It's the Little Things That Irritate Me

I am amazed. Truly amazed at the concept of someone complaining for a roommate being clean.

I've heard of many occasions where one roommate gets mad at the other one for leaving a mess. For being a slob, and being lazy, and the lazy roommate gets yelled at for being messy.

On the contrary, Mikey is very messy, which is what this blog is about. He leaves his messes everywhere. He puts his dishes in the sink instead of straight into the dishwasher (ironically, he yelled at me for this same thing when I was depressed and in my "lazy" phase since we both agreed we didn't like seeing dishes piled up in the sink). When he gets a cup or dish out of the cupboard, he leaves the cupboard open indefinitely. Same with the utensil drawer. He'll get a fork or spoon out of it and just leave the drawer open. When he's done playing his drums, he'll leave his headphones on the drumset instead of taking them back to his room. He'll leave the fan out by the door instead of putting it back in the closet right next to where he places it when he's using it. He'll leave his XBOX controller and headset sprawled out all over the coffee table.

He doesn't sweep, vaccum, mop, dust, or wash. He doesn't put away, organize, or lift a finger. His definition of "I'll take care of it" in terms of cleaning something up involve him just moving the mess from one place to another. Example:

A couple weeks ago, he purchased a drumset. This set came in many different boxes for all the pieces. As he started setting it up, I put all the bubble wrap and Styrofoam into the boxes to consolidate the mess for easier clean up later. He told me, "No, that's my mess. Leave it there, I'll take care of it."

So I left it there. And he did take care of it, in a manner of speaking. He placed everything in the biggest box, took it out to the garage, and placed it against the bumper of my car. That's his definition of cleaning it up. It was up to me to break down the boxes and recycle it all before the garbage man came by the next day.

A couple days ago, even, I was cleaning up after I cooked myself a meal. I noticed he had some Subway trash next to him on the coffee table which included, what I thought, was an empty soda cup. I walked up to him and said, "Hey. I'm taking the trash out. Can I take any of this out for you?"

"I'll take care of it", he responded sharply.

I pointed at the cup and said, "I can take that for you. Is it empty?"

Mikey leaned forward slightly, stared me down, and yelled, "I'LL TAKE CARE OF IT!"

Excuse me. I was taking the trash out anyway. I offered to do something nice for him so only one of us would have to make a trip out to the can in the backyard. And he yelled at me for offering to do something nice.

I took the trash out, brushed my teeth, and went to bed.

The next morning I woke up. I walked out to the kitchen getting ready to go for my jog. And Mikey had done what he said he would do. He took care of it.

He took care of it by moving the cup and the wrappers from the coffee table to the counter. The trash can is right under the sink. Is it really so much effort that you can't just open up the cupboard and place your trash in the waste basket?

And that's the issue. He's looking for the easy way to do everything. He wants easier access to the XBOX controller. So instead of placing it where it belongs, in the nights stand on the other side of the couch, he just wants it to stay on the coffee table right in front of where he sits. He wants his games to be accessible at all times. Right next to where he sits in the living room. He wants easy and immediate access to the cupboards and drawers. It's WAY too much effort to open it up every time you want to get something out! Easier to just leave it open. Sweeping, mopping and vaccuming take way too much effort. Let's just let there be dust everywhere.

I don't like living in a house where things are strewn about, doors, cupboards, and closets left open. Things not put away when not in use. To me, that makes me feel lazy. And it is lazy. When other people walk in and see a tacky sight like a cupboard open, what does that say to those guests? "We're too lazy to simply shut the cupboards."

It's the small things that become the most obnoxious.