A Family MVWR
My Very Worst Roommates are unfortunately, quasi-related to me. In a dire situation and needing a place to live my, boyfriend and I signed a one year lease with his sister V and her husband M. Just having graduated college, I am no stranger to the roommate living situation but V and M are by far the worst roommates I have ever dealt with.
V is a nurse and uses her “busy” three-day work week as her excuse to doing absolutely no housework whatsoever. M, just graduated recently as well, taking a part-time job at a hospital and that is his excuse for doing absolutely nothing, except playing video games. My boyfriend and I both work full-time jobs, him four days a week, myself five days a week, and are also going to school full-time; I’m working on my master’s. V and M continuously eat fast food on the coffee table and then leave the garbage there for days at a time, even though in our tiny townhouse the garbage can is literally 10 feet away.
M sits a foot away from the TV in a saucer chair that I purchased and am no longer privy to use. He will play video games for 7-10 hours at a time, going to bed slightly before the sun rises. Though his TV sits in the living room, a communal space, no one but him is allowed to watch it. If you are watching TV when he comes in the room, it is an expectation for you to surrender the remote because it is his TV. V has a ridiculous habit of keeping every piece of mail she ever receives. This mail is stored on the kitchen counter, the kitchen table, the office floor and also UNDER the coffee table. They have “no time” to clean, load the dishwasher or even pick up after themselves but are often times out shopping, eating out or spending time with our mutual friends and not inviting us along.
M and V rarely actually do any housework but when they do it usually results in M lecturing my boyfriend and I on “proper” dish rinsing practices and V cleaning out the fridge, otherwise known as throwing the entire contents of the fridge away, regardless of how long its been in there. She once cleaned out the fridge and threw away a brand new foot-long sub I had purchased an hour before. They constantly complain that they’re tired and don’t want to clean, but always invite guests over, leaving me to either allow people into my disaster of a house or clean it up lest I be embarrassed.
Unfortunately, we are trapped in this lease for another two months.
time to start shopping. that is pretty terrible. never live with family. I have a feeling it might get back to you about how “awful” you are.(you’re not but apparently they have this control freak thing going on)
Take your chair back, buy yourself a mini-fridge and keep it in your room, stop cleaning their messes. If they try to kick you out- sue them for breach of contract. In-laws be damned.
So he’s permanently occupying your chair and you’re not allowed the TV. Sounds like a long 2 months! At least your next roommates will seem likes saints in comparison!
How did you passed last 10 months is beyond me.
Take the chair back. Screw that. Seriously. And stop cleaning after them. If they begin a lecture, remind them that it is their mess & they are not crippled, nor are they mentally handicapped, & therefore have absolutely no reason why they can’t clean after themselves.
Seriously. Screw that.
can they get in trouble for making the house a hazard zone by not cleaning up? screw ‘em, got to look out for ya’ll.
I second Andrew and rafboy. This situation is beyond ridiculous. They live like children and expect you to clean up after it – disgusting.
I third Andrew and rafboy. Take back the chair and get a fridge in your room. After a while they will have to clean up their mess and they won’t be able to complain about you if you’re not even in the living room. This sounds like a horrible situation. Do you plan on remaining friends with these pitiful in-laws? Have you and your husband tried to reason with them?
UGH I KNOW – I used to live with this bitch who seemed to think that just because she had a job that made her tired (yet always staying up until 1 am every night) she had signed some super special contract that said said she could get out of being an adult. I got the impression she thought I should be doing it all because I had no job. Of course, nothing changed when I got a job or when she got a less stressful PT job.
She’d also throw parties for a ton of people leaving me to do the pre-cleaning, same as your roommates.
I hope you didn’t have to pay equally for TV.
The thing with people like that is it can be fun to get a little passive aggressive, as Andrew mentioned with taking the chair back. Like if they don’t buy toilet paper or dish soap, start keeping it in your room. I know being P-A is bad, but sometimes when you play little mind games with the faux-retarded, it can keep the stabbey feelings at bay.
Shit, that is his sister? I would tell mom. She is a bigger pain in the ass then you could be. What a couple of assholes. I say you abandon the chair, and before you go, put some prawns in it. Or hell, I would put a nice needle in it. Give him a pain in the ass for a change.
If it wasn’t for the fact that this was family I’d tell you to read them the riot act when you left, but since they’re family (well his family) it might be wise to not burn that bridge. Or at least find a way to read them the riot act without actually yelling at them and telling them what horrible people they are. I do, however agree with MMMichelle that maybe he could tell his mother what a raging bitch his sister is.
I’m not saying these people aren’t awful roommates, but I noticed you downplayed V’s work, and I gotta say, if you’re not a nurse, you have no idea how drained you are after those 3 days (which everyone scoffs at).
i lived with a nurse for a year and she managed not to leave the place in a mess or bitch and moan about being tired.
I have to say, I think I understand about “dish rinsing procedures”. I didn’t do the dishes as often as my roommate but would frequently find after he’d done them that there was still food on them! I’d rather do them less frequently and get them CLEAN than every day and have them not be clean.
I had this problem with a roommate who wouldn’t deal with her mail so once a week I placed it in a bag and hung it on her door knob.