WANTED: Roommate

After my roommate of seven years moved out to a condo he purchased a few miles away, I placed an ad on roommates.com looking for someone to rent a room from me. Living alone in a 4 bedroom house with two empty bedrooms feels really empty and wasted, and since I work alone on most days, I can certainly use some companionship just to feel some sense of connectedness to the rest of the world.

But interviewing prospects to live with under the same roof can be a terrifying experience. There are more horror stories involving roommates than there are pleasant ones, but I still decided to take a step of faith to find someone over the Internet.

I went through ads and wrote to an individual who seemed like a good fit. In the email, it was explained that the only "vice" that I disallow is overnight female guests, to which he responded:

Haha. You are a real joke First of all, my personal life is mine and not yours whether it is a girl or a man. Second, I clearly said I wanted just one other person in the house, so I have no idea why you contacted me, except you want a professional who has money like I do. [more explicit vitriol snipped]

I think you need to separate the business of renting a place from trying to find people who share your philosphies! You are living in a dream world.

Do not contact me again

Do you sense some anger here? Note that he has money. Impressive.

Well, here is the deal. I am renting my room to only one person, not two. And if the tenant wants to make an exception by inviting over a guest to spend the night, it is my prerogative to decide which exceptions are allowed and which aren't on a case by case basis. It's as simple as that, which hardly amounts to "imposing" one's beliefs on others. I wouldn't allow my roommate to baby sit in his room his sister's 5 cats and 3 boa constrictors while she is away on vacation for the same reason. The room is being rented to only one person.