What should I do about my roommates...?

[linlinchan]

As the semester is ending soon (in less than a month) I am really hesitant to do anything major right now, but my suitemates are driving me crazy, and I wanted some advice.

I live in a suite (meaning, we share common rooms and kitchen and bathroom, but each have our own bedroom and computer desk area) with 2 girls who I didn't know before I moved in here.

Girl 1: She is pretty nice though kinda weird. She is the one of the 3 of us here the most. She uses the kitchen to make a lot of food, and then takes weeks to clean up after herself. She can be a little hard to get to know because she's kinda sarcastic, but under that, is just a nice person. She buys a lot of the toilet paper and paper towels for the suite. Takes really LONG showers.

Girl 2: She is rarely here at all. She's always on the cell phone and hasn't spoken more than 10 words to me all semester. Stays at her boyfriends a lot. Doesn't tend to make a mess in the commonroom like Girl 1 does. Has never once bought the tp or paper towels. Is pretty rude about sharing the shower.

Me: I am not NEVER at home, nor am I home a lot. I definately go inbetween the two in terms of being in my room. But I also never really leave stuff in the common spaces. I buy the TP and paper towels when I can. Never really use the kitchen except to store some food, but rarely eat at home. I take short showers early in the morning... so as not to interfere, or late late at night.

Anyway... my roommates are kind of driving me crazy. Girl 2 has a few times in the past few weeks, come to the bathroom while I was taking a short shower or using the toilet and started banging on the door, giving me the impression that she really needed to use the toilet. And then, when I rush to get out, she goes ahead and takes a SUPER long bath... which I think is pretty rude. On the other hand, Girl 1 has let dishes pile up longer and longer, and doesn't clean out the pans, which is pretty much why I've entirely stopped cooking here.

Anyway, I went in the bathroom today, and gradually, the shelf in the shower where you can put things to use (it's pretty much at shoulder height for me) has gradually started to be covered in ONE of my roommate's used razors... which I don't like, it creeps me out. Anyway... I tried to put my face soap bottle on there with them, but it fell off and I lost about half of my soap, which really pissed me off... they are taking up the entire shelf with unsanitary materials.

So... I'm a big stickler for private property, but I really have the desire to throw these razors out into the trash. Firstly, because they are unsafe and unsanitary. Secondly, because they are hogging all the space. And lastly, because I'm not sure that just because they are left there, they are still needed (my roommates NEVER change the toilet paper either, they leave the used core of the last roll on there and just leave the TP on top... which I hate) they too may be trash that someone was just too lazy to throw away.

So, I'm not sure what I should do. I don't want to have a big discussion with people, because my time here is almost over. If you were me, would you throw the razors out, or just leave them?

[Tzaphiel]

Throw them out. Having lived in a house with 8 roommates, sometimes you have to start throwing stuff out to get the idea across. I had one roomie who didn't do her dishes for over a month -- we kept telling her it was really unsanitary and to please take care of it. She said ok, sure, no problem. Never happened. Nice girl but really dirty when it comes to the house. So we dumped all her plates one day. Not to be mean, but sometimes, enough is enough. After that, she got a bit better and the kitchen didn't look like we were growing special science experiments either.

[Lady Christ]

If I was in your situation I would throw them out, if your time there is almost over conflicts will soon pass, and noone needs to have a nice shower with dirty hairy razors staring at them gonk

[Yuyutaru]

Throw them out. You gotta show your roomates you're not going to tolerate everything, and some things just go past the point of social and (in your case) hygenic acceptance.

[NSilverwolf]

Well...Amazing how this seems to come up every single year with freshman college students just about to hit finals season.

I was an RA...and this situation comes up constantly. Really the only thing I can tell you at this point is that you have two separate options.

OPTION
1-Talk to them.

Communication, no matter how late in the game is the key to everyone living comfortably. Explain your concerns, because I can guarantee that your roommates have some sort of minor gripe with you as well. In some ways, since you didn't make a schedule or a rule about buying stuff (and stuck to it) earlier in the year, bringin that up now is relatively useless. The razor thing is unclean and rude, it takes three seconds for someone to throw those away. The dishes need to get done, or a health hazard gets brought up. What are you going to do when your suite gets inspected. If it's a disgusting mess, EVERYONE will get billed for the damages, and then you'll still have to hash out who will pay for it. You have your own room, so enjoy being lucky. The ones were people have to share often end up being the ones where more fighting actually occurs.

OPTION
2-Deal with it till move out.
You will be moving out (if you don't attend a trimester school) in under a month, at least two weeks of which will be devoted to finals. You obviously will not be living with these people forever. Keep that in mind. Throw the razors away, even though they're not yours. Clean the bathroom...because you use it too (even if no one else has cleaned it all year). Do it for yourself. Quite honestly, living together is about compromise. You could help out too and do the dishes once, even if they're not yours. I usually do them while my roommates are home, and they most often come out to A-thank me, and B-clean the rest of the kitchen because they know they've contributed to the mess. Granted, NONE of us are freshmen anymore, but it still works on the same principle.

Hope it helps.

my 2 cents...take it leave it...etc.

[Liera Unullagata]

I think you need to have a serious talk with your roomies. Dishes left piled up are disgusting. There needs to be a rule about that, like...dishes can stay out for two days, or someone will wake you up at 2am to clean them. As for the shower, impose a time limit. Buy a timer and when it rings, their time is up. If they don't get out of the shower, then you are free to barge in and embarass them. And don't open the bathroom door if someone bangs on it. If they really need to go they can find a public restroom.
Throw out old and unsanitary razors. Clean the bathroom and insist it stay clean.

I live in a suite as well. My roomies were so annoying that I switched rooms after two weeks. Now I'm in a single suite that I share with one other person, and the only annoyance I have is that sometimes she wakes me up at 1am when she slams the door. Talking to her about that helped though, and we're fine.

If you really can't stand them, I suggest trying to room with someone else next year, or try to get a single. I'm getting a single my junior year because I'm such a private person, and I will have had the "roommate experience" and will be heartily sick of it.

[Liera Unullagata]

Oh, I forgot something. If all else fails, get your RA involved. He or she can be a mediator when you speak to the other roomies. Having a voice of reason there will be very helpful, and the RA can help make a compromise that will satisfy all.

[Inquiring Mindscrew]

I don't understand why you waited for so long to bring up these issues!!

[linlinchan]

Stokesmon

I don't understand why you waited for so long to bring up these issues!!

I guess because the both of them have really only started acting like this recently...

[Dreamer112]

bump