GENERAL Guidelines.
1) Please respect your roommate's privacy concerning things.
ASK IN ADVANCE whenever you want to use your roommate's things even if it is the smallest things or the commonest things or things that are provided by the management. Unless they have stated clearly that you can use that particular thing any time they want like the broom and the mop. Even if you want to use her bed in any way, please do ask especially if you want to have a friend over at your room. Some do not like their things to be touched and it is a general violation of privacy to find your own things moved, used or touched without your knowledge. Some people don't like others to sit on their bed and some people will be bothered by the change of smell when someone else has used their bed and pillow. These are considered very private things for some people.
2) Please be considerate.
If you have a tendency to talk on the telephone late into the night hours, and you've noticed that your roommate likes to turn in early for a solid ten hours of sleep, do your best to be as silent as possible in whatever you do, go out in the hallway to talk on the phone late at night. Also, do not play loud music while your roommate is trying to study for important exam. Consider your roommate's sensitivity to noises. USE YOUR EARPHONES! You will want the same courtesy in return, but don't expect to get it unless you are respectful and courteous to your roommate
3) Please keep the room as live-able as possible.
If you have decided that no shoes are allowed into the room area, PLEASE STICK TO IT. You may not spend as much time in your room as your roommate but please do consider your roommate who spends more time in the room and the cleanliness of the room. Please also keep the room smelling neutral or naturally nice. So if you just finished exercising and sweat a lot or have smelly feet, do clean them or sort out the smell as soon as possible, or even if you are doing your laundry, please ensure it is properly dried so that it doesn't produce that horrible smell. Don't make your room a stinking swamp!
4) Please prepare your roommate for possible guests to the room at least in advance and not 5 minutes before they are coming!
Your room is hers/his and hers/his is yours so you might have guests coming and she/he might have guests coming too once in a while. Do let them know so that they will be prepared. And do consider your roommate whenever you have your friends over. If it is around 11-12 midnight and your roommate is an early sleeper, do ensure your guests leave before that. If your roommate is having a rough day or is rushing for an assignment or is studying for an exam, do be considerate to leave the room to her/him and not bother her/him with the noise and company. Besides that, consider if your roommate is a people person or not. If your roommate is not, then too much company for too long hours will be exasperating for them even if they don't voice it out to you at first. Do respect their way of lifestyle and take your party elsewhere. And again, you will want the same courtesy in return, but don't expect to get it unless you are respectful and courteous to your roommate.
5) Let your roommate know if you are returning late or will not be back or even if you are very very sick and in need of help.
Roommates are one of the people who can watch over your general safety. If you are sick, your roommate is there and might be the first to know especially if you start having high fever in the middle of the night or at dawn and they can contact the hospital or get help. And if you went missing and did not return to the room for several days, if you are not in the habit of letting your roommate know where you have gone in general (might not need details), no one will know if you went missing. Do let your roommate know IN ADVANCE before you return back to your hostel only to find posters of you missing being pasted around. Unless you don't want your roommate to care and no one will hold her/him responsible for not notifying your disappearance.
6)Last rule of thumb - do unto others what you want to be done unto you, or to see it in another way, don't do unto others what you don't want to be done unto you.
Understand your roommate, their sensitivity and their habits and culture and try to adjust. Be open to communicate. A gentle word does turn away wrath. What you think is agreeable for you might not be agreeable for them. Don't assume that your roommate is fine with it and take things for granted. It doesn't cost anything to just ask. So, communicate and understand where they are coming from and what they can or cannot stand and tell them what you can or cannot stand. Be sensitive to your roommate's needs and be considerate.
7) Others I would like to mention is general human to human relations.
Do talk respectfully and respect other's opinions and way of thinking or even way of doing things. Respect other's difference of culture and lifestyle or even eating habits unless they are very destructive or even hazardous. Don't judge them just because your view is different from them and your principles are different from theirs. Be open because they are not like you and you are not like them and we can't expect our roommates to think and see things like us.
So I hope this helps you to be a better and nicer roommate and help you to live peaceably with your roommates. Do enjoy your roommate!
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