What do I do when I realize I've been living with my roommate too long?

November 14, 2007 6:19 PM

What do I do when I realize I've been living with my roommate too long?

Ok so heres the deal. Ive been living with my roommate/best friend Dale since we got to college together. He's been my best friend since like 5th grade and always seemed like a big brother to me. he was the only friend my mom would ever let me go we were roommates in our first and second year of college, then i got kicked out for a semester. then we lived in the same apartment complex when i came back to college, then i lived in the apartment above him the next semester. and now i'm rooming with him again. well here's what happened.

i just got home from work like 10 minutes ago, and i sit down on my computer and i hear the door open. i am about to get up out of my seat and go scare the person then i see a figure in my doorway and i go BAHHH! like to scare em.
and i see its dale and i go "oh.." then dale says "pound it" holds out his fist and i said "pound it" and then he walks out. it was really really weird.

why the hell did i say oh...? what a jerkish thing to do, and like i said this guy is like my brother.

what am i suppose to do?

posted by thefamousmoe to human relations (14 comments total)

Perhaps I'm just being thick, but I don't quite understand what the issue is here. What, exactly, are you asking? I understand that you want to know what you ought to do, but do about what? Was it simply an awkward exchange, or is there more to this story?
posted by numinous at 6:25 PM on November 14, 2007

Pound it?
posted by mr_roboto at 6:30 PM on November 14, 2007

I'm not sure why him saying "Pound it" is a bad thing. Based on what you've said, he could have just been playing.

Even if this was an annoying incident, I don't see how it indicates that you've been living with him too long.

Are you guys fighting or something?
posted by amtho at 6:32 PM on November 14, 2007

what am i suppose to do?
About what?
posted by birdlady at 6:32 PM on November 14, 2007

Well, you could tell him you recently realized that you've been living with him for too long, and then get your own place, but I get the feeling that's not the answer you're looking for.
posted by box at 6:34 PM on November 14, 2007

What? Does someone have an English to Bro dictionary? I'm not following him.
posted by spork at 6:39 PM on November 14, 2007 [4 favorites]

I sense some unresolved sexual tension between you and Dale as exemplified by the double entendre inherent in the phrase "pound it". Perhaps if you two took your relationship to the next level it would help your feelings of out-of-placeness?
posted by Justinian at 6:43 PM on November 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

"Pound it" means to bump your fists together, like a handshake.

That said, I don't understand what in gods green earth you're going on about.
posted by puddpunk at 6:44 PM on November 14, 2007

Like others, I'm not following why the exchange was strange (and how many people do you live with -- were you expecting someone else?), but I can relate to the feeling of living with someone for too long. I ended up living with my very best friend (since birth) way too late in life, really later than I would have liked to have a roommate at all, but went through with it because we had wanted to be roommates for years (years before). So basically we spent a couple of pretty un-fun years living together, spending most of our time in our respective bedrooms. Eventually she decided that it was time for her to look for a place to buy, and now that we live apart I think we're back to being great friends again.

So if your problem is that you just don't think you want to live with your friend anymore and maybe you feel guilty about it, don't worry. When it's getting near the time that your lease expires, tell him that you want to get a place of your own. This won't kill your friendship, and there's nothing wrong with not wanting to live with someone who has been your friend for so long.
posted by iguanapolitico at 6:47 PM on November 14, 2007

Let me see if I've been able to translate:

1) Your roommate comes home unexpectedly, and opens the door
2) You go to say 'Boo' (or equivalent) as if to scare him
3) he holds out his hand and invites you to greet him as normal
4) You do so
5) You post to AskMe full of angst

I'm really, really not seeing where the issue is here.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 6:52 PM on November 14, 2007 [2 favorites]

oh..
posted by flabdablet at 6:54 PM on November 14, 2007

You say, "Dude, I was just fucking with you. We still cool, bro?"

Then you hug it out.
posted by infinitywaltz at 7:05 PM on November 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

By too long do you mean that your able to communicate without full words and sentances and that you two just click?

I wouldn't see that as a problem... but if you do, I suppose realizing that you'll have so few of those types of connections and relationships with people you should find a way for it to NOT freak you out and embrace it.
posted by crewshell at 7:06 PM on November 14, 2007

Are you high?
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 7:08 PM on November 14, 2007 [1 favorite]