6 Worst Kinds of Roommates in China

6 Worst Kinds of Roommates in China
Oct 22, 2010 By Andrea Hunt , eChinacities.com

For most people, sharing an apartment with someone is an obvious disadvantage, but living in the big city in China requires money, and most of us can’t afford the luxury of having our own space so we have to share. Now most of the time in our own countries, we would not move in with someone that we don't know, but in China we make concessions so that we can live in the area that we want, in the room that we want, near our jobs or our favorite districts. But what about the roommates from Hell? Some people have good luck and some have bad luck. Note that there are bad roommates of all types regardless of nationality or gender. These flaws lie with the integrity of the person so note that these are not generalizations based on country of origin.

Here are some examples of roommate situations that have gone wrong. Let’s discuss the 6 worst kinds of roommates in China; these are all based on true accounts:


Photo: theivorytower

Let’s take a look at the first example: Roommate A and American Roommate B have been living together. Roommate B has a series of girlfriends he allows to move in after a few weeks. However, the girlfriend doesn't come unaccompanied, she brings her 2 rabbits and a cat, who dislikes Roommate A. The cat tears up the furniture and pees everywhere. One of the girlfriends is unemployed so just hangs around messing up the kitchen, eating all the food, and not paying any bills. Wrong.

French Roommate B keeps to himself, yet from move-in day 2, has multiple orgies in the middle of the night. These involve numerous girls occupying the bathroom at any given moment so that Roommate A cannot shower or use the toilet without waiting in line before bed or getting ready to go to work in the morning. For some reason, he refuses to shower and smells bad. Wrong.

Inconsiderate Canadian Roommate B eats food of Roommate A all the time and never replaces it. Roommate A comes home to make dinner to find that his recently bought steak has been eaten and his cheese is melting on the counter. He also finds no flaw in drinking Roommate A’s last beer. Wrong.

Dirty
This kind of roommate has no reverence for germs or bugs. For example, English Roommate B leaves half-eaten pizza in sink soggy and gathering roaches for over a week and yet washes plate. In addition, he uses watermelon rind as an ashtray and doesn’t wash his towels for months at a time.

Mexican Roommate B doesn't see anything wrong with leaving half-eaten cereal bowl with spoon still in it in the refrigerator for over a week along with take-out food stabbed with moldy chopsticks. Wrong.

When Canadian Roommate B moves out, Roommate A finds that he liked to smoke while on the toilet and line the shower ledge with cigarette butts. Wrong.

Chinese Roommate B hawks phlegm into the bathroom sink and floor and lets it crust there. Wrong.

Legal Problems
This is also one of the worst kinds of roommates because they up and leave you with pending rent money. 

 

Roommate A comes home one night and wakes up to find she hadn’t noticed dirty dog prints all over her room, bed sheets, etc. She realizes that this is because hyper Chinese Roommate B is a drug dealer and the narcotics police came in with dogs to sniff the place, found 300 grams of cocaine and took him away for 10 years to prison. Wrong.

Sneaky German Roommate B lies and says his visa was fine, then has to leave the country 2 months later because he is working on a tourist visa, causing him to get deported. Wrong.

Noise
This kind of roommate leaves you tired and cranky in the morning and has no respect for your bedtime.

Obnoxious American Roommate A doesn't see the problem with Skyping his girlfriend loudly in America between the hours of 2-7AM weekdays outside Roommate A’s door while laughing raucously. He is also a raucously loud silent reader.

Roommate A never gets sleep at night because hysterical Chinese Roommate B often has drunken screaming fights with men she just brought home at 5am on a Tuesday that involve kicking and throwing things. Guy would sit outside the door crying and knocking 5 feet from Roommate A’s door. Wrong.

Irresponsible
Irish Roommate B lets the electricity run out when it’s his turn to pay-5 times. Worst timing is mid summer and 40 degrees outside. They sit and swelter. Wrong.

Chinese Roommate B doesn’t mind showering in cold water so she doesn't pay hot water bill. Hot water runs out while American Roommate B is showering the shampoo out of his hair. Wrong

Drunken English Roommate B comes home late one night and falls into wall, making a hole with his face.

Cheap
Stingy American Roommate B asks to split the extra 40 Mao on the Internet bill of 165.40 RMB. French Roommate B always uses up all the washing detergent and toilet paper but then buys milk one time and asks for 8 RMB.

Roommate A comes home from work to find Chinese Roommate B and German Roommate C clinging to each other’s throats because Roommate B decided to up and leave to Germany without finding a replacement yet she still wants deposit. Chinese Roommate B jumps on her and they start fighting until Roommate B decides that German Roommate C is too big for her and starts trying to sit on the German Roommates’ luggage. German Roommate C has back up Germans with her and threatens Chinese Roommate before leaving.

Sure, the combination of different people is bound to make for some exciting stories, especially when you are all living together in unfamiliar territory. Although there are a million other stories, these are the ones that were shared with me so that I could create the 6 worst kinds of roommates. Some people never have any problems with their roommates, while others seem to be perpetually cursed with odd personalities or something that falls into one of these 6 categories. If you have any additions feel free to add them! Good luck and happy roommate hunting!
 

Related Links

5 Tips for Finding Roommates in China
Remember the BCD? Get ready for TIC: This is China
Home Sweet Home: How to rent an apartment in Beijing

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