Actually, Tip Dude hasn’t roomed with that many people. But he did once room with a psycho who would bash holes in the walls with a broken metal chair leg, with many roommates who kept cats (some more reasonable than others), and lived in a building with a landlord whose many boyfriends liked to steal Tip Dude’s change from the coin jar. Here’s how to deal with annoying rooomates:

• Communication Is Number One - The nature of living situations is such that most annoyances are easily resolved by talking about it. If your roommate does something annoying, you should say something to him or her about it before you get angry. After all, we live in a very diverse world, so what annoys one person might not annoy the next. For instance, Tip Dude habitually slams doors that aren’t easily closed; he wouldn’t think to buy foam pads to stop the slamming noise unless he knew his roommate is a light sleeper and couldn’t stand the noise of slamming doors.
• Don’t Look To Change Your Roommate’s Habits - The thing you should remember is that your roommate lives here too. People of all cultures and walks of life live different ways. Some stay up late, others wake up early. Some clean obsessively, others let dishes pile up in the sink and wash them before each use. If you’ve mentioned the thing about dishes piling up a few times and it doesn’t improve, just figure you either have to do all of your roommate’s dishes, or have to tolerate it being there. If you need to use the sink, just move them out of the sink and leave them on the countertop or the floor. It might be disgusting to move someone’s dirty dishes, but it’s easier than doing their dishes, changing their habits, or looking for a new place to live.
• Agree on Sharing Common Costs - One issue that arises surprisingly often is who gets to buy the toilet paper. After all, toilet paper is a common good and comes at a common cost. There are three basic ways to solve this problem: (a) Have a lead roommate buy it and include the costs as part of rent; (b) Have an algorithm that determines who gets to buy it: e.g. whoever takes the last roll from the shared cabinet gets to buy the next pack of four - statistically, this works out to be the same as everyone buying in turn; (c) Have each roommate take their own roll to the bathroom every time they use the toilet, and remove it afterwards. All of these methods work, as long as everyone agree on it.
• Good Fences Make Good Neighbors; Respect Your Roommate’s Privacy - People look for roommates for a variety of reasons. Roommates can become friends, but unless that happens naturally, it is best to draw clear boundaries with your roommates. If you happen to move into a living situation where the current roommates seem to walk into one another’s rooms without knocking, steal one another’s food, and borrow one another’s items without asking, you might want to find a new place to live. If you’re starting a multi-roommate situation afresh, it is important to agree on some degree of mutual respect for one another’s private space.
• Sense of Community Is Overrated - Of course, some residential communities work very well. However, in Tip Dude’s experience, the more people you introduce into a community, the more things are to go wrong. People have different expectations of a community. When expectations differ, there is disappointment, which easily leads to annoyance and a sense of betrayal. Roommates are only people you live with, not your life; reserve the possibility of disappointment and sense of betrayal for something more worthwhile such as personal relationships and friendships. Don’t bother starting a community with just your roommates. After all, they’ll move away when they can afford better digs.
• Be Ruthless When You Have To - Typically, shared accommodation has resource-sharing issues, e.g. shower, hot water, and kitchen. This truly is a every-person-for-themselves situation. Not many people can live with a schedule that says “Person A has to be at work early, so Person A should get in the shower first, followed by C, then D…” Just go get in the shower when you want to. If someone else is in it, wait until they’re done - and wake up earlier tomorrow so you can beat them into the shower. Oh, and no shower reservations: no one can say “I need the shower first because I am already late for work”… it’s first-come-first-served!
• Use The Door - The door is actually quite an effective tool for excluding unwanted interference. Doors can exclude things like odor, animals (particularly cats - especially ones that like to pee under your futon), noise, sight, and it can even exclude people you don’t want to see if you use it right. If you’re in a room without a door, think about installing one (or buying a curtain), so you can use it to control who gets to intrude on your space. If you literally do share a room with someone, buy some tall partitions, like the ones they use for cubicles, or a Chinese screen.
• Look For Alternative Places To Be - If you share a house, there are always situations when you don’t want to be home, and much of it will be outside your control. Two roommates might start a fight. One roommate might be having many people over for a party. Another roommate might be loudly having sex with random people, and one might be puking up a storm in the kitchen sink. (No, Tip Dude did not live in a Frat house.) It’s always good to have a go-to place where you can hang out and/or do work when your roommates are crazy, e.g. a friend’s house, a library, a favorite cafe or diner, a park, or even some part of the office. Yes, you live there too, so if this happened too often then you might want to move out. But if it’s cheap and you’re never around (to get annoyed or to clean up) when your roommates have those wild parties, then it might work out well for everybody.
• Move Out When It Becomes Intolerable - How you break out of a roommate situation depends mostly on your contract. If you’re on a joint lease, it is generally a lot harder to just walk away from it; but if your name isn’t on the lease, then you typically have lesser legal protection but it may also limit your liability if you break it. If you fear for your safety or if your quality of life is severely degraded, you should move out. If you move out under less than ideal circumstances, you should limit the information you give to your (soon to be former) roommates. The less information they have about you, the less recourse they can have against you. That is another reason why you might not want to have a sense of community or common mission with your roommates. After all, once you move out of that residence, you want to have the choice as to which one of the many roommates you stay in touch with.
• When Things Get Out Of Hand, Call the Police - Yes, domestic disturbance by young people is a problem, particularly in student cities. If you aren’t going to call the police when your roommate’s “friends” are throwing beer bottles out of the window and peeing out of the window, your neighbors will. It looks better for you if you call the police instead of waiting for the neighbors to call the police and for you to get arrested for being in the animal house while the party is going on.

So, what do you do with the landlord’s boyfriend who steals coins? Tip Dude moved his coin jar to his office.

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