It is 3AM, and I cannot sleep. Why can I not sleep, you ask yourself. Because I have a headache. And why do I have a headache, you ask yourself again. Because my room smells.
Because I knew not a single soul upon attending the University of Toledo, I left circumstances up to chance and allowed myself to be randomly placed with a rooommate. I was extremely lucky at Notre Dame to have landed myself in the infamous crackhouse of 103 McGlinn, and J^2, K and other McGlinn Shamrocks are my best girl friends. Why not hope for a similar situation at the University of Toledo? I was placed in a suite with three other female roommates, and I was to share one of the two double bedrooms with a roommate. Yet I have had the misfortune of being paired with a roommate that lacks basic hygiene, and whose personal hygiene habits (or lack thereof) is interfering with my comfort and health.
Taken from Wikipedia, "Hygiene is commonly understood as preventing infection through cleanliness. In broader call, scientific terms hygiene is the maintenance of health and healthy living. Outward signs of good hygiene include the absence of visible dirt (including dust and stains on clothing) or of bad odor/smells."
- Daily washing of the body and hair.
- Daily brushing and flossing teeth.
- More frequent washing of hands and/or face.
- Cleaning of the clothes and living area.
- General avoidance of bodily fluids.
- Avoidance of direct or indirect contact with unhygienic people.
- Holding a tissue over the mouth or using the upper arm/elbow region when coughing or sneezing, not a bare hand. Alternatively, washing hands afterwards.
- Suppression of habits such as nose-picking, touching the face etc.
- Washing hands before eating.
- Not licking fingers before picking up sheets of paper.
I have always found myself to be an exceptionally neat and organized person, always particular about organization with everything in its place, and extremely meticulous about details. Thus I initally thought that perhaps my concerns over my roommate's personal hygiene habits simply showed how overly critical I was being of my new roommate. Having spent the past four years at "yuppy and preppy" Notre Dame where I was surrounded by those of the upper and upper-middle class, I felt that speaking out would establish me as bitchy, snobby, condescending, stuck-up and hoity-toity. Yet after my other suitemates privately commented to me about the stench wafting from our room that was coming distinctly from her, I knew it was not simply me.
The odor that surrounds my roommate is awful. Words cannot simply encompass how foul-smelling, putrid, rancid, and stinky the air is that surrounds her. She steps into the bathroom, and the air that's left behind smells of her. Because I noticed that she was not showering regularly (as in every day), I unofficially kept track of her shower habits. And as of today, I have not seen her shower since last Tuesday afternoon. An entire week ... no lie and no exaggeration! I truly want to give her the benefit of the doubt and hope that perhaps she showered while I was out of the room, yet I am frequently studying in my room. Her hair looks extremely greasy, and simply needs to be washed. I looked at her shower caddy when I was cleaning the bathroom the other weekend, and there was dust all over her soap and shampoo ... leading me to believe that they were not being used.
Perhaps J^2 has influenced me more than I believed possible, but I cannot stand the smell of food in my room. Especially food with distinctively strong odors: Doritos, popcorn. Yet she is constantly eating junk food and drinking soda in our room. The smell of Doritos combined with her stench makes my stomach hurl every single time I walk into the room. I bought an air freshener plug-in for the room, and the room smells absolutely fresh after I open the windows and air out the room when she is at class. Yet she spends an enormous amount of time in the room playing on her computer, and the whole cycle of stale stinky airs starts all over again.
My roommate is not well off financially, and that's perfectly fine with me because I don't mind paying for common things that the suite shares ... tissues, cleaning supplies, etc. My own family has gone through numerous financially difficult situations when we were struggling to pay the bills and make ends meet. And thus, I am sympathetic and willing to help out. Yet she spends her money on junk food that is rotting her teeth, yet cannot spare money for personal hygiene products. I honestly have not tried to be a snoop, but the situation has required further inquiry. I, along with the other suitemates, keep our toothbrushes in the medicine cabinet over our bathroom sink. I have yet to see my roommate's toothbrush anywhere either in the bathroom or in our own room. I have witnessed her multiple times simply wake up, get on the computer, go straight to the dining hall for breakfast/lunch, come back to the room, and head straight out to class ... without brushing her teeth! Her teeth are blackened and chipped, and I seriously believe that her teeth are rotting away. I've tried politely not to stare, but it is truly disgusting when we are eating with her or talking to her and she opens her mouth to show blackened rotting teeth.
I have always felt that I possess extremely high tolerance for people and am pretty well known for it among my friends, as J^2 and K can attest. I formerly lived with a roommate who was a hardcore partier and a bit of a lush, extremely unorganized and messy, used to pick her nose and eat her boogers, used to drop her pants literally as soon as she walked in the door, and once peed on our carpet after passing out drunk in front of our door. And we got along fine ... for the most part. I am pretty much easygoing as a roommate. Yet it tells you to the level at which the situation has reached when I cannot put up with it much longer. The entire situtation is extremely frustrating because it is a source of much unneeded stress. Instead of having a room where I can come back to study, I have to expend energy stressing over the issue instead of spending that energy to study.
My roommate seems to be a nice girl which is what makes it difficult. If she was a total bitch, I would definitely call her out. Yet my roommate is quiet and tends to keep to herself, does not drink or party at all, and spends the majority of her time online gaming. Which is what makes it a difficult issue to discuss because I do not want to step on any toes since I have to spend the remainder of the year sharing a room with her. It has been interfering with my health because I have gotten headaches multiple times from being in the same room with her, and I have had to study down in the floor lounge multiple times. I do not want to actively attack her since she has done nothing actively to offend me, but I truly do not know what else to do with the situation.
What to do, oh what to do?
