Living in a dorm is like being tossed onto the set of “The Real World,” complete with psychopaths, spoiled kids and people who forgot they left high school. In fact, the phrase “When People Start Getting Real” should be plastered on top of all the lame welcome banners and other paraphernalia Residential Life adorned on every wall in every residence hall at the beginning of the semester.
College, for some, is the first time we ever live in close contact with others, and it shows. Living with a roommate should be a give-and-take relationship with both parties meeting in the center. But we are often reminded that this is not a perfect world, and too frequently people are unable to grasp the concepts of courtesy and sharing.
Speaking of courtesy, it is not courteous of your roommate to have his fat girlfriend sleep over for the sixth straight night. This is grounds for a punch, and she might be eligible for one too if she doesn’t bite her tongue. It’s also not courteous for her skimpy underwear to be strewn all over the floor bearing the physical manifestation of the fun had last night.
Sharing is voluntary, but necessary for roommate sanity. If your roommate doesn’t have a television, you should have no problem letting him use yours when you aren’t using it. If your roomate wants to borrow or have something that you could easily share, it is only decent to help him out. No one should freeload, however. Both roommates should purchase their own goods regularly. Also, when you help yourself, it’s not sharing – it’s stealing. If this was the movie “Aladdin,” you could have your hand chopped off.
Now, before roommates all over campus start having “talks” and pissing each other off, let me first assert there is a certain way to have this conversation – no yelling allowed. Calmly sit your roommate down, and at the end of your soliloquy ask if your roommate has any complaints with you, which I am sure he or she will. If the complaint can’t be resolved reasonably, a face-off in Mario Kart 64 is the fair way to settle the dispute.
After all, talking doesn’t always solve things, and I definitely wouldn’t be willing to sacrifice my sanity over my roommate’s fat girlfriend.
—-Contact Allen Womble at [email protected]