God help me, I had no idea what I was getting into

The BBQ Pit
1

As explained in this thread, I am moving into a house with gour other people. Two of them are friends of mine, the other two are a couple girls I recently met who are going to the same school as me and work with my mother.

The last two weeks I have been trying in vein to get all of us together to meet up and talk about all those important issues like rent, utilities, who has what furniture, etc…Yet because of one friend who works nights, another who for a week had a broken phone so I couldn’t get in touch with him, and one of the girls being the biggest flake I have ever met, it was all a no go.

The worst instance was last Friday. Flakey girl emailed me and said a good time to meet was around 7 PM. I and my night-working friend live 40 minutes away from the city she lives in/where our new place is. He had to get to work at 10, so we had two and a half hours up there to meet up. PLenty of time, right? Well, you would think. I call Flake at about 6:50, saying we’d be about ten minute late. She says that’s no problem, as she is out to dinner with her boyfriend anyway and will call us when she’s done. I ponder the wisdom about going out to dinner if you know you have plans, but I figured maybe the restataunt had a long wait or something. So come 7:30, no call, so I call her and leave a message. I do the same at 7:45, 8:00, and 8:15. Come 8:30, she finally calls, and says that she is going to call the other girl (we’ll call her L,) and then call us back and tell us when/where to meet. We never got a call back. We were up there until almost 10 PM, calling her every ten minutes, sometimes lieaving messages, sometime not. Unfortunatly I didn’t have L’s number, so I couldn’t even call her. So in the end, we wasted almost five hours for no reason and my friend (M) was late for work.

I got no response from Flake until Sunday afternoon. I had to go *back[i/] to the city to actually sign the lease that day, and was worried as fuck, because one of the reasons to meet Friday was so I could get all the rent and security deposit money so I could actually write the landlord a check. Well, luckily, the landlord said I could wait until this Saturday to pay her. So I called L and Flake (who didn’t answer,) and let them know the situation. L said I could get the money today (making me drive back up there for the third time in four days,) and finally, a couple hours later, Flake called me back and said I could get the moeny from her today as well. I called the last friend who finally got a working phone (J) and he said today was fine for him for the money (he also works and lives up there.)

So…concerning the money. M was first to give me a check, but just for half of what I needed. It was enough to cover the rent, but not the SD. However, he explained in advance he would have to wait a week or so to give me the rest when he got his next paycheck. I had enough to cover that $400, so I didn;'t mind. So today, I once again could not actually meet Flake, despite a few messages and talking to her once. Luckily, she forsaw her flakiness, and left me the check in some random basement of a random building on campus (her parents are paying her bills, and I think she said that was the office her dad worked in.) But, I open the envelope and discover…a check for half the amount. I call and leave a message (because she is with her phone to call me to tell me where the check is, yet not there five minutes later when I call her.) So I drive out to where L lives, getting lost because it’s in a town I hardly ever go to, but eventually get there and she gives me a check for…you see what’s coming? Half the amount. Argh! However, I explain to her that it needs to be double, and she says OK and gets me a new check. OK, takes care of that. Lastly, I have to get the moeny from J, so I go over there, and as he writes the check, I notice it’s for half the amount! What the Fuck?! I know these people have all lived in apartments before, so they know you need rent AND SD the first month. He tells me he is strapped because he is loaning a friend $500…well what the Hell?! ut he does give me a second check for the same amount, and tells me I can probably deposit it tomorrow, but to wait for him to call me to verify. He gets paid on thursday, so I can deposit it Friday at the latest, but it won’t clear in time for Saturday when I write the check (but maybe the landlord won’t deposit that till Tuesday.)

So out of the $3200 I needed to get, I got $2400, only $2000 of which I could actually deposit today. If I can deposit that other $400 and it clears in time, then I’ll be ok for the check. But otherwise, I am $18 short in my bank account. And my next paycheck isn’t until next Thursday. If I’m lucky, J will tell me I can use that $400, or Flake will get my message and put another $400 check in the mail (because I am not driving back up there) and I can get it on Wednesday and deposit it (Thursday at the latest.)

And we still haven’t gotten the power, water, gas, cable, internet, or phone set up. Our lease starts tomorrow, and Flake is basically already living there (she got permission to move in this past weekend, cause her current lease is up today. The rest of us are lucky enough that we can move in at our own leisure, as we have no leases and most live with family)

2

Bail.

This situation is only going to get worse. Get out while you can.

3

Hard ot get out when the lease is signed.

4

Then murder becomes your only option. Treis is right. Get out! Unless you *like * writing Pit threads about your room-mates every week. This is a recipe for disaster.

5

Should make for an interesting year of posts, tho.
Something tells me a schedule of rotating chores isn’t going to address all of this household’s issues.
You haven’t even moved in yet, and are well on your way towards hating humanity!
I recommend that you ban firearms and pointy implements from the house!

6

Well…banned for them. Mandatory for me.

7

I wish that I had better news for you but you are fucked. Been there, done that.

8

Somebody asked me in my housing Pit thread (now an MPSIMS thread; I didn’t put enough vitriol in it, as you might guess) why I didn’t get some friends together and go get a whole apartment, instead of trying to find a room in somebody else’s otherwise full apt. This is why.

Best of luck, bouv. FWIW, if you’re ever in my neck of the woods I’ll probably be able to get you a room somewhere.

9

Yes. Immediately, and I mean immediately, start lining up your new acquaintances as potential roommates. You are in for a shitty year; with luck, it will only be one year.

10

Also, I strongly suggest investing in some sort of really good lock for your bedroom door now. Right now.

Really, don’t put it off.

If you don’t, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

11

Did every roomate actually sign the lease?

12

Yeah, and one of those little fridges. I’m used to comunal fridges but in that situation it’s a great way to find yourself out of everything except dirty underwear (no, we never had that in the fridge).

13

If you asked nicely, would the landlord let you tear the lease up at this late stage and start again with some grown-up roomates?

14

I told you so:

15

Damn, you’re in for it now. Tell us at least that the two females are ravishingly hot nudists that are obsessed with pillow fights and tickle wars. That might explain why you’re willing to go through with this.

16

How old are the people involved here? If the answer is “about 20, more or less”, talk to the landlord and explain the situation. Tell him/her that things aren’t panning out the way you planned with these people and you need to start over.

Why is age relevant? Because unfortunately, many people that age demonstrate a lower level of personal responsibility than they should. If the landlord has been around a while, they will recognize that and cut you a break…probably thanking you for not creating a situation where they have the rent coming in in dribs and drabs every month.
Caveat: Yes, I know some older people are irresponsible too. But the disease is more common among the young.

17

Bail. Call the landlord, ask how much it will cost you to get OUT, right NOW, before anyone really moves in.

18

Are you the only one who’s actually signed the lease?

19

If this is a college town, there is no way in hell the landlord will cut him a break on this. You really really should have cut flake loose after last weekend, she will not get better. If her name is not on the lease, I suggest you cut her loose the next time a check isn’t on time or the full amount. My guess is the first of next month. The only other option is to get her daddy’s number.

Other advice to make this work. Do not… Let me repeat that…Do Not let any of the other utilities be in your name. And get rid of the flake. Most of us had one of various genders. Mine cost me about 4000 dolars.

20

As alphaboi867 and ETF are implying, bouv, if you’re the only one who signed the lease, you do have the option of kicking anyone else out and getting new roomies. Mind you, I have no idea how hard finding new roomies would be, but at least it’s an option.