this is why the “seething and waiting” strategy will never get through to a messy roommate. (they are oblivious to your blind rage!)
to wit: laura lives in a four-person suite at boston college, where she says one of her suitemates, christin, is “a notorious neat freak.” what that meant was that christin and her roommate, amanda, cleaned the shared bathroom a lot. “kelsey and i never did, because they never let the bathroom reach a point where it was actually dirty.” they also never figured it was an issue, seeing as, uh, nobody ever mentioned that it was an issue. (“the number of times they have mentioned the state of the bathroom? ZERO.”) so laura and her roomie were a bit surprised, one day in february, to find this screed on the floor of their room.
related: letter from a narcotic
375 responses so far ↓
#1
TheOldSchool
How soon before the shit hits the shower floor?
Apr 8, 2009 at 8:35 pm rating: +24
#2
Canthz_B
At least she doesn’t expect them to clean the ceiling.
I love it when people with nasty personal habits get a PA note from someone who’s cleaner, and they tell the world how angry their nastiness has made someone.
I’d call it airing one’s dirty laundry, but I doubt Laura does much laundry.
Apr 8, 2009 at 8:41 pm rating: +43
#3
Canthz_B
Must have been like waiting for this economy to hit bottom.
Just when you think it can’t get any worse…SPLAT!!…toothpaste in the sink, make-up on the sink, and a roomie who thinks “…they never let the bathroom reach a point where it was actually dirty.”
What does this bitch need? Mud?
Apr 8, 2009 at 8:47 pm rating: +49
#4
Grossed Out
If Laura’s idea of a ‘notorious neat freak’ is someone who cleans a bathroom every two weeks, then I’d hate to see Laura’s idea of dirty.
Eww.
Apr 8, 2009 at 8:49 pm rating: +131
#5
Heather
The best response to this is to never clean the bathroom, at all. What’s she gonna do, more verbal diarrhea all over an innocent piece of paper?
(Also, this is why I broke down and hired a *weekly* maid…)
Apr 8, 2009 at 8:49 pm rating: +14
#6
Sheila
Why does she assume that being married means that the wife does the cleaning? Is it 1952 again?
Apr 8, 2009 at 8:54 pm rating: +84
#7
plausibletheories
What, no mention of Laura’s rocket pubes? Sorry, this is not anal-retentive enough for my standards.
Apr 8, 2009 at 8:57 pm rating: +24
#8
Beanster
* Imagines a world as a mini-person living in a hair brush. Loves this world *
Apr 8, 2009 at 8:57 pm rating: +31
#9
jfruh
That last bit about “great practice” is obviously incorrect. When Laura can finally find her own place, she will be happily living in her own filth, as will whatever slob-husband she manages to woo into her hair-clogged shower.
Apr 8, 2009 at 8:59 pm rating: +13
#10
lightspeed
What kind of showers does she take if she looks forward to them all day?
Maybe that’s the real problem, the messiness is ruining her special alone time….
Apr 8, 2009 at 9:08 pm rating: +40
#11
lightspeed
I love how some roommates think that just because no one ever has said anything to them it’s totally cool to never ever do any cleaning in a shared area. No really, people LOVE to clean the bathroom, they love it so much they rush to do it before you get a chance. They really want the toilet scrubbing all to themselves, I’m sure.
Apr 8, 2009 at 9:14 pm rating: +28
#12
Laura (not the one who sent in this note)
I lived in a dorm with 4 girls and our communal bath got cleaned… once every couple months? I swept every couple weeks and that was all that it really needed. Unless you’re total pigs, it’s not like bathrooms get THAT dirty.
So basically, I’m on Laura’s side here. And not just because she has the same name as me.
Apr 8, 2009 at 9:14 pm rating: +19
#13
Grimfool_Reluctant
Amanda Please! (Sorry for the Nickolodean shoutout.)
Laura needs to get her head screwed on before the fecal mist really hits the fan. First, cleaning the bathroom every two weeks is not neat-freak behavior.
But even more so — as a happily-married husband who NEVER “cleans” the bathroom . . . there’s a big difference between putting on the rubber gloves and opening the bleach, and simply bending the fuck over to pick your own hair out of the shower drain! Even I know that! Same thing with toothpaste in the sink (I won’t touch it, but I will keep running water on it until it dissolves), and I can only assume it’s the same thing with wiping up your spilled cosmetics.
Jeez, Laura, what kind of pig are you? Do the frat guys all chase after you just one night a year?
Apr 8, 2009 at 9:24 pm rating: +15
#14
sarah
coming from a self proclaimed neat freak..cleaning once every two weeks is not neatfreak. Its called cleaning for the sake of being sanitary. I share a house with three other girls i know how much hair can accumulate in a house. And we have two washrooms, i can only imagine one washroom between four. Laura needs to get off her ass and clean
Apr 8, 2009 at 9:34 pm rating: +11
#15
subito
if I were Laura it would never be cleaned….I wouldn’t mind doing the cleaning but after being given a note like that…screw ‘em
Apr 8, 2009 at 9:56 pm rating: +4
#16
TheOldSchool
Totty potty cat fight!
Let the scratchin’ begin.
When is PAN going get hip to video? This kind of shit is pay-per-view gold. (Kerry: call me.)
Apr 8, 2009 at 9:56 pm rating: +1
#17
Julie F
“Or with your husband”?
What the fuck is that about. Maybe she thinks that once you’re married, you’re going to have to keep the bathroom clean, or your husband will write you pissy little notes about it.
Apr 8, 2009 at 9:57 pm rating: +16
#18
Wade
“…but there are other poopie in this sink with you”??!??
Ohhh! “people” “suite”
Must rage always lead to poor penmanship?
Apr 8, 2009 at 10:09 pm rating: +6
#19
Kristen
i live in a dorm with girls who leave stuff everywhere (PAINT in the showers, open boxes of sugar sitting out, makeup everywhere, cereal bowls in the bathroom that i assume they were going to ‘wash later’)
so this note…. sounds totally reasonable to me.
Apr 8, 2009 at 10:13 pm rating: +4
#20
Canthz_B
I blame Title IX.
Hey! They could make Home Economics a varsity sport. Then girls (and some special boys) from across the land would be motivated to get good at cookin’ ‘n cleanin’ n’ sewin’ n’ such in hopes of someday landing a job in the pros (the Home and Garden Channel)!
Apr 8, 2009 at 10:35 pm rating: +2
#21
Sarah
I think if this roommate had mentioned it at least once before, then she’d have the right to get pissed off. I’ve lived with a complete moron who had to be nagged *every time it was her goddamn turn* to just take out the trash, and also had to be forced to clean her own vomit up…so uh, sounds like if Laura was a reasonable human being, this note would be a nasty move form an evil bitch. But if Laura possesses a single digit IQ like my former roommate (and her sister, who happens to be named Laura), then I’m surprised her roommate hasn’t snapped and made some serious murder.
Apr 8, 2009 at 10:38 pm rating: +2
#22
shel
I don’t think this is all Laura’s fault… what about this 4th roomate? She is mentioned in the letter as a non-cleaner, but the letter is not directed at her…. Are all 3 of the other roomates bald? How is all of the hair Laura’s? Unless her hair is a completely different color (meaning dark brown/black vs all blondes etc) or if everybody else has super short hair, how do they know it’s all hers?? The same thing could go for the make up or the toothpaste… A more thorough investigation is necessary to form a solid opinion…
I guess I kinda want to be on Laura’s side, since I’ve experienced the neat freak roomate who couldn’t abide an unwashed cereal bowl for more than 12 hours… if only PAN.com existed 6 years ago… the pictures I could have taken…
I like ellipses…
Apr 8, 2009 at 10:45 pm rating: +6
#23
aaa
Here’s my prediction:
Laura and Kelsey really are disgusting pigs, and Christin and Amanda truly do have the societally-accepted standard of cleanliness, but Christin’s and Amanda’s parents never taught them to actually tell people when they have a problem with them. Like their parents (either divorced or they just hate each other), they expect people to psychically divine their thoughts and get really pissed when others don’t cooperate with their ideas of how the world should work. Thus, Laura and Kelsey have no clue that their piggishness isn’t appreciated by their other roommates, and thus are baffled when the note appears.
50% chance that Laura or Kelsey gets on here to clarify something we were supposed to divine from the invisible context in the note.
30% chance that Christin or Amanda gets on here to defend themselves.
15% chance of an all-out Pigs vs. Neat-freaks bitch-fest.
94% chance that the situation is far more mundane than we would like it to be. :/
Apr 8, 2009 at 11:01 pm rating: +20
#24
Victor
Foul, dude. Four women sharing a bathroom and it only gets cleaned every TWO WEEKS?! That’s so fucking nasty. With that many people that make that much mess sharing one bathroom, it should be cleaned once or twice EVERY WEEK. I don’t blame Laura’s suitemate at all; if you’re so foul that you don’t notice dirt and grime after that long, you have other issues inside your head that need sorting first. What the hell is Laura looking at instead, I wonder.
Apr 8, 2009 at 11:13 pm rating: +3
#25
Canthz_B
To be fair, all things are relative.
Maybe Laura was raised in a real hell-hole, and a little dried toothpaste in the basin, and hair extensions in the shower drain, are what she’s always imagined life at the Ritz-Carlton to be like.
Apr 8, 2009 at 11:26 pm rating: +5
#26
mamason
I just want to know how you can get into college without the ability to write legibly, in straight lines. I mean it’s not just crooked. It’s like rolling up and down crooked. Seriously! Was Amanda on a see-saw when she wrote this?
Apr 8, 2009 at 11:27 pm rating: +8
#27
Mica
If you’re leaving massive amounts of hair and makeup all over the bathroom for your roommates, maybe you SHOULD just clean it up for once! Nothing is more annoying than a vapid bitch who can’t clean up her own mess.
Apr 8, 2009 at 11:40 pm rating: +3
#28
you suck at craigslist
When I lived in the dorms the guys down the hall used to save their pee, soak toilet paper rolls in it, and throw them at one another (or us) in the hallway.
I would have LOVED for there to just be some hair in the drain every so often.
Apr 8, 2009 at 11:40 pm rating: +6
#29
Kate
On the fence with this one.
I share a six person apartment, so things get dirty from time to time. I’m used to messy house, so I never notice until things start to get bad. One of the first things I did when I moved in was to tell my roommates that if they wanted me to help clean, all they needed to do was ask; if they didn’t I’d never realize there was an issue.
So yeah, I think the roommate could have saved herself a good deal of cleaning if she’d just bothered to say, “Hey, do you guys mind cleaning the bathroom?” or if they’d worked out a cleaning schedule, or done something to indicate there was problem.
On the other hand, unless the roommate is exaggerating, it sounds like Laura’s causing more than her fair share of the mess. Hair all over, make-up spills, toothpaste in the sink, etc. I understand that things just naturally tend to get dirty after a while, but she could do a better job of picking up after herself.
Apr 8, 2009 at 11:51 pm rating: +5
#30
Shazbot
Some people can never be bothered by the state of a bathroom, blithely stepping on discarded tissues and toilet paper tubes for months.
Some people freak out once they notice that someone let the mouthwash drip on an otherwise spotless sink.
Unfortunately, people in the latter group are going to be screwed if they try to change people in the former group this way. Neat freaks, you will inevitably be more miserable than the slobs when you avoid cleaning up after them. Ask them to clean up after themselves, but in the end it’s a matter of what YOU can put up with–their tolerance for messes is obviously higher than yours, and weeks of thinking “Dear god this bathroom is disgusting” while they wander around drooling toothpaste on every available surface is not worth it, because eventually you’ll break down and clean it for your own peace of mind.
If you MUST be PA about it, drive them crazy by photographing their messes and leaving those pictures on their beds or someplace else where they can’t miss them. Don’t expect them to suddenly start caring about messes.
Apr 9, 2009 at 12:20 am rating: +6
#31
Sika
When I lived in the dorms a custodian came in every day and cleaned. It took her a couple minutes. Still, there were girls who wore shower shoes and refused to touch the walls. My roommate used seat covers when she used the toilet.
We left shit everywhere…dishes, brushes, towels, etc. If someone left something or didn’t take their hair off the wall we’d just holler “Hey bitch, come get your shit so I can have a place to put my curling iron!” or if it was hair all you had to do was yell “MARISSA!” and one of the two Marissa’s who both had long black hair would rush in giggling and apologizing while trying to make up for it by saying that the hair was in fact clean(which it was).
If there wasn’t a custodian…I imagine the bathroom might never have been cleaned. None of the six of us wanted to touch each other’s filth. We would just have tiptoed around and applied our make-up in our rooms. Or in my case, not cared at all and enjoyed having the bathroom mirror to myself.
I tried to explain this to a co-worker of mine that lived with her niece who never did her chores. If you don’t mention it, she’s not in trouble yet, so she’ll just hope you never notice. That’s with pre-agreed upon chores people. She asked how often I clean my bathroom (I have a husband by the way) and I said when I have company. I made sure to tell her though, that the college student’s I know who rent apartments, clean them only when they move out. Or if they have already done enough damage to have lost their deposit. Not at all. EVER!
In summary
1. Every two weeks is not being a neat freak, but I would venture to say that most college roomies rarely clean their bathroom that often. If they clean it at all.
2. People cannot read your mind. If clean to you needs to happen more often than clean to me…then I’m going to leave you in charge of making sure you’re in your own comfort zone.
3. Ordering me to clean the bathroom because you think it’s dirty…even though I don’t, is the worst way to ever get me to clean it.
4. This note would have been more effective if written with colored markers.
Apr 9, 2009 at 12:52 am rating: +16
#32
meh
I don’t understand why people get so judgemental about the people writing these notes or the people who got them.
Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe the two “slob” roommates do a lot of other household chores that the “neat freaks” avoid, and so the slobs thought that it was a fair trade that the neat freaks cleaned the bathroom every time?
Maybe the slobs take out the trash every time. Maybe they cook for everyone, or do most of the grocery shopping, or drive their roommates places, or do household repairs.
There are plenty of easily imagined reasons why the slob roommates might believe that it’s okay not to pitch in on this one chore that the other two always do without saying a word about it.
Also: bathroom cleanliness depends a lot on how nice the bathroom is to start with. A shoddily constructed bathroom gets grimy and moldy fast, but a nicely designed bathroom can stay clean a long time just from the water that gets swirled around during normal use. You are CLEANING yourself at a sink or in a shower, which means water and soap are cascading over every surface, helping to keep it clean too. If the shower surfaces aren’t cheap, they might only need scrubbing every couple of weeks. When I moved from my old, crappier apartment to my current one, I was pleasantly surprised at what a difference the upgrade in bathroom fixtures made to how often things needed to be cleaned.
Certainly a nice bathroom shared by four could stay clean for a couple of weeks, especially considering that the women sharing it are students who probably spend a lot of time at classes, libraries, jobs, boy/girlfriends’ or friends’ places– ie, not at the suite constantly using that bathroom.
I know everyone loves to pass judgement, but come on, think about the possibilities for five seconds.
Apr 9, 2009 at 1:24 am rating: +4
#33
Grimfool_Reluctant
Meh said, “I don’t understand why people get so judgemental about the people writing these notes or the people who got them.”
Meh . . . you do get the whole purpose/attraction of this site, don’t you? Or were you perhaps looking for the “Passive Notes” page?
BTW Mamason — if CB got all legalese up in there, it’s his responsibility to clean it out again. Be considerate of others, CB!
Apr 9, 2009 at 2:13 am rating: +5