Hey everyone, I'm having a hard time with my roommate. It's been a about a year since I've lived with her and there are some small things that bug me. We live in a small two story place: living room and kitchen first floor, bedrooms and bathroom second floor. My roommate is always in the kitchen either making food or using her laptop on the kitchen counter. The kitchen is pretty much her second room, to the point where I can't cook anything because she is using all the space for her stuff. She is really passionate about cooking and is surrounded by it. When she isn't cooking she is eating and watching cooking reality TV shows on her laptop in the kitchen/living room joint space. She doesn't use headphones and since my room is directly above the kitchen I can hear the show along with her laughing and clapping. This isn't a big issue because I wear earphones pretty much all the time, but when I'm making food she will start to exaggerate her laugh and repeat lines from the show.
My roommate is socially challenged too. The conversations I've had with her were barely conversations at all and have all ended with silence. When I bring my friends over to study I can tell she feels really uncomfortable and immediately goes to her room. This is where I start to feel conflicted because my goal isn't to be her friend; I'm only living here because it's close to school and laundry is included in the rent. However, I don't want to be disrespectful or unintentionally mean. Conversation is now minimal because we have nothing in common (I've had a year to figure this out) and I am not at all interested in becoming friends with my roommate.
Another thing is that my roommate is extremely cautious, so cautious that it makes me nervous to be around her. There are many times when she would tell me to stop doing something I feel have absolutely no potential dangers. Paring an apple, walking with a knife, slightly moving the refrigerator door when the drawers are open, these are all things she has panicked about. She assumes I am completely unaware of what I'm doing and it offends me, even though I tell myself she doesn't mean it that way.
Recently, I've been extremely busy with school and leave my room for class, the bathroom, and food. When I come out of my room and walk down the stairs (keep in mind most of the time she's in the kitchen watching a show or making food), I say hello and she will JUMP and stare at me like she is so disturbed. The first time this happened I was confused because she faces the stairway all the time and I'm not a quiet walker in the slightest. I assume it's the noise of her cooking or whatever cooking show she's watching that will hold all her attention and I break her concentration when I talk to her. This has happened a couple times already and although I don't care if I scare her or not, since I paid to live here and use the space, I would rather not have this become an normal thing. I've tried walking with a heavier step and talking to her from a further distance... no change. She is just as jumpy and will say "OH MY GOD" in the most irritated tone of voice, which doesn't make the situation any better. All I can and have been saying is sorry.
If any of you guys have advice for my situation I would really awesome. It's been a year of this and while most of my time is spent in school or my room, the times when I have to be in the same space as her annoys me. How can I deal with this until I get my own place?
Submitted October 18, 2014 at 01:08PM by loploppey http://ift.tt/1ofNrA8 badroommates
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