Okay, so I don’t think my problem is enormous or life threatening or something like that but still, annoying things are annoying things! So here’s the deal: I’ve been working and living for the past six years in a foreign country. This country is well-known as an expensive country to live in so I can only afford to rent a room instead of the whole apartment.

My landlord (an old couple) were quite nice in the beginning in a sense that they gave me space but still very civil and amicable when we ran into each other in the living room or something. However, four years on and I think they’re beginning to overstep their boundaries. Actually, it’s more the wife than the husband that annoys me. The husband never bothered me so far.

The thing is, they’re not in-your-face annoying, more of the sneakily annoying type which I think is more tricky to handle. If they were downright, full-on annoying, it’s easier for make to make a decision to look for another place.

In the beginning of my stay, there were instances when I came home and found out they had entered my room without my permission. One day I came home to find the toilet bowl brush had been replaced with a new one. Another day, I came home to find they had installed a rubber thingy on my wooden chair’s legs to prevent them from scratching the floor. It’s harmless and they probably thought they were just doing nice things but it’s annoying and intrusive, and still not an excuse for them to enter my room without permission!

However, I decided to let those go and over the course of my stay they admitted to occasionally open the door of my room during the day when I wasn’t at home to air the room. I have an electric cooking pot that I put in the kitchen and one day I caught them using it and the wife immediately assured me if it spoils, she’d replace it. I actually don’t mind these things but the problem is, they always take the liberty to do whatever things they want to do and THEN tell me (if they got caught) when I think it should be the other way around.

Still, I decided to let those things pass.

When I cook or do my laundry, the wife always uses these opportunities to have a chat. My ex flatmate did tell me about this and again, I really don’t mind having a chat. Lately, though, she starts overstepping her boundary. When I’m cooking, she’d begin by asking me what I’m cooking then she’d stare into the pot at a very close range for a few minutes, like, really stare at it. Then, she’d stand there and watch and proceed to ask me what I’m doing every time I stir, pour, flip, fry, etc. She’d ask me what condiments I just stir in and would then advise me to use this and that condiments instead because apparently she thinks her choice is better. One day, I was in the middle of cooking something when she got home. I cursed and decided to pretend that I didn’t hear her (I’d usually smile and wave or something) and you know what she did? She entered the kitchen and proceeded to stand behind me and watch me for a few seconds before finally made her presence known.

Even when I’m just in the kitchen steaming some broccoli as is, she’d tell me to soak the broccoli first in some kind of salt mixture so that it’ll taste better. I tell her I have no problem with eating the broccoli as is and that I’m trying to be healthy and she’d look at me with a perplexed expression. I now loathe cooking when she’s around and would only do it when she’s out of the house. I made a conscious decision not to get married a long time ago and things like these are what make me thankful I don’t have to put up with those mother-in-law non sense.

She’d do the same thing when I do my laundry. When I’m loading my laundry to the machine, she’d probe me with millions questions such as what detergent I use, what fabric softener, etc etc and would really stare into the bucket for a moment as if she’s digesting what I just said.

However, by adjusting when I cook or do my laundry, I can still minimize the chance of running into her so again, I let things pass. However, these lately she starts knocking on my door. A lot. It started when she told me her daughter just bought an apartment and she asked me to help her putting on an advertisement to rent it out. I gladly helped and listed the apartment in a dozen websites.

And then one day she asked me to teach her how to put up the ad herself so that she wouldn’t need to bother me again. At first I thought ‘aww, nice’ but actually things have become worse because she only wants to learn putting up the ad through her iphone, which is more difficult because you have to zoom in and out a hundred times and god forbid you accidentally press on the screen and hit return or something.

The first time she asked me to teach her, I ended up becoming the one who did the posting through her iphone. Fine. But since then I noticed a pattern: she’d knock on my door under the pretense of asking me to teach her how to post the ad herself, that it would be the last time she’d ever bother me about it but I’ll always end up posting the ad for her. Sometimes I ask myself why I’m so worked up about this seemingly small, harmless thing and I think it’s the dishonesty, the inefficiency of it all that’s getting on my last nerve.

Also, she told me the first dozen ad posts I did for her worked well, she said she received numerous enquiries about the apartment so I don’t understand why she keeps bothering me about posting the ad. At first I thought she really wanted to learn but after the umpteenth time she knocked on my door under that pretense only to end up with myself having to post it for her, I’ve had enough!

Please, please, please help. She’s getting on my last nerve!!