Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Born Again

I feel like a child again, except that the people who are behaving like my parents have no right to treat me that way.

My landlord and especially my landlady have a lot of rules about what I can and can't do in their house. I respect that they leave part of their house untouched except for visitors and I can even allow that they charge money for laundry, even though their ad said that utilities were "all included." I can even understand that they would rather not see me too much (or at least that's the impression I get from them).

But I feel like they're going too far when they indirectly tell me that my sister can't visit me. They haven't actually said that yet, but I feel like they might. And even if they do let her stay, it's like they're making a huge sacrifice and doing me a gigantic favour. It's not a favour and I'm an adult and I have the right to let my sister stay with me in my room that I'm paying rent for. She's not loud and she doesn't use a lot of utilities (and I even offered to pay for what she does use).

I don't like paying people that make me feel like it's an honour that they let me stay here at all. If it wasn't such a good deal (compared to other places), I would be out of here in a second.

(Don't get me wrong; they're nice people, but they are not my parents and even if they were, I'm 23 and paying them for the space I use, so I think I should have a few more rights.)

1 comment:

  1. More common than you think. Many landlords think they are land 'lords'. In Cotonou, the owne refused us getting a phone because the former American renter left with an outstanding bill. I had to swear in the name of God that I would pay my bills when I left. In Waterloo, the first apartment they said Désiré could not stay when he came. I ignored them. The second place the landlady insisted that you girls could not have your friends in, especially boys on motorcycles!! Désiré told her off, and said 'our girls are good girls and their friends are welcome'In PEI the landlord didn't want Marcel staying with us. In Weimar, I had to inform them of any visitors and how long, and they had to approve. It goes on and on. You can only stick to your guns if they push it. Of course it is hard to be in an oppressive environment for very long.

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