GetndCarVC

Living in an apartment with five other male roommates can spell disaster for the kitchen. It only takes one person not to do their share of the dishes for everyone to give up hope. And once that happens, it’s only a matter of a few hours before the sink becomes a mountain of dishes, the trash overflows, and the counter gets sticky with leftover tidbits of food. Should I be the responsible adult and clean up the mess and attempt to keep the kitchen orderly? Or should I suffer the painful kitchen image each and every morning?

For a quarter, I woke up in the morning to do all the dishes left behind. To me, this was a great way for me to serve my roommates. It was not only a great way, but it was the Perfect way... that good feeling inside encouraged me to continue doing dishes for the rest of the quarter. Unfortunately, by the end of the quarter, I became fed up as it seemed more and more dishes were piling up. It was as if my roommates were taking advantage of the situation (though I'm sure that wasn't the case).

Today, after many roommate meetings on keeping the kitchen clean, things are pretty good, except for the occasional dirty dish left by the same person. The thing that surprised me most was when we had company over. The moment we finished the meal, I saw him behind the sink washing all the dishes! I was surprised! Even though he was doing these dishes for show, it still made me feel good that he was finally doing his dishes. This has now encouraged me to once again do random dishes left behind. That perhaps there is still hope in keeping not only the kitchen, but the entire apartment clean.