Having roommate issues?

No one is perfect, and no one is the perfect roommate…and we’ve been looking harder than anyone. Here are a few things to think about if a roommate is driving you crazy

1. Cognitive bias - AKA we all think we’re better roommates than we are :)

Back in 1980, a Swedish psychologist named Ola Svenson conducted a study: In two different sessions, he asked 81 American college students and 80 Swedish graduate students to rank their driving ability among their peers. The results were striking: 88% of the Americans and 77% of the Swedes ranked themselves in the top half when it came to driving safely. When they were asked to rank their driving skill, 93% of the Americans said they were better than average, compared to 69% of the Swedish students.

The study was one of several others that proved the same thing – people have a tendency to overestimate their own abilities. One of them showed that 90% of college professors thought they were above average teachers, while another found that, out of 800,000 high school students, only 1% thought their social skills were below average.

All that said to say this - we’re all probably less awesome roommates than we think we are.

2. What Type of Issue Is This to YOU?

There are 2 types of roommate issues:

1) The kind that bother you but aren’t a huge deal

AND

2) The kind that truly bothers you and begins to fester and cause bitterness

For type 2 we recommend the following process

1) Has your house has its quarterly roommate meeting and created its own set of roommate rules? If not we highly recommend this as a first step. Bring up the issue there for the group to discuss.

2) Communicate directly and respectfully with the offending roommate. If the issue is larger, in person may be a better option.

3. You’ve communicated directly and as a group - now what?

If you have a formal complaint against a roommate in regards to consistent and egregious roommate rules breakage, safety concerns, or property destruction.