There is an available room in my house and incoming students have been emailing my roomate and myself about it and asing us to tell them about ourselves. This apparently isn't a problem for my roomate but I'm having some trouble figuring out what exactly to tell these people besides the fact that I like Prince and have two cats.

I really didn't like my other roomate who moved out and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. I feel like if you asked her what I was like you'd get a pretty negative description and this is affecting how I feel like I should describe myself. I don't want these potential roomates to get the wrong idea about me or feel like I lied in my description. Because, I think that I'm a good person unless I have to live with a filthy bitch who talks out of both sides of her mother and feels like she's in the running to be the next Mother Teresa because she has delusions of granduer. But I can't exactly put that in an email without sounding crazy.

help! how do you orgers describe yourself when asked? what is the best way to go about it?

JasmineFire said:

Don't worry about being defensive. I'm sure, especially in the case of your former roommate, people will consider the source of her ranting. Just give accurate descriptions, but don't worry about damage control.

If it was my house I wouldn't feel obliged to describe myself to potential housemates (at least not via email). The exchange should be the other way around. I'd be interviewing them to see if I liked them and wanted them to move in. After that, they can then make up their minds whether or not they want to live with me.

If pushed to describe myself to them I'd probably say something like "I'm the one renting a room. If you're interested let's set up an interview and see how we get on from there".
[Edited 6/2/06 5:34am]

Since it's in the context of a living situation, I'd talk about what kind of roommate you are and how you like your living space to be. Sure, add in a few details of things you like and whatnot, but I'd focus on the roommate aspect. Don't give a laundry list of Do's and Don'ts, but mentioning a few deal breakers (must do dishes, non-smoker, etc.) is OK.

i think the only things that matter are the big important things, like carrie said. if these people want to play "getting to know you", i think you should have a face-to-face. that's more telling for everyone involved. i would never take in a roommate without a little meeting first.

Just don't go into the process feeling like you have to accommodate people's opinions of you. It's YOUR home.

thank you, everyone!

you all have been so helpful and now i feel a little less stressed about the whole thing

i think that one of the girls who is interested is going to be coming down pretty soon to have a look-see and a meet me and my other roomate.

there's another girl who is interested who is a friend of a girl in my class. That could be either a good or a bad thing. The girl in my class is pretty cool and I'm pretty friendly with her and her group.

well...i have my fingers crossed for a good roomate so we'll see.

ThreadBare said:

yeah, i guess i shouldn't get too down on myself about that kinda thing.

but when i moved into the house, my former roomate told me all kinds of horrible things about the girl who had just moved out even though she was still nice to this girl's face. I'm afraid that she's doing the same thing to me even though she's living somewhere else.

She comes across as a very open and friendly person, if a bit overbearing, so people tend to respond to her in a positive way even when she's spewing her poison around. I tend to keep to myself and stay pretty quiet. I haven't told anyone at school about my true feelings for her because i don;t want rumors to start. I've also been avoiding her as much as possible because I figure the less she known about my life, the less she'll have to say behind my back.

Anyway, it's a bit silly to be worried about what people might be saying. I guess I'll just move on.

JasmineFire said:

There it is.