I live in a sharehouse where a housemate is on the lease and is the boss of the house. She doesn't tolerate disagreement very well and is fairly black and white. The house is meant for her exclusive undisturbed enjoyment. The rules of the house are such that we have to minimise any inconvenience to her. For instance, at night, I have to sleep with my door ajar, tiptoe in the hallway and not flush the toilet in case this wakes her up. She is completely neurotic about the roster and holds others to a higher standard than she does herself.
Yesterday, I found a message on the fridge saying, "PLEASE REMEMBER TO CLEAN THE BATHROOM AND TOILET!"
I've been doing this already.
During her roster weeks, she's been doing a half hearted job. On my weeks, I'm fairly thorough, but even then, it feels like she's still suspicious of me.
This has been an obsession for her even though she leaves both sinks stacked with dirty dishes along with the bench space and food is left out - although I'm not allowed to do this.
Her stuff is everywhere, but if you leave anything in the common areas, it's moved or she complains.
You can't cook without her watching a movie on the projector with the lights off - so I feel like I'm disturbing her.
She frequently berates and micromanages her daughter who also lives here. She uses foul language too.
Text messages and talks are relentless. Sometimes I get accosted first thing I wake up in the morning. There is a long list of texts from her on my phone, but when I sent a few texts to her about the bills, she said I was pestering her in a very long message. Her texts have a creepy friendly tone with many smiley face emojis.
When I'm in the same room as her, she is often moody or silent in a tense way. When she makes small talk, you can tell very quickly she's not interested in you in the slightest.
I barely spend any time in common areas anymore, but this hasn't stopped the relentless messages and talks.
Other housemates quickly realise she is the boss and are careful not to challenge her in the slightest.
I've just had enough. I can't cope here. She begrudges what little personal space she allows me. She seems like a loose cannon. I have to be careful not to set her off.
It's been disastrous for my mental health
