Lesson 8
Who Ate My Food?
You agreed to split the cost of food with your roommate, but you just went to the store two days ago, and your roommate has already eaten your bananas, cereal and soup. You've had enough, and decide that from now on you will buy your own food.
How do you talk to your roommate about your new plan? What kind of conflicts could erupt and how will you diffuse them? Bring up the missing food. Ask if your roommate ate it or possibly had friends over. If the answer is the former, mention that you'd like to start buying your own food from now on.
Decorating Your Place
You’re getting ready to move into your new apartment and you and your roommate are trying to decide who should bring or buy furniture and other basics. You have everything you need for your own room, but you also need furniture for the living room and dishes for the kitchen.
How will you decide who should bring or buy each item? How can you make sure you are contributing fairly to your shared space? Put money together for the furniture and buy it using that.
Streaming Video
You and your roommate decide to have a movie marathon together. Just as you are about to pop in a DVD, your roommate says he can stream video to the TV because he added the service to your cable bill. Oh, and he’s going to need an extra ten bucks from you each month to cover it. You’re glad to have the convenience, but you’re annoyed that he didn't ask first.
How will you communicate your frustrations to your roommate, and what will you do to ensure something like this doesn't happen in the future? Bring up how he added it without your permission and express your disapproval, then mention that he should ask next time.
Passwords Please
You’re out of town and you forgot your cell phone bill is due. You usually pay it online, but you can’t remember your username and password. You call your roommate and ask if she can take care of it for you, letting her know that your usernames and passwords are in a notebook by your desk.
What are the pros and cons of letting a roommate have access to your financial information? What security concerns should you think about in this situation? There's always the risk that your roommate will use your information for more than just paying your bills when you are unable to.
Broken Promises
Your roommate has a new boyfriend and you’re worried things will change. Sure enough, a few months later she moves out of your place and in with her boyfriend. The worst part? You still have six months left on the lease and she refuses to pay rent now that she has moved out.
How will you talk to your roommate about this situation? What might you do differently in the future when choosing a roommate? Calmly work something out with your former roommate and make sure future roommates wouldn't do something similar without mention.
You agreed to split the cost of food with your roommate, but you just went to the store two days ago, and your roommate has already eaten your bananas, cereal and soup. You've had enough, and decide that from now on you will buy your own food.
How do you talk to your roommate about your new plan? What kind of conflicts could erupt and how will you diffuse them? Bring up the missing food. Ask if your roommate ate it or possibly had friends over. If the answer is the former, mention that you'd like to start buying your own food from now on.
Decorating Your Place
You’re getting ready to move into your new apartment and you and your roommate are trying to decide who should bring or buy furniture and other basics. You have everything you need for your own room, but you also need furniture for the living room and dishes for the kitchen.
How will you decide who should bring or buy each item? How can you make sure you are contributing fairly to your shared space? Put money together for the furniture and buy it using that.
Streaming Video
You and your roommate decide to have a movie marathon together. Just as you are about to pop in a DVD, your roommate says he can stream video to the TV because he added the service to your cable bill. Oh, and he’s going to need an extra ten bucks from you each month to cover it. You’re glad to have the convenience, but you’re annoyed that he didn't ask first.
How will you communicate your frustrations to your roommate, and what will you do to ensure something like this doesn't happen in the future? Bring up how he added it without your permission and express your disapproval, then mention that he should ask next time.
Passwords Please
You’re out of town and you forgot your cell phone bill is due. You usually pay it online, but you can’t remember your username and password. You call your roommate and ask if she can take care of it for you, letting her know that your usernames and passwords are in a notebook by your desk.
What are the pros and cons of letting a roommate have access to your financial information? What security concerns should you think about in this situation? There's always the risk that your roommate will use your information for more than just paying your bills when you are unable to.
Broken Promises
Your roommate has a new boyfriend and you’re worried things will change. Sure enough, a few months later she moves out of your place and in with her boyfriend. The worst part? You still have six months left on the lease and she refuses to pay rent now that she has moved out.
How will you talk to your roommate about this situation? What might you do differently in the future when choosing a roommate? Calmly work something out with your former roommate and make sure future roommates wouldn't do something similar without mention.