UrbanMoon Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 I lost my job at the end of last year and have been attending team/zoom interviews. I live in a studio flat and let a friend whose landlord sold the houseshare sleep on my floor. The problem is my friend works erratic hours on a zero hours contract and I ask for personal space when I am doing these online interviews. “Please can you go out for one hour” so I can focus on the interview. This is causing problems and bad feeling. Studio flat is one room so there is no alternative room to move into. Am I being unreasonable asking for space to focus on my job search. Link to post Share on other sites
Wiseman2 Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 Give him notice and ask him to leave, he can stay with friends, family or get his own place or another house share. Link to post Share on other sites
Author UrbanMoon Posted February 16, 2021 Author Share Posted February 16, 2021 Yes, it has just about reached that point 1 Link to post Share on other sites
ShyViolet Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 If you need personal space then you shouldn't have let your friend stay at your place when it's a studio. There is literally no room for personal space with two people in a studio. Tell your friend that the studio is too small for two people and that they need to find another place to stay. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Author UrbanMoon Posted February 17, 2021 Author Share Posted February 17, 2021 (edited) You are right a studio is adequate for one person, not suitable for two. Unfortunately there are times when people are down on their luck and rely on their friends to the point of overstaying their welcome, taking their kindness for granted and for too much of the time being unreasonable. Not so easy to find another place to live when have a zero hours contract. But I need to set boundaries because my own stress levels are high as the search for new employment continues. Face to face interviews would be better, the teams/zoom interviewing I find intrusive and I feel uncomfortable to do this in front of my friend. Just to add, that when my friend first came to stay I was employed and out working for three long days and then working from home for two because of the covid. Any team/zoom meetings I did in the three days when I was in the office. My circumstances have changed, and I need to focus on my need to find a new job. Edited February 17, 2021 by UrbanMoon Link to post Share on other sites
MsJayne Posted February 17, 2021 Share Posted February 17, 2021 Depends how long the friend has been camping on your sofa, and also depends on whether they are prepared to be completely silent and invisible while you're doing your interviews - very difficult in a studio. I've always found that when you help someone they will usually do things which will make you wish you hadn't offered help at all. A reasonable person would, in that situation, probably offer to vacate for an hour or so, so no, you're not being unreasonable, quite the opposite. The other thing is that if they're not paying rent they have no rights, simple. Link to post Share on other sites
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