Getting Along With Roommates

When I chose to attend Rowan University, having roommate issues was the least of my worries. I thought that my roommate and I would just be acquaintances and pretty much two people who live in a small room who do their own thing while being civil and conversing with each other. I did not expect for my roommate and me to just become “besties for life” and always be hanging out together. I expected for her to have basic manners and respect. In other words, I expected for her to have respect for my belongings and privacy as well as having manners. Even Dr. Fredric Neuman who wrote the article “Getting Along with Roommates” on Psychology Today would agree that these expectations of mine are not a lot to ask for. Neuman states “It is necessary for

My roommate is very disrespectful to me when it comes to my privacy and belongings and she lacks manners as well. She is inconsiderate when it comes to me studying or sleeping, by being loud and having friends over late at night. Neuman does state that “the wish to study or go to sleep takes precedence over someone else’s wish to play loud music or party.” Her actions defy my expectation of being able to sleep or study at night and not be distracted by her social life. The biggest issue between her and I are the sleep-over guests. She used to have her boyfriend sleep over every single night for four months until I had to have a talk with her about an “arrangement for her sleep-over guests” as the way Neuman would want for roommates to do. This was a big issue because she would lack basic manners and common courtesy towards me when he was in the room, such as having sex while I was present in the room. The lack of respect towards me regarding small issues like keeping the room super messy to the bigger issues like having sex in the room while I am there all caused for me to not feel comfortable in my own room. Because of the way she was behaving I felt uneasy being in my room causing me to leave the room whenever she was present. Now that is not fair because I also paid to live in that room meaning I have the right to privacy and can expect my roommate to have manners and common courtesy when both