House Foes - Part 4

August 10, 2007

A lesson in communication.

Over the years, I have come to understand the general "rules" of communication. I also understand that people communicate in different ways. But the way my house foes communicate is just plain dysfunctional.

First of all, Tobermory. Not to be harsh or anything, but he's the stereotypical University of Waterloo Computer Science Nerd. He has the whole "play computer games all day, don't talk to anyone" deal going. Earlier in the term, we were having problems with the Internet and since both of them are in CS, I left the fixing up to them. Finally, it started working again. So, for his efforts, I went to thank Tobermory, y'know, as a nice gesture to start the term off right. This is how it went:

Bee: Hey, Tobermory.
Toby: *pause* Uhh.. yeah?
Bee: Thanks for fixing the internet!
Toby: *longer pause, not really knowing what to do* Uhh.. yeah.

One night, I couldn't get my internet to work and so I asked Tobermory if he could look into it for me. Without looking up from his laptop, he said "Yeah, I'm doing something right now. I'll look at it in an hour." Are you kidding me?! The guy was clearly just sitting there watching videos off the internet or playing his video games again. Would it have taken that much effort to restart the router again? Oh wait, I guess that would have messed up what you were doing. My apologies. I forgot you had so many important things to do, like research a paper or something.

Ajax, he isn't so bad with communication. He's actually a pretty friendly guy when you actually get a chance to talk to him. But sometimes, his responses are a little awkward.

*Running into each other at the door*
Ajax: Hey
Bee: Hi
Ajax: Just get back from class?
Bee: Yeah
Ajax: True

Umm, yes it's true. I'm not really going to lie to you about something like that.

Anyway, the final thing is about the internet bill (the only reason we still talk). Every month, I ask them to give me the money by Wednesday of a certain week. For me, if someone said that to me, I'd take the initiative to get the money to that person on that date and I think most of you would do the same. But with Ajax and Tobermory, I feel like a creditor. Every week, I have to remind them to give me the money on Monday. Then, on Wednesday, I have to ask again. Then, on Thursday, I ask again which is when I finally get the money. Goodness! Can't they do anything without someone nagging at them?!

A few more days and it's ALL OVER :)