Saturday, February 07, 2004
Roommate interviews...
So we are looking for a housemate. What we do is we have our little ad on that website where people can list places to live, things for sale, etc, etc. People respond and if they are looking for something like what we've got, we invite them to see the house. Then if we like each other/they like the space, we invite them for a sit-down dinner. Usually V is the one who meets with people. She rarely tells us if someone is coming, and she rarely tells us much about the person who visited afterwards. In fact, she generally forgets to ask useful questions.
Interviews are a weird thing. Usually one or two people cook and one or two people clean up, so 1/2 of us miss part of the interview. Also, there are 2 kids in the house, so at least 2 of the 3 parents are only half-paying attention as it is. And at dinner time we are guaranteed that at least one of the kids will have a bedtime meltdown.
The other day we had our first real interview of the less-than-a-month-till-the-old-roommate-moves-out season. She was this young woman who "just" graduated from the local university. That means that she graduated last May/June. 8 months ago. She worked over the summer and then has been travelling in southeast asia ever since. (= rich girl) So she came back to town to start a new coop with the friends she had been living in a large student coop (red flag!) with. They had found this house that they were going to help renovate. Apparently they have been there for months and there is only electricity and running water in the unit out back. The young woman has decided that at least for now, she doesn't want to live there. So we are the first house that she has looked at. She didn't really have any questions to ask us. Whenever she did talk about things, she would sort of hold court with her toothy smile, and tilt her head to the side in this, "am I managing to convince you? I sure hope so" sort of way. Ugh.
The roommates loved her. I was less than won over. She doesn't have a job or any certainty that she will get one any time soon. This means that if she is not rich she will be moving out 2-3 months after she moves in (we have an agreement that we give each other 60 days' notice). The roommate who is moving out announced she was going to move, only 30 days after she moved in! hello, do we really want to repeat that experience? Not me. Other people don't mind because either they are hippies or they are semi-secretly plotting to move out (that is V and her family).
Also, was that the night when Mimi bit her mom and her mom sort of smacked her back? Or was that the night when Mimi bit her mom and her mom bit her back? There is a little too much parental violence going on for my comfort. Clearly it's not teaching the kid to stop biting, either.
The roommates decided that we would make our decision about her this weekend (I wanted to wait till mid-week). How can we do that when we don't have time to interview any other people? I accidentlally scheduled a woman to come by and see the place at 6 last night, and she stayed for dinner, which I did not have plans to participate in. As I was packing to go to my then-sweetie's (another blog entry to come), I would pass through the room and listen to their inane conversation. How can I live with people who talk about such dumb things? Plus, the woman is European. Sorry, I do not want to live with 3 Europeans. Boring!
Today an African American young woman was here when I got home from my new ex's. Much better. I liked her energy better. Apparently she is moving out of her family's public housing unit because her income would make her family ineligible for the unit. All I heard her talking about was her new job (blah) but she had this innocent excitement that seemed like she at least knew what she was going to do with her life. Apparently she is moving out of her family's public housing unit because her income would make her family ineligible for the unit. But there are no times that work for everyone to have a dinner interview! My roommate called her for tonight but it turns out that 4 people will not be here during dinnertime. Plus she has not called back. Great.
How the hell am I supposed to take a nap when I share a wall with the bathroom and there is a kid yelling in there while she takes her bath?!
Ugh.
email me at haydee_santamaria@hotmail.com
So we are looking for a housemate. What we do is we have our little ad on that website where people can list places to live, things for sale, etc, etc. People respond and if they are looking for something like what we've got, we invite them to see the house. Then if we like each other/they like the space, we invite them for a sit-down dinner. Usually V is the one who meets with people. She rarely tells us if someone is coming, and she rarely tells us much about the person who visited afterwards. In fact, she generally forgets to ask useful questions.
Interviews are a weird thing. Usually one or two people cook and one or two people clean up, so 1/2 of us miss part of the interview. Also, there are 2 kids in the house, so at least 2 of the 3 parents are only half-paying attention as it is. And at dinner time we are guaranteed that at least one of the kids will have a bedtime meltdown.
The other day we had our first real interview of the less-than-a-month-till-the-old-roommate-moves-out season. She was this young woman who "just" graduated from the local university. That means that she graduated last May/June. 8 months ago. She worked over the summer and then has been travelling in southeast asia ever since. (= rich girl) So she came back to town to start a new coop with the friends she had been living in a large student coop (red flag!) with. They had found this house that they were going to help renovate. Apparently they have been there for months and there is only electricity and running water in the unit out back. The young woman has decided that at least for now, she doesn't want to live there. So we are the first house that she has looked at. She didn't really have any questions to ask us. Whenever she did talk about things, she would sort of hold court with her toothy smile, and tilt her head to the side in this, "am I managing to convince you? I sure hope so" sort of way. Ugh.
The roommates loved her. I was less than won over. She doesn't have a job or any certainty that she will get one any time soon. This means that if she is not rich she will be moving out 2-3 months after she moves in (we have an agreement that we give each other 60 days' notice). The roommate who is moving out announced she was going to move, only 30 days after she moved in! hello, do we really want to repeat that experience? Not me. Other people don't mind because either they are hippies or they are semi-secretly plotting to move out (that is V and her family).
Also, was that the night when Mimi bit her mom and her mom sort of smacked her back? Or was that the night when Mimi bit her mom and her mom bit her back? There is a little too much parental violence going on for my comfort. Clearly it's not teaching the kid to stop biting, either.
The roommates decided that we would make our decision about her this weekend (I wanted to wait till mid-week). How can we do that when we don't have time to interview any other people? I accidentlally scheduled a woman to come by and see the place at 6 last night, and she stayed for dinner, which I did not have plans to participate in. As I was packing to go to my then-sweetie's (another blog entry to come), I would pass through the room and listen to their inane conversation. How can I live with people who talk about such dumb things? Plus, the woman is European. Sorry, I do not want to live with 3 Europeans. Boring!
Today an African American young woman was here when I got home from my new ex's. Much better. I liked her energy better. Apparently she is moving out of her family's public housing unit because her income would make her family ineligible for the unit. All I heard her talking about was her new job (blah) but she had this innocent excitement that seemed like she at least knew what she was going to do with her life. Apparently she is moving out of her family's public housing unit because her income would make her family ineligible for the unit. But there are no times that work for everyone to have a dinner interview! My roommate called her for tonight but it turns out that 4 people will not be here during dinnertime. Plus she has not called back. Great.
How the hell am I supposed to take a nap when I share a wall with the bathroom and there is a kid yelling in there while she takes her bath?!
Ugh.
email me at haydee_santamaria@hotmail.com
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