Here's What You Should Do If Your Roommate Isn't Pulling Their Weight

At Outpost, your house leader is someone you’re going to want to get to know very well. They’re your main connection to the company and will be there for you if you have questions about Outpost or if you need help with anything. Our house leaders are vital to Outpost and their wells of knowledge run deep. As part of our Ask a House Leader series, here’s an answer to one recent question for them:

Q: What should I do if my roommate isn’t pulling their weight?

A: Living with other people is a series of compromises and getting used to everyone’s unique habits and needs. We all have to put work into keeping the atmosphere in our houses positive and respectful, but sometimes that balance gets thrown off when someone isn’t pulling their weight.

Maybe your roommate takes hour-long showers in the morning when everyone is trying to get ready, or uses more than their share of the fridge. More than likely, they’re not doing it on purpose and probably haven’t noticed anything is wrong.

That’s why it’s important not to react to this kind of situation with passive-aggression; if someone doesn’t realize what they’re doing, they won’t notice sarcastic remarks or sideways glances. Instead, it’s important to diffuse the situation in a straightforward, polite manner.

Talk to the person privately and explain what you’d like addressed. Try not to sound accusatory -- merely tell them what’s been bothering you and how you’d like it addressed. Speaking in person is so much more effective than group messages or even individual texts.

The vast majority of the time, just talking to someone will fix the issue. In those rare cases where it’s not enough, though, that’s where your house leader comes in! Never hesitate to bring something like this up to your house leader; we’ll either deal with it ourselves, or, where necessary, escalate accordingly.

Here are some basic guidelines to follow to make sure your house is a positive place for everyone who lives there:

• Always take out the trash, wipe down the kitchen counters and make sure the dishwasher is loaded and unloaded on your cleaning day.
• Keep in mind that people may be sleeping when you get home late or leave early, and respect quiet hours.
• Be respectful of your roommates’ time in the morning; no one wants to be late to work because their roommate was locked in the bathroom all morning.
• Respect the fridge and cabinet space of the rest of the house.

With those guidelines in mind, you’ll rarely run into a situation where a house leader needs to step in, but we’re always around if you need us!

Sadly, there are times when it is impossible to speak the same language as your partner. If this happens, you can either rent a room by yourself or try to get in touch with the other person to reach a solution. Options for singles and co living are available at Outpost Club.