Just e-mailed to roomie Tera (Oh! What a feeling!)

Hi Tera,

I have tried to get a hold of you by phone but have had no luck. I have got a new roommate set up for October, but she is willing to move in in Sept if you want. I thought it was a nice idea. It would be nice for me to get the stress of the transition over with, and I thought it would be nice for you since it would be cheaper to pay for a storage space than to pay rent & utilities for a place you aren’t at. However, there is no pressure at all, if you want to keep things as they are until Oct, of course that is just fine.

One thing I do want to put pressure on you is about returning my belongings: Devdas, my Tupperware, my pan, and anything else you might have taken. Remember, you never asked me if you could borrow these things in the first place. If you had asked, especially after you took my pan and never returned it, I would have said no. But you didn’t ask, you haven’t returned them, and I grow more and more insulted every day that they are gone. Would it have been okay if I, without your permission, took one of your casserole dishes to someone’s house I had only known a few weeks and leave it there forever? Of course not. Imagine if I did that to you repeatedly and you will know how I feel about this situation.

I sense I will never have my belongings back if I just continue to ask nicely. I think I have asked you nicely for the pan about 4 times, which is 4 times too many to ask for something I never even consented to you taking in the first place. I don’t trust that this is a priority to you so I am holding on to some of your DVDs as collateral until my belongings are returned. Chapelle seasons 1&2 until Devdas and my Tupperware is returned, and your Yoga DVD until you return my pan & lid, or purchase a black pan of the same size or larger with the same type of steam vent on top. By doing this, if I don’t get my belongings back I can look at myself in the mirror and say “at least you didn’t let her completely walk all over you”

I’ll have you know I hate being put in a position of having to be a hard-ass. I HATE being forced to seem “bitchy” or “naggy” I am most comfortable preventing and solving conflict with kindness. I wanted to talk to you about this one last time, nicely, really letting it sink in how offended and hurt I feel so you could return my things simply because you are an ethical person, not because you had some outside incentive. I am not willing to hound you just to get a hold of you, so I am just taking the next step to make you care about returning my stuff.

As far as the moving date, I would love a phone or e-mail message letting me know if you want to stay until October 1, but if I don’t get one I will just assume that you do. If you do decide to stay, please leave the rent check in my v-file on or before Aug 31st, or if you leave it at the apartment, on or before the 28th (I have a trip the 29th-1st)

I really, sincerely, honestly want our living situation to end amicably. I want the transition to be smooth and be as painless as possible for both of us. I hope that you want the same thing.

Best of Luck,
Diana