We all know, or at least we all should know, what do to and what not to do in everyday situations. But, being in college, I have learned that the things that I think of as common sense, such as not making popcorn at 2 a.m. on a Tuesday night, are not always thought of in such a way. It has come to my attention many times that, especially at this point in my life, many people do not concern themselves with the people around them. Instead, they choose to focus on themselves and what makes them happy.

Let me return to the popcorn popping example. Popcorn is probably one of the loudest foods you could possibly make. The common sense notion would be to make it, reasonably, at a time when you know everyone is awake. I am willing to let the time be moved back on Friday and Saturday nights, but being woken up at 2 a.m., when I have classes starting at 7:50 a.m., is unacceptable. Here is where the notion of common sense comes in. Most people, having common sense, would look at the time and think to themselves, “Hey, maybe I shouldn’t be making such a loud, and obnoxious, food at this time when the microwave is all of 10 feet away from all of my roommates.” Sadly, not everyone has this thread of common sense wired in their brain. The amount of times I have heard about this happening, just in the short six months I have been in college, is shocking.

Instances like this are incredibly common. I have heard everything from roommates barging into the room during the week and blasting music when it is past midnight to roommates waking the entire room up because they’re blasting music while they are taking a shower at 6 a.m. Everyday things that seem too common to most people are sometimes unheard of to others.

I have come to the conclusion that these people are not trying to me mean, or rude; they are just simply focused on one goal - to satisfy themselves. I have somewhat learned to adjust to such things, but they can still get on my nerves, as they would with anyone, from time to time. It is such an interesting phenomenon to me that these people don’t even think about others; at least their actions are making it seem like the people around them who are being impacted by their decisions don’t even cross their minds. Heck, I get worried when I’m in the kitchen at 7 a.m. pouring cereal into my bowl. I am so concerned that I am being loud and that I am going to wake up my roommates.

So to the roommates out there that think this may apply to you, all we ask is that you try to be a little more self-conscious of yourself. We, being the ones impacted, understand that you are not doing this on purpose, but we just want to sleep soundly at night. So as long as you’re trying to be a little more cautious, that’s all that we ask.