Roomies & pet peeves

Mr Small Potato finally spoke to me today while entering the kitchen. He had just came out from the bathroom and was peeved at finding hair and lint in the bath tub.

SP annoyed: "Did you just use the bath?"

WD, enjoying her cheese sandwich: "Errm, about half an hour ago. Why?"

SP smirking: "Don't you ever clean up after using the bath? I keep finding hair and lint all over the bath tub."

WD, looking surprised.

SP smirked: "I always give the tub a wipe down after we use it. That's why you get a clean tub when you use it."

WD: "Ok, point noted. I will wear my glasses next time."

SP smirking: "Thank you". And he walks into his room.

I am genuinely sorry for the mess. I usually clean up the bath after use if I notice any mess left behind. [My landlord will ascertain this habit of mine.] The problem is I don't always wear my glasses in the bath room and thus did not realize the lint and hair in the tub. Anyway, I went back to give the tub a quick wash down. Still, I appreciated that Mr Small Potato didn't raise his voice at me, even though he was smirking. Having seen worse from him, I appreciated the self-control applied. :P And I must remember to wear my glasses to the shower in future.

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[Addendum 01-Jul-2012]

By end-April 2012, Mr Small Potato was evicted by my landlord over noise issues. According to my landlord: Despite several notices and warnings, Mr Small Potato persistently did his laundry during the wee morning hours (i.e. bedtime) even though he was at home during daytime. The laundry machine and the dryer were rather noisy when functioning and my landlord wasn't happy about breaking the night-time peace. I've learned from this that my landlord's pet peeve is noise.

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That's the thing about sharing a home, be it with one's spouse, family members, tenants, landlords or roomies. Everybody has his/her own pet peeves. Mine are the toilet bowl, the dining table, the cooking area, cookware and utensils.

In the past, I was annoyed with Mr Small Potato and his daughter for leaving behind a mess -- food bits on the counter, the floor, and the stove -- whenever they use the kitchen. I was bemused even, when I overhead Mr Small Potato complaining to the landlord about ants in the house when the landlord had to clean up the kitchen nightly after them. Things improved after I role-modeled to his daughter through my own action of cleaning up the kitchen after use. However, things have backtracked little since the small potato incident, but still it's better than before. I just tolerate it, plus I bought my own food containers, knife and cutlery set. [Note: I am only short of a cooking pot now, but that's my problem -- I am fussy about my cookware.]

That's life -- give and take a little. That's how my previous tenants in Singapore and I shared our home for 4 years.