How do you deal with weird/messy flatmates without bossing them around?

3 comments

1. Polite suggestion.

   Polite suggestion.

   Polite suggestion.

   Ultimatum.

   Eviction.

   It’s why I don’t do leases anymore, only month-to-month agreements.

2. Live alone.

3. I had a roommate who was really bad about leaving dirty dishes in the sink for a week+ at a time. More often than not, I’d end up washing half the shit because I needed to use a pan or a cooking utensil or something. At one point I got fed up and asked him repeatedly to get his dishes washed and out of the sink but each time I’d get some variation of, “Fuck off. I have more important things to do with my time than wash dishes.”

   So one day while he was at work, I grabbed every single last one and put it in his fucking bed. Dirty, crusty pots and pans, dirty forks, bowls. Tucked under the blankets like an innocent little tike. I even dug out the food scraps he’d left in the drain plug, put them on a paper towel and left them on his pillow. When he got back to the house, I heard, “What the fuck?” Then he came in and said, “OK asshole. You’ve made your point. I’ll wash the dishes. Now help me get these damn things out of my bed.” He actually stopped so consistently leaving stuff in the sink after that.

   Now with all of that said, we were good friends back then and nearly 20 years later, we’re still friends. The vibe of our friendship was (less so now) that we were giant dicks to one another but it was all good-natured and a source of humor. This particular man responded best if I was a complete and utter asshole about something. So this approach might lead to an ass-beating with most roommates but it worked with him!