Passive-aggressive notes from my flatmate

[Peter Harris]

In my first year of Uni, I shared a 5-person flat. Because I'd taken a gap year (year out between school and uni), I was put in with 3x 3rd year exchange students from other countries and another fellow 1st year who'd gapped.

Our 5th wheel, as it were, was a Swiss guy who left the very same passive aggressive notes. It was comments like "be quiet" when he'd gone to bed, "shut the door quietly", if one of us put something in the [communal] fridge that wasn't totally cling-filmed (saran wrapped?) he'd wrap it and write in sharpie marker "do it yourself next time", etc. etc.

It was annoying, but it didn't stop me not wrapping my crap in the fridge. When he kind of freaked out about how unfair it was we didn't submit to his demands, I pointed out that I was a domestic first year student, and that kind of meant i was gonna a) stick my food in the fridge without high concerns for covering it, b) stay out all night drinking and come back at 3am, perhaps shutting the door a mite louder than usual, c) have friends round playing old school NES games whilst we smoked weed and that if he didn't like it, as the 3rd year foreign exchange he surely had every right to request a transfer to another flat.

Of course, you don't have that luxury, exchange is off. So, I would suggest the following compromises.

1) Lavatory - agree on a "if it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down" rule for any time of day. I'm cool finding piss in the toilet in the morning, but someones turds they can flush themselves, even at the risk of rousing me at 4am.

2) Get a kettle to put in your room, man. Fill it from any old sink, but hey, why not.

3) He shuts his door when he is sleeping. Not only does this a) let you know he's asleep and can vary your noise accordingly, it's b) more sensible for both of you in terms of noise allowances

4) He gets pans of water off all the goddam radiators in the house except in his room unless the other flatmates agree to it. wtf is with this weirdness, if i wanted to live in a steam room I would.

I think if he shuts his door (totally acceptable) and you boiled water in your room, and you had a flat policy on toilet flushing protocol, you'd be pretty tip top.


edit: oh, hey yeah that site reminded me, he freaked out about us not washing up straight away either. Even though I provided nearly 100% of the crockery and utensils for the flat.