Roomates can bug the crap out of me

This archived article was written by: Mik Ashby

There are some questions in life that will never be answered, like just how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop, or how many jelly beans are in the jar. But one of life’s major questions is being answered everyday, and that question is, what happens when you put six very different people in one house and remove all supervision? The simplified answer is that you get a pure college experience.
When first coming to college, it was both freighting and exhilarating. The idea of not only meeting five new people, but living an entire year with them was insane. Who would they be, what would they be like, what kinds of music do they like? Would they think I was cool or just a nerd? How was this year going to turn out? These are just some of the thoughts that raced through the brain while waiting to meet the roommates.
But now all have met, and much has been revealed. Stories and pictures have been swapped, friends have been found and enemies have been made. Know there probably is a perfect dorm out there where all six roommates get along 24-7, where there is only love and peace. Everyone is helping each other accomplish all of their goals, but let’s face it, most of us live in the real world, and most live with someone that bugs the crap out of them.
Whether or not this hatred is well earned is something that no one can decide, some might even not know the source. It could be something simple, like a difference in religions, taste in music or sleeping times. Or it could be a personal problem, like violation of personal property or worse, personal space. But whatever the difference, there has to be something that can be done to relieve the situation, right? There always is the option of changing rooms, of course with that comes the risk of being placed with another person that you have the same clash with, or even being placed in a situation worse than you were in. So what do you do?
First of all, homicide is not an option, and suicide isn’t the solution. So leave the rope and gun at home, and even though fantasizing your roommate’s demise is not technically illegal, it’s probably not the best thought on your mind. What other options do you have?
First, you just deal with it, although this is hard it is possible. Try to keep the thought that you will have to deal with people you don’t like for the rest of your life, so this is probably the worst it will get.
Another option is avoidance, even though this option is hard sometimes, it is the best. Think about it, if the Jews and the Palestinians could avoid each other, then there wouldn’t be a problem.
It’s simple, see as little of you roommate as possible. This option is easier if both parties agree.
Finally there is the third option and even though it sounds like something your mom would say, it could work. Try to find something good in the other person, deep down everyone has good in them, it’s just deeper in some people. Everyone in the world has something in common with everyone else, whether it is simply the fact that they are human, or a mutual hatred for Brittany Spears. All people have something in common so you could find something in common with the other person.
One concept that needs to be realized is that there is always someone that has it worse, and if you don’t think so, look on the Internet for roommate horror stories and you will have hours of laughter at someone else’s pain. There are the usual stories, like walking in on your roommate doing dirty things on you bed, or having a pathological thief as a roommate. But out there are some extreme stories, like roommate who have tried to run each other over, or roommates that have left random body parts of animals in each other’s beds, or worse of all, roommates coming on to you. Hopefully none of these have happened to you, if they haven’t maybe your roommate and you can sit down and laugh as you listen to some of these hilarious stories, thus forming a small bond between the two of you.
If all else fails, it is possible to change rooms. But this rarely is necessary, actually in the past few years, room changes at CEU have only happened a dozen or so times. So what’s the key behind not needing roommate changes, well it all begins with planning, and all that planning is done mostly by CEU’s Verna Lauritsen.
With close to 20 years of experience, Lauritsen knows how to match people. First she looks for personal preferences, if two people put down each other’s names Lauritsen compares personnel profiles, to find who could live together and as a last resort, if no one will match, just throw them together and see what happens. Asked if she liked doing this she simply stated, ” I’m looking for a software that I can put in the data and it will spit out matches.”
Hopefully everyone will figure out a way to “nicely” deal with their roommates and if all else fails, just turn up your radio loud enough that you can’t hear them.