We’ve all heard stories of bad roommates. It’s always one of two stories: College students are randomly assigned as roommates and end up at each other’s throats or friends/acquaintances/couples move in together and end up at each other’s throats. The first story is somewhat unavoidable as universities will pair up just about any two people with no regard to “Roommate A” being Team Edward and “Roommate B” being Team Jacob. Fortunately, the latter of the two stories is easy to avoid. Here are the signs you shouldn’t move in together:
At the end of the year, that poor towel was set free into the wild where he could roam free with the others
They Have Bad Hygiene
Does your potential roommate’s body odor offend you? It’s an honest question to ask yourself. As a former sufferer of SARS (Smelly Anonymous Roommate Syndrome), I can tell you that bad hygiene should raise the alarms.
I had a roommate that we’ll call “Donny” for the sake of anonymity. Unfortunately for me, Donny had bad personal hygiene. Now it wasn’t that Donny never showered (he made a good effort to get in at least once a week), it was that for a 6 month period, he neglected to wash his towel a single time. Over time, as that smelly mildew ridden towel got more and more use, Donny became more and more offensively rancid.
Besides stressing that everyone maintains an active laundry regiment to avoid fungal growth, Donny and the towel were referenced to show how awful it could be for you to ignore your nose.
They Are Difficult to Get Along With
This may seem like an obvious element to investigate when finding a roommate but it can be often overlooked. Just because you are friends/acquaintances/dating before you move in, doesn’t mean that can change overnight. When you move in with someone, you’re living in close proximity. You learn things about them that you never knew (and possibly never wanted to know). You don’t necessarily need to agree about everything, but you wouldn’t want to live with someone who will bring friction into your everyday life.
…or share a roof with someone who thinks Katniss should be with Gale and not Peeta.
If you’re planning on moving in with someone who you occasionally butt heads with or someone you hardly know, you’re putting yourself at risk for more dramatic conflict in the future.
Walls: Now 1mm thinner with Retina Display!
They Have Erratic Sleep Habits
Even if you and your potential roommate don’t intend on sharing a room, abnormal sleep habits are still a red flag. You ask “What do you mean by ‘Abnormal Sleep Habits?’” Snoring, sleepwalking, sleeptalking, late hours, early hours, nightmares, night terrors, and cat videos at three in the morning on a Tuesday are what I mean. This is directed more to those living in apartments as developers have realized that while the size of the complex they build is finite, the amount of apartments they can squeeze in is infinite. So those walls that are about as thin as an iPad will do little to muffle your potential roommate’s clown nightmares and first hundred views of Keyboard Cat.
Of course, when you are looking at your roommate, you will also want to take a good look at yourself.
Still think you are ready to move in with your soon to be housemate? Here is more help on how to decide if you should move in together.
In your worldly travels, have you encountered any other roommate characteristics that are a definite deal-breaker? Don’t be shy, we’re all friends here.
