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I live with several other adults. One of these, let's call her Melinda, works late on 2nd shift (midnight-2am), and then stays up until the wee hours of the morning watching TV. She complains if people are making noise around the house in the morning because it interrupts her sleep. We're all sensitive to the fact that she has to work late, and to the fact that you can't just fall asleep the second you get home at night, so we try to stay quiet until late morning. That means no housework or yardwork (outside her window) until it's close to noon.
Lately Melinda's been a little ridiculous about it. She says she's been having trouble sleeping, and complains when we make the slightest noises before noon. Walking around while you get ready for work at 8am? Shame on you. Trying to do a load of laundry at 10am before you go to work the night shift yourself? Don't even think about it. Melinda can hear you, and she'll let you know it. "I heard a door slamming at 7:30 this morning. How can I get any sleep around here with you people?!" I recommended turning on a white noise machine or a fan or something to block out any outside noise (including the noise of the highway and rest of neighborhood, which we can't help!). I also suggested her trying to change her routine to going to bed sooner and waking up sooner so she's up closer to the time the rest of us are.
I'm trying to be sympathetic, but at the same time I also think it's unreasonable to expect the whole house to shut down until the afternoon to accommodate one person's sleep schedule. One of the people here has already stopped trying to please her at all, and will make noise all morning out of spite. Has this situation happened to any of you? How did you handle it?
I think you and the others are being more than fair (well maybe not the one being spiteful) by minimizing noise in the morning. The obvious answer is earplugs. They work very well.
Maybe Melinda should hit the sack when she gets home instead of staying up until "the wee hours of the morning watching T.V. SHE'S her own problem, not you guys.
She needs to find another place to live where she doesn't have to make demands on everyone else just to please her.
I wouldn't be going out of my way to please her, that's for sure.
Yes, earplugs are the way to go. She needs to be empathetic to you and the others as well. Maybe she needs to find a new place to live.
Yeah, it sounds like Melinda should probably live alone. Noise is part of the package when you live with other people, regardless of who they are. Even my husband, who is extremely considerate, wakes me up sometimes. It happens.
Maybe Melinda should hit the sack when she gets home instead of staying up until "the wee hours of the morning watching T.V. SHE'S her own problem, not you guys.
She needs to find another place to live where she doesn't have to make demands on everyone else just to please her.
I wouldn't be going out of my way to please her, that's for sure.
Well to be fair do people who get off work at 5pm hit the sack when they get home? She is working a second shift, if you have ever worked those hours you can't just hit the sack when you get home, just like someone who works "normal hours" doesn't. You need some time to unwind. She probably also has dinner when she gets home, just like someone who gets off at 5pm.
That being said, she needs to get earplugs, you can't expect everyone else not to move or tippy toe all day because you're at work when everyone else is already in bed and vice versa.
Or she needs to live by herself or with someone who also works nights.
I bet she also wakes up from time to time those who are in bed sleeping, when she comes home.
Melinda is in the minority. You have been more than accommodating. If she doesn't like it, she needs to either live alone or find other people on her schedule to live with.
I wouldn't change for her. She works those hours by choice. If she can't afford to live alone it must not be much of a job and isn't worth keeping. People usually work odd hours for the money and they don't need roommates.
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