’re alone in a foreign country.
OP here. First, I’m rather surprised that the febreezing of our cat is what has garnered the most responses to know. I thought the whole blowing your nose in the sink thing would’ve tipped people off, I know it made me want to barf every time he did it.
And in response to Yvonne, we did talk to him about some of the things he did, but he usually came up with excuses (such as, he washes the sink out after blowing snot rockets into it), and continued to do them knowing full well how my brother and I felt about it.
We did try to give this guy a chance, believe me.
The only thing I thought crossed the line was opening the blinds in your rooms. Even other cultures have rule about privacy and personal space.
Proctor and Gamble (who make Febreze) along with the ASPCA Poison Center specifically state that it is safe to use around pets as long as you use it as directed on the bottle. This means they can’t guarantee that it is safe to spray ON your pet, but they can say that it is safe to spray on your pet’s bed, etc. My name links to the snopes article regarding Febreze’s safety around pets, but for a direct quote:
“The National Animal Poison Control Center, an organization under the aegis of the ASPCA, tells us that they have no evidence that Febreze, when used according to label instructions, is harmful to pets.”
And from Febreze themselves:
“Since December, 1998, there have been Internet rumors circulating stating that Febreze may not be safe to use around pets. These rumors are not true. Used as directed, Febreze is safe to use around pets.”
And from snopes: “In this case, “due care” means not spraying it directly on pets, …”
If you need something to make your pet smell “fresher,” there are plenty of perfumes meant specifically for pets. I’m not going to yell at anybody for spraying Febreze on their pets anyway, because hey; it’s your choice, and I highly doubt someone on the Internet is going to change that. But I felt the need to make it clear that P&G advises AGAINST it, thus making OP’s complaint perfectly rational.
listen, what’s the difference what cultural reasons are behind it? if they found him to be gross and annoying hey, they were the ones who lived with him! and that ‘fried chicken’ remark was rather ignorant, but to be fair, if you’re from china, you’re not going to know very many black people. I’ve heard plenty of stupid remarks from people who grew up in towns where they never saw a jew in their life….
This guy would’ve annoyed the heck outta me, cultural diffrences or not. I’ve lived with women straight from Kenya and I was lucky if I ever saw them and damn did they keep things neat and tidy, no issues there!
@e! – What a delightful comment
Guy doesn’t sound so bad, a little over-helpful perhaps, but maybe that was his way of being nice. There are a lot of nuances with culture, my boyfriend upon moving to the country (UK) used the term “paki”, which is used as a derogatory term, thinking it was just a racial term.
xD All I can picture is this guy running after the cat with Febreze