Ranting like a thing that rants!

[triedunture]

So my roommate stand-off. I know it's stupid and boorish and I should just be more mature about it, but for weeks I have refused to clean up after everyone but myself. The moment I'm done with a plate or a glass or a pan, I wash it and put it away. The dirty dishes from the other roommates piled up in the sink, but I ignored them and just did my own. The garbage pail overflowed, but I did not contribute to it; I put all my trash in a separate pail that was emptied daily.

When I washed a plate or pan, the detritus that was washed off went into the sink with the rest of the dirty dishes. I normally would have cleaned the drain trap after each washing, but after so many days of dirty dishes piling up, I could no longer reach the drain trap.

Now I come home, and the roommates have filled the sink with water. The dishes aren't clean. There's just a sink full of dishes and dirty water now. It's clogged. And no one's going to wash the dirty dishes because now the sink's almost overflowing.

Which means I can't wash any dishes either.

Which means I can't actually use any dishes if I want to keep to my policy of cleaning up after myself in a rigorous and self-justified manner.

Which means I'm angry that the simple act of eating hot food is impossible in the place that I live, the place I'm supposed to live until August.

AUGUST. I want to go NOW. This place is disgusting, and the new fat roommate smokes weed all the time indoors and it stinks, and the old roommate has, I think, not been paying the utility bills because I see them piling up on the table, and our landlord is constantly turning off the lights in the hall to save money. This is insane! I can't live like this. I'm an adult, with a job, and taxes, and a career. I SHOULD BE ABLE TO MICROWAVE A FUCKING BOWL OF NOODLES IF I WANT TO.

GOD DAMN IT.

Comments

[lo-sequence.livejournal.com]

I had a flatmate like that once. The experience was so horrifyingly bad that I've never had a flatmate since.

Good luck :(

[thirstyrobot.livejournal.com]

I lived with 5 hippie guys my last semester of college and it was exactly like this, but with a dog. Options include passive-aggressive notes, sub-letting, and homicide. I guess if you don't care about pissing them off you could just throw the dishes out. Or I don't suppose there's some language in your lease about not creating health hazards in the kitchen? Though it doesn't sound like your landlord's the loveliest person either.

*sigh* I got nothin'. I'm sorry.

Here, have a Noddy Comet. Noddy Comet loves you.

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

A lease!? No no noooo, leases are for fancy people. We have a crazy shady landlord who I think lets rooms so cheaply because he's a man with a past.

Noddy makes me happy though.

[blackletter]

Ick, roommates! *dodges memories of living in the dorms*

Can you wash your dishes in the bathroom sink?

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I can't hear you over the washing I'm doing in the bathroom sink. I'm cleaning a bowl that I'm using to drink out of. That's right. I'm drinking out of a bowl. LIKE A DOG.

[pi]

That truly sucks. Have you tried talking to them about it? If not is there another kitchen you could use. Or a local library you can make friends with and then borrow their microwave (this sometimes works, and they have comfy couches.) Good luck and shame on your roomates!

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

Yes, I threw quite a hissy fit about the general state of disorder some weeks ago, which is why I've been so stubborn about not breaking on this dish front. I'm sick of leaving kind notes all the time. I mean, should I really have to ask politely for a clean fork?

Whatever! Cold noodles are good, I guess.

[starpanties.livejournal.com]

That sucks balls, my friend. What assy room-mates. They deserves a karate kick to the jugular!

[dorothy-notgale.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Hate hate hate- even if you like someone to start with, being roommates inevitably results in misery. My boyfriend actually briefly contemplated actively allowing his room to become a pit because when he keeps it neat and tidy his roommate's girlfriend (who USED to be my friend...) comes in and "borrows" things. Without asking. When he's not home. Including my stuff. Even $100 collector-grade copies of Sandman.
We just broke down and cleaned the whole house this morning (to clarify: *I* don't actually live there), so I feel your pain. Roommate's girlfriend (who *does*) sat on her ass and watched.
I support your noble dish ban. But if you're dead set, you're going to have to invest in a glass, plate, and bowl to stash in your room so that once they use up all the dishes, you'll still have your own. Otherwise they'll just wait for you to eat and jump on the ones you've used.
Here- even Bertie is disturbed by your slovenly roommates. Bear up under the pressure!

[chaoschick13.livejournal.com]

I agree with the separate food eating things.

Plate, bowl, mug, spoon, knife, fork, chopsticks and a big pot.

Wash up in the bathroom sink like you are doing now. If that gets full with their dishes too, you can always fill your large pot with hot sudsy water and wash in that.

Terribly sorry to hear that you are having so much trouble with your roommates. Just...don't totally flip out and kill them all. Because then that would make more mess.

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

*puts down chainsaw*

...Good point.

[storyfan.livejournal.com]

Agree with Chao. Keep your clean stuff in your room and wash in the bathroom. That way you always have your own things. A friend's son even kept his pots and pans in a box marked "long underwear" to keep his slovenly roommates from using them. I'm sure August can't come soon enough.

[lady529.livejournal.com]

I loved living with my former flatmate (although I was the messier one of the two of us, I don't think I was THAT bad, really, just not as cleany as she is), but the thing I love about living on my own is that if there's dirt/mess/whatever anywhere in my flat, then it's because I made it so, not because someone else hasn't done their job. I can take my home looking like shit and me having to clean up if I'm the one to blame, not if it's someone else who've been messing it up.

Also, having my own flat means I can have nerdy canvases on my living room wall *pets StarWars canvases* I need to get that Blackadder one that I've been thinking about..

The Lady 529

[emeraldreeve.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you're having such trouble!