Am I going to let a roommate get away with not cleaning. When I first moved into this apartment 8 years ago there was a guy living here already. He was pretty cool and we got along good but he refused to do his share of cleaning, he didn’t even wipe the stove after using it. This went on for three months; we had the same case worker and the case worker finally forced him to clean. The next two roommates did their share but this last guy was bad about cleaning. He always talked like he was going to regularly clean but all he did was every three months he would get a burst of energy and do a lot of cleaning at once, but he cleaned extra stuff, not the stuff that needs regular cleaning. He always kept saying he was going to clean but if I didn’t remind him he didn’t do it.
And for the last few months I’ve had this new counselor who comes to talk to me but she also inspects the apartment to see what needs cleaning and so she has me cleaning the stove cover and the front of the oven and the kitchen table. She never told the roommate to clean and she’s been bugging me to clean the kitchen walls. And now the roommate moved out last week and I got stuck with cleaning the whole refrigerator, inside and out, cleaning all the walls and getting on my hands and knees and scrubbing the kitchen floor. It’s totally unfair.
I gave that roommate much more credit then he deserved because he had a masters and a job. I thought he was responsible but he wasn’t. And he thought he was better than me for two years and now he’s gone. He was at least a little responsible until his new girlfriend showed up then there was some questionable behavior that came close to crossing the line. I told him when he moved in he could use my instant pot but I would show him how to use it. Well, he went two and a half years without using it and I was actually happy he wasn’t using it. Then one night his girlfriend used it. Technically, he didn’t do anything wrong, she had one herself and knew how to use it but I said only he could use it and only if I showed him how to use it safely.
This may sound petty but I bring fruit home almost every week from the food bank and I told him he could have some. Well, I brought home some really nice apples and stacked them at the top of the fruit bowl. I thought he would take the fruit under it but he took every single apple. It’s petty of me but it pissed me off. Then his girlfriend asked if she could have a brand new book of mine. I said no. Then she asked the next week if she could have some ice cube trays of ours. Then I put some bananas out and he took them. I wanted them but again, technically he didn’t do anything wrong. All this stuff added up. And a couple times he asked if he could have some of my food. That girlfriend was a bad influence on him.
Now I have to clean the complete living room, kitchen and bathroom. There’s no way I’m letting this new roommate get away with not cleaning. I’ll report him if he refuses. Why should I be the only responsible one and get stuck with all the cleaning?
