Pissed Off Pokes (aka the POP): Roommate Confessions

We all got funny, strange, and unbelievable stories about living in close quarters with someone we barely know, but do you know what systems and resources OSU has in place to deal with situations where roommates have crossed the line?  Where is the boundary separating normal-weird roommate behavior from just... NO.? Stuff OSU Should Know conducted an anonymous survey to gather confessions from students about their most intense experiences with roommates. In this episode we share their stories which range from funny pranks to cringe snacking habits, and beyond, and we offer suggestions for dealing with these awkward situations should you find yourself in the middle of one. Happy Homecoming! Go Pokes!  

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Transcript

Stuff OSU Should Know

SEASON 7 EPISODE 5: The “P.O.P.”

Produced and Released Fall 2023

(5:22)

Cast

Julianna Rizzo

Camie Garcia

[Intro] Welcome to OSU’s Pissed Off Pokes A.K.A. The P.O.P. I'm one of your hosts, Christian Schrader, and this is the podcast where we ask you guys what's got you pissed off today? Get that popcorn ready because you are listening to the P.O.P. 

[Julianna]: Hello and welcome back to the P.O.P. We’re your hosts Julianna 

[Camie]: and Camie

00:30

[Julianna]: and today we're going to be talking about roommates. So we have asked people on campus what their favorite roommate story is, and their most weird roommate stories. So, right? We're going to start off with pranks. So this person said, “My roommate freshman year thought it would be funny to prank me and my suitemate, so she went into both of our rooms and put a full tire under my bed which I later got to dispose of myself, and my suitemate had a two by two sheet of plexiglass under her comforter. There was also a bike in our shower. We were not close enough for that to have ever been acceptable or a funny prank. My favorite part about this is that she pulled her pranks as a way to impress her crush from down the hall by taking them into our rooms when we weren't home, to begin with. She also had a boyfriend of more than a year. 

01:14

[Camie]: That’s insane. I have to say if anyone would’ve put a tire under my bed, I’d move out instantly

[Julianna]: I have a panic attack when people have their outside clothes on my bed. The moment there is a piece of plexiglass, I would’ve moved out immediately. 

01:28

[Camie]: Another student on campus said that their roommate once used a hose attachment of the vacuum on their mouth while they were asleep.

[Julianna]: That’s just wild (laughter)

[Camie]: My only thought about that is, how big was the hickey around their mouth for the next week?

[Julianna]: Let’s stay within our roommate agreement boundaries and not prank our roommates when they do not wish to be pranked. 

01:53

Alright, now we’re gonna be talking about just boundaries in gen- all of this is gonna revolve around boundaries, but this story is just wild. So this is about this person’s freshman roommate. They lived in a dorm and they had their own room. At first, everything seemed okay until she found out that everything she hid from her mom. First, this girl was covered in tattoos and would cover her whole body in concealer when she saw her mom. Second, her boyfriend was black and her mom was racist, so they were secretly dating. And this girl’s mom used to bully the roommate on the speaker phone and call her names and even called her a gang-banger when she saw the nosering and the tattoo. Then, my roommate started acting crazy and was disgusting and crap, talking to someone in our living room behind the bedroom door - she didn’t know that the roommate was home. Also, her fish died and replaced it because she was convinced her fish was immortal. This roommate, I don’t even know how to like respond to this.

02:47

[Camie]: Truthfully, maybe we avoid talking about our roommates. Especially if they could be around. Peace and love in the dorms ‘cause you live in the same area. Talk to your CMs if you have an issue with somebody.

[Julianna]: Also why is the mom so heavily involved in their roommate situ- why is the mom calling a random girl a gang-banger for no reason whatsoever?

03:08

[Camie]: Our next roommate confession is somebody saying that their roommate once took and sold her clothes on her social media, and two weeks after she confronted her about it, she moved out. Let’s just not touch other people’s things? If my roommate started selling my clothes, hands would be thrown, we’d be in a fight. 

03:27

[Julianna]: And also like, I know that money is a problem sometimes, but why would you not sell your own clothes instead of some random person who you met like two months ago? (laughter) The best part about this is that this uh person also said that the weirdest thing her roommate did was air-dry her sweaty socks in front of their fan. Maybe she could have sold the socks instead of the roommate's clothes.

03:54

[Camie]: But at least she’s gone now (laughter). And our final entry is this person saying that their roommate once ate her snacks butt-naked in the dorm room while she thought the person who sent this in was asleep. I would have screamed. I- trauma, PTSD, scream, left, that’s all I can say. 

[Julianna]: Look, eating snacks? completely different. The moment that the snacks are being consumed while butt-ass naked is wild. Why? Th- okay. This actually leads us to the resolution of boundaries. Everybody at the beginning of the year has to fill out the roommate agreement which basically sets the boundaries for the year. And if these boundaries gets crossed, you talk to your CMs about it. And the CMs will take it from there. But if the boundaries don’t get resolved, you can always fill out the room transfer form which is open year-round, and for a small fee of fifty dollars, you will no longer have to.. uh- suffer with these inconveniences - for lack of a better term. 

04:55

[Camie]: Remember, there’s people on this campus who are willing to help you in Res-life, your CMs, so please take advantage of that you can e-mail, them call them, talk to them in person, to avoid situations like this that are insane, and you shouldn’t have to live with

05:10

[Julianna]: And that concludes the episode of the P.O.P.

[BOTH]: hashtag stay pissed off

 05:16

[Outro Music]