The Roommate Agreement

Having the right roommate can be the make-or-break of your time spent away from home. Here are some tips to get the best experience possible

Your roommate can make a huge difference to the time you spend in your new place. You may become buddies, the best ones for that matter, or you may end up loathing each other to death. If nothing else, it’ll stay as a give-and-take cordial relationship. However, the starting premise and the defining point is that it is a relationship of convenience. Picking a roommate is usually not given much importance but many harrowing stories may convince you otherwise. Be sure to run through this checklist when you are entrusted with picking a roommate for yourself:

THE ROOMATE CHECKLIST

Be very clear with what you can put up with and what you cannot. If you’re averse to smokers, make sure you specify that you cannot allow smoking in the communal area.

If you’re the kind who expects a lot of people to come over and even stay, it’s best to let your roommate know right from the start. Your roommate may not necessarily appreciate it.

When looking out for a roommate, search for someone who’s high on hygiene and low on intoxicants. If you’re there to study, you better make sure your environment reflects that.

It’s in a time like this that your friends list on Facebook can come to good use. Find out if you have a mutual friend and see what information you can glean about your prospective roommate.

Having a friendly roomie always helps. However, if the friendliness extends as far as using your toothbrush without your permission, you know it’s time to put your foot down.

Handling a place yourself can be quite a challenge. Look for someone who’s ready to shoulder the responsibilities of the place equally. You do not want to always end up as the one sweeping the carpet of the living room.

Unless you’re absolutely sure of staying with the roommate you’ve picked up, refrain from investing jointly in furniture.

Finally, much like a marriage, it can work only on the principle of cooperation. List out an agreement between the two of you and stick to it.

How Absolutely Terrible can a Roommate be?

Littel Miss Messy

“There is this girl who’s recently joined the hostel and is in our room of five girls. She doesn’t understand the meaning of the word ‘clean’. Her table is a mess. She eats something and the wrapper will be flying all over the room. She walks into the bathroom with her dirty slippers. Basically, our shared room is always a mess because of her. Other girls in the hostel complain to the warden about the room and all five of us have to take the blame.”
– Siera D’Costa, 24, Marketing Executive

WHAT’S MINE IS NOT YOURS

“I had got an expensive perfume for my birthday, still remember that it was a Davidoff Cool Water from my parents. This was for my 18th birthday so it was a big deal for me and I would use it only for special occasions. My roommate had ran out of his perfume and I had offered him mine as he had a presentation and I’m just way too innocent anyway. Fast forward to a week, I reached for the perfume bottle to grab a few sprays and realised that the bottle was entirely empty. I was really upset that day. I guess it was my first lesson in personal space.”
– Brian Carvalho, 22, Client Servicing Executive

FAMOUS ON-SCREEN ROOMMATE CLASHES

The Big Bang Theory
The absurdity of Sheldon’s roommate agreement is evident in Section 7, subsection B – The shower can have at most one occupant, except in the event of an attack by water soluble aliens.

Friends
Having a naive roommate can be a problem as Chandler realised when Joey volunteered himself to be locked inside a cupboard while a thief swept their apartment clean.

Two Broke Girls
For two girls trying to make ends meet, disagreements can be a big problem when Max is willing to sell cupcakes to delinquents but Caroline advises against it on moral grounds.

How I Met Your Mother
Much easier to relate to, Ted soon figured out that living with Robin would not be easy because she always forgot to restock the milk in the fridge and throw out the empty cartons.

Ted
As John and Lori witnessed in the extreme case of Ted, a really immature and crass roommate can lead to your living room being treated as a toilet.

Volume 2 Issue 11

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