Saturday, January 4, 2014

Dealing With An Annoying Roommate

By Darrel Jefferson


We all have had them, roommates that have that special power to annoy us just by entering the room. It could be the roommate pursuing a business degree who talks about all the money he has made over the summer selling pest control. Or it could be the perky roommate pursuing a human resources degree that critiques your outfits every morning.

Motivation, If you need an extra push of motivation while you study, try the rewards system. Instead of snacking on those M&Ms while you read your text book, place an M&M on every paragraph, and only once you get to that paragraph in your reading allow yourself to eat it. You will be surprised at how quickly you can finish your reading when you motivate yourself.

Here are helpful tips for surviving the semester with an annoying roommate. Learn their schedule and know where and who they spend time with. This may seem like stalker advice, but if you want to avoid your annoying roommates at all costs, you will need to learn how they spend their time-so you can plan not to be there when they are around.

Cook, As convenient delicious as instant food is, take some time to cook for yourself. Not only will real, healthy food increase your physical well-being (which is directly related to handling stress) but it will give you a nice, methodical break.

Or, if you simply do not want to stack up on any more dirty dishes you can use a tortilla on top of your dish to protect your dish from getting dirty and effectively avoid having to wash it.

If they are amendable to letting you use the space, and if they clean up their stuff always be sure to positively affirm their good behavior. Roommates are kind of like pets; with the right encouragement they can be very trainable. Also annoying roommates are more likely to be nice to you if you are nice to them.

If diplomacy fails, and fights, fists and tears ensue, it is time to call a truce. Place a note on the annoying roommate's door stating you wish to have a roommate meeting. Be sure bring a moderator to make sure the meeting does not escalate to war. Pick a night when you are all free, prepare cookies or some other kind of peace offering snack, and open negotiations. State in a non-aggressive way why you have called the meeting and the topic(s) you wish to discuss. Then take the time to talk, listen and negotiate new terms for your living situation.

Make your leftover pizza taste just as good the next day as it did fresh. Just microwave it with a small glass of water. This keeps the crust crunchy rather than chewy and it prevents the toppings from getting dry as well.

But most of the time those roommates pursuing a business degree or a human resource degree are not so abominable that they need to be evicted. As with all least than perfect situations that get on our nerves, all we can really do is grin and bear it and resolve to choose better roommates next semester.




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