Thieving Recovering(?) Drug Addict Flatmate (a retrospective)

I know I promised more information on my former gay Indian flatmate, but then I realized that theres really not much more to say about him. He was gay, he was Indian, and he was annoying. He would regularly ask me to eat with him, and to go out, etc. And we did go out a few times along with this Polish guy. He was creepy and would come on to me regularly. There was also a time when he was crying in the kitchen because of something the leaseholder said to him and I just pretended to be asleep so as not to deal with that shit.

Anyway, the better story here is the recovering drug addicted flatmate. He was from Sri Lanka. Been in the country for maybe five years, though. Actually, all of these Sri Lankan guys had been in London for at least 3 years, I'd say.

In any event, this guy came in after I was there for maybe 6 months. And within a month, I'd move out. Largely because of him.

He was a really obnoxious, agressive guy. Not in a physically theatening way, but he would push himself on everybody.

I guess the first example of this is when he asked to borrow my tv. Now, nobody has ever asked to borrow my television before or after him, but his explanation was reasonable (as far as tv-borrowing goes). Basically, he said that he has a tv, but its still at his old place and he wants to play his PS2.

I couldnt understand why he didnt just bring his PS2 to my room and he could have played there, but...I figured he had his reasons. And besides, he was going to get his tv soon. He said so himself. Any day now. He'll be getting his tv back.

Couple weeks later, he still had my tv. Finally, I asked for it back. He gave it but...it made several trips back and forth during the following couple weeks. He would ask for it, I would reluctantly agree, a few days would pass, I'd ask for it back, and then the next day he'd ask for it again. This would repeat for some time.

One time I finally said that no, he can not have the tv. He became rather argumentative and said that I have a computer so I can watch tv on that, and that it would be the last time, and how bored he is, et cetera.

It was really really painful. He would also come in and watch tv semi-regularly. This was often late at night which I didnt mind, but it bothered my obnoxious roommate. So its tough to say whether this was a good thing or not.

Oh and he also borrowed money. And not in a nice way. One time he asked for 50 pounds. I had a job by this time, and he asked me right after work, so I wasnt thinking and agreed.

He didnt need the money that second, so said he'd be back in a little while for the money. About an hour later, he comes back and by this time I had time to think. I didnt want to give this guy £50. I didnt have £50 to spare. So I agreed to give him £20.

He wasnt happy with this and argued for some time. "You said I could have £50" and so on. I told him I couldnt afford it. I also asked what its for. He said it was to get medicine for his girlfriend. It was probably to get "medicine" for himself, though.

Anyway, just as I was about to take the £20 back from him, he agreed that borrowing £20 was enough, and left. He paid it back in two £10 installments. He for more money a week later and I flat out refused. This seemed to put an end to it.

One day, he was asking how much money I was making and this sort of thing. He revealed that he found a job in an off-license for like £3/hour and that he used to manage a supermarket but was fired because he got involved with drugs.

So I was sympathetic to his problems, but borrowing tv's...its just bizarre.

There was also a time when I was on the computer talking to some random Asian lunatic...trying to get something going with her on MSN...and he sat right next to me and read every message. He was in the room to watch tv, but thought it would be ok to eavesdrop on my MSNing. It wasnt. But what could I say? The guy was unwell.

There were also a few times when he would come in late at night to watch cricket or something. "His" country of Sri Lanka was playing. And he would take his shoes off...he was coming from work...and just the worst smell you can imagine. It was really hard to endure.

He also stole things. For example, he kept asking to use my mobile charger. I had no problem with this. Well, I did because it was every single day but...it wasnt so bad. But then he started to using it without asking. He would come in and take it while I was out. And not tell me about it. So I was looking for my charger and it was in his room. Completely ridiculous.

Food was another big problem. He considered any food in the kitchen to be his. Thats not even an exaggeration. He ate all of my food. Quite honestly. Didnt ask. He also ate the Polish guy's food. And everybody else's, presumably. I had six frozen hamburgers and he ate all six of them. He left the box, though. I guess he was hoping that I wouldnt notice. Why would I leave an empty box in the freezer though?

And he would cook these hamburgers on my George Foreman grill. And not clean it. The thing was absoultely filthy. So one day, I took it out of the kitchen and kept it in my room. He wasnt happy with this. Asked if I could put it back in the kitchen. I said he has to start cleaning it. He said he would. He didnt, really. He'd wipe it down a little after he would cook one of my hamburgers on it, but it wasnt what anyone would consider "clean".

This all happpened within about a month. The Polish guy had left during this time too. So naturally, I went to the internet to find a new place to live. I found a place literally across the street.

And this tv-borrowing guy asked me why I moving. He had to know it was because of his insane behavior. But I said that I dont want to have a roommate.

Tune in next time to find out just how incredibly shit this next place was.

My Shitty Roommate in My Fourth Place in London (a retrospective)

So this horrible Polish roommate then. First an explanation.

To American readers, you might think that when I say "roommate", I mean "somebody who shares the apartment but obviously has their own room".

No. Thats not how things are done in England. When I say roommate, I mean somebody I shared a ROOM with. A bedroom. People you share the house/apartment with but have separate bedrooms are "flatmates".

And I had three previous roommates before this Polish guy. One was an Italian guy in that shitty place in East London. He was ok, but always had some people from Italy over and some were less than pleasant people. And yeah, it really cramped the tiny shared room even more.

The second was a psycho Brazilian drug addict, also in East London.

The third was this Sri Lankan guy in this shitty place in London. Aside from putting pieces of paper on his laptop, he was actually ok.

But this Polish guy was worse incredible. He just arrived from Poland a couple months earlier. And he was 24 but totally bald. I dont mean he shaved his hair (though later he did). I mean he was bald. Not balding. Bald. The classic horseshoe shaped pattern one finds on, for example, Hulk Hogan.

I mean, Im balding myself but Im almost 30. And Im certainly not totally bald like this guy was.

Anyway, really early male pattern baldness was the least of this guy's problems. He had a degree in IT and was doing some sub-minimum wage job for a Polish company. It was IT work but, again, he was doing it for like four pounds an hour. If that. He ended up quitting.

He was unable to find a job, which, sadly caused him to spend more time at home. And I dont think I was working at the time either. I still hadnt found a job in London. And it was about a year since I moved here.

Let's just get into why this guy was a cock then.

He had no friends so kept asking me to go to pubs with him. I went because I felt sorry for him. But once there, it was boring as hell. And he found it boring as well. Drinking is genuinely dull so this isnt his fault, but he should have found some friends and gone with them instead.

The first example wasnt so bad, but heres where it gets crazy. He would watch films on his laptop when I was clearly watching television.

I mean...I would be sitting there watching tv and he would come in and start watching films on his laptop.

And I dont mean with earphones. Or even with the sound low. I mean full on sound. So loud that I couldnt hear A WORD of what I was watching. He saw absolutely nothing wrong with this. And indeed, he would tell ME to turn the tv down. Eventually, I just turned it off whenever he would do this shit. I ended up buying a Nintendo DS to keep me entertained.

After some time of this, I realized that he was never going to use headphones or show any consideration at all. So I bought headphones so I could listen to the tv. And I moved the tv next to my bed because thats the only way the cord would reach.

He actually complained about this because now he couldnt see the tv. I ended up switching beds with him instead. The other bed was closer to the tv and it was in a position so we could both see it.

He would also regularly ask me to use these headphones when he was studying (he was doing a course he found from the Job Centre which was clearly a scam) or even when he was doing NOTHING. He would be browsing the internet and tell me to use the headphones. He was not doing anything remotely important. He was just a dick.

He would also tell me to use them when he wanted to sleep. I have no problem with this. Totally reasonable. But when I wanted to sleep, he didnt give a fuck. He would watch movies, talk on Skype, listen to the radio, whatever he wanted to do.

This leads to another problem. For the last month or two of him being there, he talked on Skype CONSTANTLY. To some girl from Poland he presumably met from the internet. And he would talk to her virtually all day. Thats not even an exaggeration. Upwards of 16 hours. And well into the evening. One time, I woke up at 4am to this fucking moron yelling on Skype.

One time, I had enough and at like 3am I told him that if he wants to continue talking, he's going to have to go to the kitchen. Totally reasonable request. He should have been doing this from day one. He can easily take his laptop to the kitchen and talk there.

He said "do you see? This is how it is with you and the tv. When Im trying to sleep, I always have to ask you to use the headphones".

I said "no. I dont see." and proceeded to list my grievances. Nothing changed, though.

He was insanely rude when I was trying to sleep but demanded total silence when he was trying to sleep. It was to the point where he didnt even want me using the computer when he was sleeping. The clacking of the keys kept him awake. So he started locking his laptop so I couldnt use it at night.

I ended up buying my own computer then. I actually had to buy my own computer because this was too much of a cock to let me use his. And he used it ALL DAY. Only when he went to sleep was I able to use it. But he didnt want me using it even then because it kept the poor bald baby awake.

So I used mine. I didnt have a wireless thing, though so I had to use a cable to connect to his computer in order to use the internet. He was ok with this for a while (indeed, it was his idea) but soon he decided that I was again typing too loud. I should point out, that I was typing at like 10pm. He didnt like it, because he recently found a really shitty job in a shoe factory or something and had to wake up early.

So he started disconnecting the internet when he went to sleep. I said "are you kidding" and he said "come on! It's my computer!".

I bought a wireless thing then. And used the computer as much as I wanted. He actually started complaining that I was CLICKING too loud. I wasnt even typing. Just CLICKING was too loud for him.

I finally had enough and complained to the leaseholder. He agreed that his behavior was insane, but said to put up with it because this Polish guy was leaving in a week or so.

I mean...just a complete moron. Then he would come back every week or so to collect mail and try to be buddy buddy with me. I gave one sylable replies but he didnt seem to get the message. He couldnt understand why I wanted nothing to do with him. I moved myself about a month later.

Next time: OBNOXIOUS GAY FLATMATE!