There's so much to update you all on my life. I've started my second quarter in college and it is a wonderful time. I think it is truly enjoyable and I've met so many people who have had such an impact on my life. However, my roommate is not one of those people. For anonymity purposes, I'll call her A although nothing more would please me than to put her on blast. A has been the only blemish on my college experience. All the things she does have added up and I truly cannot stand to live with her much longer. I don't want to move out of my building which is very limiting on my housing options. That may be limiting but I may have had an option. The girl next door to me, we'll call her Y, hates her roommate, who will be known as G, as well. G and A are very good friends, and Y and I are pretty good friends as well so we won't have a problem with our living arrangement if G and A room together and Y and I room together.
BUT (life just make things important SO FREAKING DIFFICULT-it's always got to be achieved the hard way), no one other than G is willing to move out (she has little to NOTHING to move out). If G moved out, then I would have to move out which would make the new living arrangement G and A, Y and I.
A brought the fridge, microwave, and a TV. Y brought a fridge so neither of them want to move out because it will be too hard to move all their stuff out. Get ready for another but. BUT, I've offered to help move their things thus subtracting the difficulty of moving all their things out. Now I have no real compelling reason to stay in my room other than the window provides more natural light than Y's room does and that is very important to me.
Other than that fact, we all agreed that compromise is necessary at this point. In this case the only person that's compromising is me. That negates any idea of compromise because I'll be giving up more than the others. The benefit of me moving to Y's room is the same as her moving to my room. Why should I be the one to ONLY compromise?
Well I offered an incentive, compromise, deal sort of thing. I offered both Y and A the incentive of $20 (which I will be changing to $40) to move and 100% of my time and effort to move all of their things. This to me is a compromise because the opportunity cost of staying in my room is $80 and moving all their stuff in. That's a damn good deal because they both receive a generous portion of money that they can use on whatever, and neither has to worry about moving their heavy things (which is not that difficult if you think about it). It's quite a compromise because of a few things: 1. I get to keep my room (benefit for me) BUT I lose $80 and I must help move everything out (minus for me) 2. They have to move out of their rooms when they did not really want to (minus for them) BUT they get $40 a piece and they get my unconditional help to move all their stuff out (benefit for them). Some people could argue that losing $80 and time is not as much as compared to a room. But google what you can get for $80 (because I lost that much) and then come back to me. $80 is a fucking shit ton of money to lose over a living arrangement but that is part of compromising. Now that's my version of a compromise.
None of them has offered a reasonable compromise in which all of us gain and lose. Yes we all get the person we want to room with, but we get that in my idea along with more of an equal gain and loss of things. The only person that loses more than anyone else in this compromise is me because I have to pick up and leave and get a room with 70% less natural lighting. Y gets to stay in her room and gets a better roommate (although I don't sound like it now lol), A gets to stay in her room and gets a better roommate, G, and G gets a better roommate. To me this is a little unfair, but that's just me.
G offered me an ultimatum which was that I better get a finalized answer by tomorrow. Well I could either come up with my compromise and give that to them tomorrow, or (BAM there's an or oh snap lol) I could say flat out that I refuse to move. That's so risky because then I may be stuck with A and things with Y may be awkward. It could also get the point across that I have all the power in this situation. With my refusal they can't do shit! In that case, it would be nice to assume that they would maybe want to adhere to my compromise plan. This is all based on assumption, hope, and desperation. I'm not sure what is going to happen but I hope that things play out my way. I'd like to think I've got an answer and retort for all their questions and concerns about moving-but then again that's giving myself too much credit and confidence.
Here's what I think I'll end up doing. I think I'll tell A (she'll be easier to crack) that I have a compromise that sounds pretty reasonable to me once broken down, and if she doesn't agree to it, I'll bring out my blatant refusal. OR I could first refuse, then bring out my compromise. Either way I think I can get what I what. I think I'm going to go with compromise first.
Mehhh we'll see what happens tomorrow I guess. I think I can make things work in my favor but I just have a tendency to say that. Let's make it work ladies and gentlemen and remember don't give up!!!!
Hopeful and afraid of being hopeful,
GJW
