There are many ways of classifying roommates. Roommates are people and would easily fall into the regular classification of people, however, there are things that set roommates apart from other people whom we meet everyday. Roommates are the people who we spend most of our time with, and so for the purpose of more specific classification, let us determine which kind of roommate we have with four more specific classifications; absentees, presentees, everywhere, and nowhere roommates.
Absentee roommates are roommates who we barely see in the room. They are either up too early, or were not in their beds to begin with; come home very late in the evening, or did not come home at all, or are just plain and simple elusive that we rarely see them in the room. These kinds of roommates can also be described according to their sleeping or study areas which could be one of two things – terribly unruly as a consequence of their absence and lack of concern for the conditions of these areas, or perfectly neat, because of the fact that the areas are barely used. Absentee roommates are most likely anti-social creatures, and even when they are in the room, they treat you like you don’t exist and seem to have a world of their own. They are also very ‘vigilant’ when it comes to guarding their areas or their belongings. One common quality among absentee roommates is their use of the line, “What are you looking at?’ every time they notice that you are glancing at them. Outside of the room, they are either loners or groupies who stick to one group and never venture outside of their group.
Presentee roommates, on the other hand, are the complete opposites of absentee roommates. They are always in the room, to the point that you would even wonder if they ever go to class. These are the kinds of roommates who spend a lot of time on their computers playing video games, watching TV or just simply sleeping in their beds. These types of roommates would most likely have very unruly areas as well, because they barely tidy up, since, they are always using the areas to begin with. These kinds of roommates would most likely be wearing the same kinds of room clothes for three days straight, or even for an entire week. Socially, these kinds of roommates may talk to you, but most of the time, they talk about nonsense or things that only they could understand, like the items they pick up while playing an on-line game. If you ask these kinds of roommates about something, they would most likely not answer you, instead they would simply point at something or point at the air. These kinds of roommates are also the ones who are usually chummy when it comes to accomplishing school requirements; because of the fact that they don’t want to take any time out of whatever else they are doing aside from school work, they will tend to lobby for people who would be willing to do their school stuff for them. They barely study and they usually have bags of chips instead of the usual meals. They are also the ones who are very fond of delivery food and you would most likely find an uneaten, moldy piece of pizza under their beds.
Everywhere roommates are the nosy kinds of roommates. Regarding their activity areas, they could be in between; sometimes they tidy up, sometimes, they don’t. These roommates are also overly social, too comfy too soon. They try to talk to you even when you indicate that you don’t want to and are literally everywhere; your bed, your books, your stuff, and even your boyfriend or girlfriend. Most of the roommates in this classification are also the over achievers; they also tend to turn your room into a chatterbox by bringing in some of their friends who are everywhere roommates as well. Sometimes they can be very annoying as they always stick their noses into things that are none of their business; but sometimes they can also be very helpful and would offer their assistance when necessary. Everywhere roommates are the types of roommates that are the favorite victims of presentee roommates. They also tend to borrow everything, from your sugar, to your laptop, albeit they have their own stuff.
Finally, the nowhere roommates are the ones who you don’t ever meet from start to finish. They may not have arrived, or they simply sleep somewhere else and decided that they would just like to apply for a room and not use it. There is nothing more to say about these kinds of roommates.
There are many other ways of classifying roommates but I think this classification would apply to almost all kinds of roommates that we have. While some of them might not fit into the criteria described, surely, there is one or two of the features mentioned that would apply to our kinds of roommates. Although it is not really very wise to instantly put a person into a set of criteria that was created because this can cause anonymities to develop, it is best to be aware that such kinds of roommates do exist. Putting people into a mold that we created ourselves can result to being judgmental at times and can sometimes be very unfair. It is always best to experience people first and to allow them to unfold in whatever way that they can.
Classifications are merely ways of making things a little bit easier when it comes to categorizing things, however, because people change, and the world changes, it is not always a must to have a hard-fast rule or criteria upon which all people should be perused with.
Classifications are merely tools and that said, these tools should be used wisely and with discretion. Often, the wrong classifications result to the wrong stereotypes, discrimination, and many other social taboos that could be very limiting to most people, if not damaging. Let us learn to classify things objectively, otherwise, the world will just be something that we can all play with and trash.
