Thursday, October 7, 2010

Just Another Hurdle to Jump

Let me tell you this: there is definitely a downside to living in the residence halls. Although I love love love it here, it really sucks when your living situation is...not so great.
My roommate and I get along great, and for the most part, we keep our room pretty clean. Our bathroom on the other hand...not so much.
It's hard to keep a bathroom that 4-6 people use clean, but one would think "if you use it, you should help clean it". Right? Apparently not.
I have a severe mold allergy, so living with a dirty bathroom is just not an option for me. I have to take medication every day to even be able to use our bathroom, because people refuse to clean it. I refuse to clean up after other people. I'm not their mother. I did not come to college to spend my time picking up messes that aren't mine. I would be willing to share cleaning duties though. It's only fair.
It literally would take less than five minutes for each of the people in a suite to clean one thing in the bathroom all on the same day. I went out of my way and spent a substantial amount of money on cleaning supplies only for them to sit under the sink and not be used.

I don't mean to bash anyone here. That's really not what this is about. But I can't be the only one going through this. Or does no one else care if their bathroom is gross or not? I have to say, I've been in other peoples' bathrooms here and they're definitely not this bad. This is one of the reasons I would pay extra money to have someone clean the bathrooms here - because nobody really wants to do it, but it kind of has to be done.

:/

AND: today, as my roommate and I were walking into our room, a Hawk landed on our windowsill and just stared into our window for a minute and then my roommate accidentally scared it off. But it was still pretty cool!

9 comments:

  1. Hey! our suite has a cleaning schedule. we just wrote it in expo marker on the mirror to the side and then everybody just takes their turns cleaning it. Then you wipe off your name when you're done cleaning.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kayla,
    I could not agree with you any more! This is EXACTLY what is going on in my room. And not just the bathroom, but the vanity and sink outside as well. It's ridiculous. Our cleaning schedule got ripped down (let's keep the person responsible anonymous) so I took my own time to make us a new one. I checked it over with every roommate but one and now no one seems to follow it. I agree that I have spent a lot of money buying cleaning supplies in order to keep it orderly. I cannot live in chaos and clutter and I have terrible allergies (not as severe as yours), but I definitely feel your pain. Things will sit in the sink for days on end and the dust and hair that accumulates is verging on the point of unsanitary. :[ I also refuse to clean up after other people. My roommate and I keep our room pretty much spotless, thank god, but it seems no one else shares our ideas on cleanliness. Any help?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I also have the same problem! My roommate and I get along just fine. As for our suitemates, they make a HUGE mess, especially in the vanity. After about 5 days of their mess they won't communicate directly to our faces, they'll do it on Facebook, and they'll leave nasty comments about how me and my roommate don't clean. It really upsets me. My roommate and I have completely stopped using the vanity because of their mess that they want us to clean up, which is ridiculous because we both pay for it too. And they also complain how we don't clean the bathroom, but we have! It's a really frustrating situation and I completely understand how hard it can be. We try to communicate face to face about it, if that helps, it all depends on how willing your suitemates are.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Speak with the RA and have them set up a time to meet with the entire suite. Cleanliness and taking your fair share of the responsibility are both important in a group living situation. The RAs are there for just this sort of thing. To mediate miscomunications amongst suite mates and help everyone get along better in general. I strongly urge you to do this as soon as you can, because the longer you wait the harder it is to change.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ^^The RA is actually in our suite, and she has gotten on board with our cleaning schedule, as well as my roommate, but the other 2 girls who use the bathroom pretty much disregard it and the bathroom "rules" we have set. Not sure what else the RA can do about it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yeah, my one suitemate really isn't willing to change. She'll get frustrated at the mess (that is her's and her roommates) and she'll clean the dishes, but nothing else. In response to my cleaning schedule, she said "I don't like people telling me what to do, it's like you're acting like my mom." sooo yes.. And involving the RA in on it just makes the situation worse, since my suitemates would obviously know we had told the RA.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well, I made one that has the different tasks (there's 5, one for each person) and each day of the week and then they could sign up for a day to clean and what they want to clean each week. I told them, I'm not their mom. I'm not going to clean up after them as if I am.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well, when you guys made up the cleaning schedule or the bathroom rules were all suit-mates present? If not, they really have no reason to agree or follow through with anything you guys say.

    ReplyDelete
  9. It wasn't actually a schedule, it just has the days of the week and then one task and all they had to do was sign up to do one task a week whatever day and time they wanted - that way they were free to do it whenever they were free and the bathroom would be cleaned quicker since each person is just doing one thing. Instead it's one person doing 3 things and 2 others doing 1 thing, which is unfair.

    ReplyDelete