mikeShriver

Some more of those “I thought that shit only happened on the internet” times:

Living in a house of eight unrelated people is always going to be an adventure. Keeping common areas clean and resolving conflict when they aren’t gets overwhelming. Everyone falls on a spectrum that seems to range from being unconcerned with a few dirty dishes, but stressed by indirect confrontation about mess, to those who can’t stand the mess, and have no direct way of communicating their discomfort.

In my current house reside eight people that had never met before the current housing situation. Previously, I have always lived in houses with friends, and while the dish situation was rarely better in those houses, communication was better, and so conflicts tended to raise to the surface faster, as opposed to boiling unnoticed until someone moves out.

Probably the best situation I lived in had 5 guys in one space, but we regularly shared meals together. In fact, we made it a point to have a dinner with just the ‘family’ once a week where we shut out the rest of the world and enjoyed each other’s company. Seeing each other regularly led to complaints about cleanliness problems coming out in normal conversation. They weren’t kept inside until agreed upon times. It also prevented dreaded ‘house meetings,’ which amount to times specifically scheduled for complaints. We looked forward to weekly dinners, no one dreaded our house get togethers.

The kitchen sink seems to bear the brunt of the cleanliness complaints everywhere I’ve lived. Anyone with workable ideas about how to manage sink cleanliness and avoid the associated negative communication needs to write a damn book. I am completely out of ideas.

Our house whiteboard has become the de facto forum for airing complaints:

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Tags: Eastern House, Roommates, Whiteboard.