Have A Good Sandwich

For your reading pleasure here is: “A tale from the share house” (said in one of those evil voices, that aren’t really that scary, kind of like you get on kids cartoons).

Clearly I live in a share house. The members of the household have changed many times over the years, with some farewells tougher than others (some I would gladly have helped to pack their stuff if it got them out the door faster). As the only constant (and only person officially on the bond) I have gained the power, but I am not a little despot and have over the years learned to let a lot of things slide, perhaps too many and become too nice (is it possible to be too nice?) - I’ll let you be the judge.

I have had one guy in the house with me for just over two years and I believe I will claim him to be the ultimate housemate. He is nice, friendly but no too friendly, he is clean/tidy without being a freak about it, he doesn’t hog the tv remote. I seriously think I am right in saying he is the ultimate housemate. Now enter his COUSIN. . . .

After the christmas/New Year break my ultimate housemate returned from spending time with his family on their farm, with his cousin along for the ride. The cousin (who shall now be known as the permanent houseguest) had a job interview, so he would be staying one night maybe a couple if he could get interviews with some of the local job agencies “could he stay, was I cool with that”.

Fifa dumbly replies “Sure, not a problem, anything we can do to help out.”

Permanent Houseguest got the job on that first interview and when asked when he could start he replied “anytime”. The employers gleefully said “how about tomorrow.” Let me remind you that this kid arrived planning to spend a couple of days job hunting, he barely had clothes, and had no money.

Ultimate housemate asked would it be ok if he stayed until they could return to there families on the weekend, and then he could get himself sorted out.

Fifa dumbly replies “Sure, not a problem. You’re covering his food as we don’t share food so no problem for me”.

So the week and weekend pass and the ultimate housemate and permanent houseguest return. Permanent houseguest has some mates who are also moving up from Wagga Wagga (his home town). They’ll get a place together.

Time passes and I notice a distinct lack of active searching for a place. Permanent Houseguests room is our loungeroom so it’s kind of hard to miss that almost the only place he goes is to work and then back to our couch. Those friends fell through, some sort of family problem. Now the plan is to move in with a couple he knows - he’s sure they are going to want to have another person living with them. Does anyone else see that happening?? I certainly didn’t and as it turned out neither did the couple.

Weeks pass and still no real action. He is supposed to be looking for rooms in share houses and to date I think he has been to view a total of three! What’s even funnier he seems to believe the people when they say they’ll call back in a week or so.

Here’s a bit of background on the local housing market - people are auctioning off rooms in share houses to the highest bidder. These aren’t rooms at the ritz, these rooms are in smelly uni student share houses where there’s mould on the walls and strange odours from the carpet. Anywhere from 30 individuals/couples will look at any rental house or apartment that comes on the market. Realestate agents are accepting bids above the advertised price, and it has in fact become the only way to actually get a place. Now let me remind you how many places he has been to see - 3!!!!! And I am pretty sure that ultimate housemate found them, and all our houseguest had to do was call and make an appointment!

Once I realised the permanent houseguest had been residing in our lounge room for 4 weeks, I decided it was time to start charging money. Dumbly Fifa thought, I’ll only charge a tolken amount, because we didn’t really have any extra bills because he was staying there, and he needed to save for a bond. Then he went and bought an X-box game and my sympathy has finally run out.

But what do you do with the permanent houseguest, when he is related to the ultimate housemate. You want to keep the ultimate housemate, and you don’t want to put him in a bad situation with his family. So you wait, and agree with the ultimate housemate that you’ll be firm, and keep encouraging/helping our permanent houseguest to find a place.

Here comes the laugh moment.

Permanent houseguest asked last night if his mate who was coming up from Wagga Wagga for a job interview, could he stay the night?

Ultimate housemate and I agreed that we had to draw the line somewhere and that this was it. So we said No!

I don’t think Permanent houseguest was too happy with us - he couldn’t see the problem, it was only for one night . . . .

Please laugh loud and long at my expense now - I know I deserve it!

Posted on February 21st, 2007 under Nothing • Tags: Nothing. •  Print This Post •  Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback