HOME | POLITICS | SPORTS | LIFE | SCI/TECH | OPEDS | HELPFUL TIPS
|
By Tom Pain
May 21, 2006 I have a problem. No, not any of the many that might come to your mind when seeing my name attached to a U-K article, I have a problem with my daughter. I’m hoping the combined wisdom of the U-K readership can provide some helpful advice. My daughter is attending college. I’m very proud of her, she’s at one of the top schools in the state on a partial academic scholarship. And she’s doing well, I haven’t seen this semester’s grades yet, but she’s been on the Dean’s list up to now and just finished her sophomore year. The problem is her living arrangements. After the first year in the dorm as required by the school, she joined with several other students in renting a house this past year. Unfortunately, it’s not worked out as I would like, although, bless her heart, she doesn’t complain. Here’s the situation: Originally, there were 4 girls renting a 4 bedroom/3 bath/2 car garage house. They agreed to split the utilities evenly, but the girl that got the more spacious master bedroom agreed to pay $100 more of the $1600 rent (everyone else pays $375). In general, everyone bought their own food, but once a month or so, they’d all split the tab on a bunch of basic foodstuffs. Pretty fair, right? Well, it’s gone downhill since then. Two of the girls dropped out of school. Up to now, they still pay their share of the costs, but the culture of the house is just not the same; there’s a lot of partying and it’s not as conducive for the studying that my daughter and the other girl need to do. One of those girls has a boyfriend and what started as occasional overnight visits has turned into him living there full time. He’s unemployed and is always mooching the girls’ food and lying around watching TV/playing video games all day. He contributes no money and his GF claims that since he sleeps in her room, he shouldn’t have to – she’s paying for one fourth of the costs. Now, the other girl’s parents have found out that she dropped out and have cut off her money. She got a part time job waiting tables and manages to stay fed by mooching food from work. She’s also taken up with a (several) guys and only spends a few nights a week at the house. She’s stated that she shouldn’t have to pay as much of the utilities and basic foods because she’s not there, and that because of her parents cutting her off, she wants to pay just half of her rent. Predictably, she’s the one in the master suite and is not willing to give it up. She thinks it isn’t fair to kick her out because her problems could happen to anyone. In fact, my daughter believes that she comes in during the day, while she and the other student are at school, and eats the food, washes clothes, etc. Needless to say, the utility bills have not decreased. Now for the worst problem. It turns out that, unbeknownst to them, a stranger has taken up residence in a tool shed in the backyard. The landlord keeps maintenance items in the shed and the girls never paid it much attention. But recently, they happened to look out back one night and noticed a light on in the shed. The next day they went out there and can see where this guy has set up a little bed, TV, and small icebox. With the one girls’ boyfriend, they confronted him the next night when he came sneaking in. He has no intention of leaving. He says that he’s been there for months – turns out that he’s the guy the landlord is paying to mow the grass – and he should be allowed to stay. The girls aren’t afraid of the guy, they just think it’s not fair that he’s using their utilities (he even ran the cable back there) and is living there for free. What should my daughter do? Shouldn’t the girl that moved in her boyfriend pay more rent, food, and utilities? Shouldn’t the girl that got cut off by her folks still pay her fair share, and give up the master suite? What about that trespasser in the back yard, shouldn’t he leave? And if he refuses, shouldn’t he be arrested for trespassing? My daughter and the other remaining student are doing what everyone agreed to – going to school. Yet, under the present circumstances, they will end up paying most of the bills while 4 of the 6 people living on the property pay much less. I’d love to hear your advice. Please think through it and when you have a decent solution, I also want to talk to you about America’s tax laws and our illegal immigration situation. ------------ About the author Tom Pain: Just an American boy with so much common sense, it hurts. Email: thomas.pain@direcway.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
