Despite the seriously discounted roommate rent, this entitled PhD student didn’t feel like she had to pull her weight with household chores.
Why? Because she didn’t technically or legally own the house, her friend did.
Roommates are supposed to shoulder the burden of household chores like dishes, vacuuming, cleaning the toilets, scrubbing the shower, and emptying the lint in the laundry machine. Regardless of how you were raised or where you grew up, this communal understanding of shared responsibilities is pretty widely known, and there aren’t very many (good) excuses to get out of doing your chores. Only a moody 10-year-old could argue their way out of sweeping the kitchen, and only a cruel teenager would try to pin dishwashing duty on their housemates…
However, this student was going back to university to get their doctorate degree, and somehow that business and intense scheduling made them exempt from household chores. Her friend offered to let her live at her and her husband’s house while she finished her studies. Knowing that PhD’s are laborious and expensive, the friend was kind enough to offer a room at an extremely discounted rate. For only $200, this student enjoyed all of the perks of living at home with Mom and Dad, except she was freeloading off of her good friend instead of being raised by her parents.
She was allowed to borrow the car, and she ate their dinners, but when asked to do a few chores around the house, the student scoffed like a bratty child, claiming she didn’t have to clean the house because it wasn’t technically hers.
Sorry, little miss, but you’re living under this roof, and as long as you do, you’ll be living under my rules!
That’s not exactly what the friend and homeowner said, but she certainly felt the fire of parental rage burning in her gut when she had a difficult conversation with her friend. Welcome to the real world, Doctor, where people have to pay rent, buy groceries, and clean up after themselves in their own home, even if they don’t have their name on the deed to the house. Even renters need to clean, and it’s not to benefit the homeowners, but their own living situation…
