Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 1978)
roommate market crowded with lemons by patti jo peterson T inding a roommate is likeAbuying a car-you have to be careful not to get a lemon. In my college experience, I've had many fruits for roommates, and although they've come in various shapes and sizes, I've found there are basic ones on the market you should avoid. The sneakiest roommate you can get stuck with is a two for one. After content edly signing a lease to share an apartment, you learn she's equipped with another roommate -her boyfriend. He doesn't pay rent, sleeps in the living room all day, and drinks your cranberry juice for breakfast. He wishes you would leave your $225 a month apartment so he can watch his favorite television shows and be alone with your roommate. He spends most of his time in the bathroom or bed room, and you always wonder why he never seems to have anywhere to go. Don't try getting your roommate to deal with her boyfriend. Swept with passion and love for this imbecile, she can't be dealt with rationally at this point. Direct your strategy at him. it ft Jrf f. .or a couple or weeks, don t leave unless it's absolutely necessary and for no more than an hour at a time. Insist on watching television shows like the "Newlywed Game," "The Love Boat," and "James at 15." Buy only enough food to last one per son for one meal. Spend a lot of time in the bathroom, and, at the end of the month, ask him for one-third the rent. Invite your most obnoxious friends for a Tequilla Sunrise party on a night your roommates expect to spend a quiet even ing at home. If all fails, consider moving. One of the most common fruits is the nocturnal roommate. Usual ly found in dormatories, she sleeps all day, skips classes, then at 10 p.m., just when your nuzzling down for a few dreams, she wakes up screaming. "I'm flunking. But who cares." Fits of giggles follow, until she finds others of her kind who invade your room, pull out the booze and spend the night deciding they don't care about any thing. Although rmirder seems a promising end for the nocturnal roommate, peace loving people should buy a good set of earplugs, a heavy duty pillow, and get used to sleeping in headgear. The anti-clean roommate challenges your stamina. She lives under the personal philosophy that cleanliness is next to misery, and youH usually find her under wear under your bed. Her very presence propagates mold and deterioration, so prepare to find old food stuck in dresser drawers, under desks, and inside your sheets. Lysol, used once a day, is the only effective treatment for the anti-clean room mate. Encourage her to use it in her bath water. t .he perfect roommate is beautiful. friendly, popular, well-adjusted, and com passionate. Avoid her at all costs. She is disgusting. The bride-to-be must be the most boring roommate of all. With stars in her eyes, she looks loaded. But she's only thinking of her upcoming wedding. Her major problem is deciding whether the reception mints should match the napkins or the floral arrangements. Excitement keeps her from sleeping, T?ooh"rfT and as she tosses and turns, bridesmaids dressed in shades of chartreuse dance through her head. Out of all these desolute roommates, only one emerges with promise-the absentee. She lives with her boyfriend without her parents knowledge and comes home only to pay gas, electricity, and rent. The only problem arises when her parents call at 8 a.m. Sunday wondering where their daughter is. The experienced liar quips back that she's in the shower, out for donuts, or on her way to church. landlords have tales of mistreatment by mary jane winquest t ,he stories are fre quently heard among stu dents about the landlord who never fixes the broken window or the landlord who doesn't return the deposit or the landlord who evicts a student for no reason. But few hear the land lord side of stories-including the tales of students who overhaul motorcycles in living rooms, or the students who raise mari juana or the students who knock holes in the walls. The the stories are there, too. "They told my wife they were tomato plants," Darrell Brown said of students who were evicted for growing marijuana in their apartments. Brown went on to call four UNL foot ball players wo knocked a hole in an apart ment wall "animals." They also broke screens and ruined the carpet when rain poured in open windows they had climbed in and out of, he said. But although he has other stories, Brown said students are no worse than other tenants and that 70 percent of his student tenants treat the property well. "I don't want you to think we are taking pot shots at students," he said. Mrs. Daryl Burch said the kind of tenant a person is cannot be judged by his outward appearance. "It basicafly has to do with the way they were brought up," she explained. "If they were brought up neat they will stay i I j If Eh h pv I , ' mi ii .. "t 'fi neat." Burch said she has had problems with tenants who sneak dogs into apartments despite a rule against pets. Damage occurs when a tenant moves in or out of an apartment, she added. 3 he said that the $100 deposit she requires does not begin to pay for the maintenance on refriger ators, ranges, dishwashers and carpeting and drapes. According to Angie Mefford, manager of Jones Apartments, noise is the big gest problem with student tenants. Mefford rents 110 units, 80 per cent to students. Mefford said, in general, students keep apartments in good shape and she hasn't taken a tenant to court since she became a manager a year ago. Burch hasn't been that lucky. "I'm in the process of taking someone to court now," she said. "This particular party hasn't paid their rent for months and are to be served an eviction notice today." In order to prevent problems, the Browns said they belong to a rental own er's association that lists by social security number information about tenants. Whether the person has promptly paid his rent is included in the type of information recorded . Burch said female tenants are generally neater than boys and she rents only to them. She said she relies on the damage deposit as her only insurance against a de structive tenant. BUT, HE'S MY ROOMMATE! I NO PETS! i Mefford said she completes a thorough check or. prospective tenants. She checks wth employers, previous landlords, record the persons driver's license number and re quires a nine to 1 2 month lease. friday, September 8, 1978 fathom page 3