Remembering Bad Roommates

[Rixel]

I just got this email from a friend of mine:

Who else is tired of reading all of those forwards? I know I am. But this past week, I realized that they are all true. Please read on, and you’ll understand…

I didn’t get along with one of my roommates, right from the beginning of the school year. We had very different backgrounds, and very different life directions. We had very different views on what was acceptable, and what was not. You couldn’t find two people more different than her and I. But we did have one thing in common: we were both very strong-willed and headstrong. This resulted in many conflicts, and we exchanged words on many different occasions. Eventually, we met with the Residence Don to try to reach a compromise. Unfortunately, we were unable to do so, and I moved out of our house about three weeks ago. Now, I wish that I had done some things differently.

This past week, this roommate was killed in a car accident. There was a lot left unsaid between us, and we did not part on ideal terms. But the past cannot be undone, and there is no future between two people when one of the people has passed away. So I am going to learn from my mistakes, and I ask you all to do the same.

Send this to all of those people in your life with whom you have “unfinished business”. Those people who you would want to say “I’m sorry” to before they’re gone.

Those people who you would want to say “I love you” to before they’re gone.

Those people who you would want to say “Thank you” to before they’re gone.

I know I have a lot of people who I’d like to say this to.

I’m sending it to you to say I’m sorry, I love you, and thank you. You have been a part of my life, and for this I am thankful. Even if we never meet again, remember that you have touched my life and made me a better person.

Nothing bad will happen if you don’t send this along, but nothing good will happen, either.

This, I am fairly sure is a glurge created by my friend, because she NFBSKed about her roommate a few months ago in a blog plus this seems a lot like her writing style. now, knowing this person (and, admittedly, having a generally unfriendly bias towards them) this glurge seems like an effort to apologize to someone, for fighting with them all the time, when they've already passed on. It seems like a form of conscience clearing, which seems a bit egocentric. Am I wrong?

[Cervus]

Eventually, we met with the Residence Don to try to reach a compromise.

He made us an offer we couldn't refuse.

[Tori]

Originally Posted by Cervus

He made us an offer we couldn't refuse.

This sounds like another one of those "life is pwecious, carpe diem" e-mails, sans the religious references and puppy dogs/flowers/hearts/omg!!!!!1111 It's definitely a conscience-clearing device: "hey everyone, look at me, I'm atoning for my sins! Even though my actions have nothing whatsoever to do with what happened to the person in question, and if said event did not happen at all, I wouldn't have cared."

Oh, and I just love this veiled threat at the end:

Nothing bad will happen if you don’t send this along, but nothing good will happen, either.

[frogpond]

I had a truly horrible roommate for a brief period of time in college. If she had died in a car wreck it wouldn't have changed a thing about how I felt towards her. I would have been sorry that she died, but it wouldn't have made me think her any less evil.

This glurge fails to even make the tiniest plink at a single heartstring.

[Beastly Despot]

Actually, this seems like a niche market for greeting cards. I'll betcha Hallmark hasn't thought of this one yet..

"Sorry your bitch former roomate passed away..."

[Ramblin' Dave]

Originally Posted by frogpond

I had a truly horrible roommate for a brief period of time in college. If she had died in a car wreck it wouldn't have changed a thing about how I felt towards her. I would have been sorry that she died, but it wouldn't have made me think her any less evil.

This glurge fails to even make the tiniest plink at a single heartstring.

Same here. The title reminded me immediately of my junior year roommate, who was my best friend when we moved in and with whom I wasn't speaking at all by the end of the year. Visiting the RA wouldn't have helped at all, because when it came to communicating about our problems, he always took credit for having done the right thing no matter how far that was from the truth. I can still imagine him whining to the RA, "But I let Dave sleep whenever he wants to go to bed early, I clean up the room, I respect his space..." All of which was the exact opposite of the truth. When I brought up specific examples of his being out of line, he nearly always claimed not to remember them or he said he expected me to think it was funny.

I would have moved out, but that would have amounted to rewarding his bullying: we had the biggest room on campus, so he would have ended up with a gigantic single while most of his class still had shared rooms. Due to the finer details of the college's housing policy, I couldn't force him to move out. He did claim to have looked into finding a suitable room to move to at one point, but I think he was probably lying about that. (Years later when we were friends again, he admitted that he couldn't recall if he really had done that or not.) I'm pretty sure he was hoping he'd be able to push me until I moved out. I'm proud of the fact that I didn't, but it did make for some awfully uncomfortable times throughout that year.

I would, of course, have been sorry had he died. But would I have had any regrets about having never said I loved him? Um, no.

If I ever run into (evil former roommate who borrowed money for 'tuition' and turned it into his own drug dealing buisness) in a dark alley somewhere one of us ain't walkin out alive.

Oh, did I menton he was a pCm too (really). As well as a Lothario? And that he borrowed my socks and returned them unwashed?

Fortunately I don't tend to frequent dark alleys, and hopefully he is probably either dead or sharing a cell with some big guy named bubba.

[DawnStorm]

Gah, what next, glurge about lousy landlords?
Oops! I hope I don't give someone any ideas!

[stagemanager0610]

I'm divided on this one. I've had two horrible roomates, the first one I have to work with everyday, since I'm a theater major and he really wants to be one. What happened between us is unchangeable, but we've managed to put that behind us. As for the second horrible one, I've only seen him once since both of us chaged rooms (he actually moved off campus). Furthermore, bad roomate #2 wasn't "bad" until after we both moved because my current roomate showed me some of the things that #2 did behind my back.

As for the story, I can sorta see myself trying to forgive my first roomate, seeing as how we're talking again, but as for roomate #2 - I'd love to meet him in a dark alley myself...cause I'm not sure that he would make it out...

[Esprise Me]

Originally Posted by DawnStorm

Gah, what next, glurge about lousy landlords?
Oops! I hope I don't give someone any ideas!

The eviction notice appeared suddenly and without warning. I pleaded with my landlord, explaining that I had an eight-month-old child and a fledgling coke dealership to support, but he kicked me out anyway for non-payment of rent. I tried to find another place, but no one was interested in renting to a Christian. Everywhere I went, I heard the same transparent excuses. "No, we don't allow pets." "No, I won't rent a one-bedroom for $30/month." "You don't look well. Let me buy you a sandwich."

I was getting desperate. My baby needed food, but all my money was tied up in Colombian investments. Then I realized, this was a matter for God to handle. And, lo and behold, one day Child Protective Services took the kid off my hands. The next day, I dropped dead and didn't have to look for an apartment anymore!

See, Jesus is like the landlord who never evicts you. He already paid your rent, plus he's really handy with stopped-up toilets. Sign a lease with the Lord and you'll never be out on the streets!

Forward this to any friends who take sufficient quantities of mind-altering substances to find this funny and/or profound.

Gah, why do these glurges never have preachy messages for the bad room-mates and the bullies? There are people online and offline that if they died tomorrow I wouldn't shed a tear or worry about "forgiveness" Since they were the ones being the horrible jerks and they never apologized and tried to win back my trust or friendship...The ball's in their court, and if they die before getting a chance to make things up, that's hardly my fault now is it? If the truth be told, there are some people the world would be better off without anyway, and nobody oes them a thing.

[Rixel]

Originally Posted by Esprise Me

The eviction notice appeared suddenly and without warning. I pleaded with my landlord, explaining that I had an eight-month-old child and a fledgling coke dealership to support, but he kicked me out anyway for non-payment of rent. I tried to find another place, but no one was interested in renting to a Christian. Everywhere I went, I heard the same transparent excuses. "No, we don't allow pets." "No, I won't rent a one-bedroom for $30/month." "You don't look well. Let me buy you a sandwich."

I was getting desperate. My baby needed food, but all my money was tied up in Colombian investments. Then I realized, this was a matter for God to handle. And, lo and behold, one day Child Protective Services took the kid off my hands. The next day, I dropped dead and didn't have to look for an apartment anymore!

See, Jesus is like the landlord who never evicts you. He already paid your rent, plus he's really handy with stopped-up toilets. Sign a lease with the Lord and you'll never be out on the streets!

Forward this to any friends who take sufficient quantities of mind-altering substances to find this funny and/or profound.

That's really corny. So corny I decided to mass spam my friends with it and (hopefully) make them laugh as I did. You made my day! ^_^

And no I'm not on sufficient quantities of mind-altering substances... or any for that matter