1Hi, Richard. I'm glad I caught you here.
2Can I just talk to you about something?
3Our new flatmate - Anders - is not quite what I had hoped
4I was wondering if you shared my concerns about some of his behaviour.
5Ah, yes, Tom, I know what you mean, but we can't be entirely negative.
6He has good points. I mean, at least he's quiet.
7He doesn't play loud music all night, or bother others, or turn his TV up, disturbing everyone.
8Sure, he's quiet, but remember our last flatmate?
9He'd say 'hi' to you, and smile, and treat everyone politely.
10In comparison, this new guy is very impolite.
11He just grunts in reply, and sometimes ignores me altogether.
12I guess that's just his way, y'know, just his character.
13I don't think he realises he's being impolite, and it shouldn't matter to us too much.
14We can just ignore him, too, and quietly live our own lives.
15But his friends are hard to ignore, when they visit.
16I know what you mean, but how often does that happen?
17I rarely see them, maybe once or twice a month.
18If they came more often, it might be a problem,
19but as it is, such rare visits don't matter so much.
20Wouldn't you say so?
21Well, I'm not sure, since it's very obvious when they're here because of all the cigarette smoke in the house.
22It stinks up the place, and you know we don't allow smoking on the premises.
23Well, I've never seen them doing this.
24Maybe they do it outside.
25Perhaps we can talk to Anders about it.
26Always remember, though, in one respect, he's a good tenant.
27And it's the most important aspect.
28The previous flatmate would always pay the rent late.
29I know what you're going to say. This guy pays promptly.
30But there's more to being a good tenant than prompt payment.
31I mean, you need to turn off the TV, clean up your dishes, dress respectably, be polite, and so on.
32I guess what I'm saying is that, basically, you need to co-operate with the others,
33and this new guy fails significantly in this respect.
34Okay, I suppose you have a point there.
35I tell you what, Tom, why don't we talk to our new flatmate, Anders, about these issues?
36If we throw him out, we'll have to go to all the trouble of finding another flatmate,
37who might not necessarily be much better.
38So, let's give the current guy a chance.
39Here. I've got a piece of paper, so let's make a short list of issues to discuss with him.
40Get it out into the open.
41Sure. We'll give him one more chance.
42So, write, 'Communication', and let's tell him to...
43Well, we can't change a person's personality overnight,
44so why don't we have a weekly tenants' meeting, and we can just ask him to attend?
45That way we can get to know him better.
46I'll write 'attend meeting', and we can take it from there.
47Okay, but we have to tell him about his friends.
48They can't just do whatever they want.
49Write a heading 'friends' and then write 'don't smoke, anywhere, inside or outside'.
50Well, instead of being so direct, and possibly causing offense,
51I'll just write, 'follow rules',
52and verbally mention the rules:
53TV off by 10 pm, no loud music, or bad behaviour, including smoking.
54Okay, do that, but I still think we need to specifically mention that last issue.
55You know how I can't stand the habit,
56so I'd like this to be another and separate point. Cigarettes! Strictly forbidden!
57And it's important to include the 'strictly' here.
58We can't pussyfoot around too much.
59Sometimes directness is necessary.
60Okay, I'll write that... 'forbidden'...
61Okay. And what about cleaning duties?
62Anders is a little too relaxed about that.
63Dishes are sometimes not washed, dirty tea cups are left around the place, and so on.
64So, write 'must do better!'
65Yeah, again Tom, he might take that personally, and it could cause a scene.
66I'd rather be general. I'll write 'must be done'
67and I'll tell him that that's for everyone, not just him. Okay?
68Okay. As long as he gets the message.