Roommate Chicken

In spite of sounding disturbingly like a recipe, "roommate chicken" is defined by Urban Dictionary as a situation where "a group of people sharing a living space each avoid doing a household chore for an extended period because each believes it's someone else's responsibility. The idea is that eventually the situation will reach a critical mass where the guilty party will cave in and do the chore." Urban Dictionary goes on to add that "in practice, the situation can escalate to extreme levels."

Ha ha ha. How many of us in shared houses haven't been there? I especially love it when someone happens to have a major essay or lab report to submit and feels that they are entitled to skip their duty for that week. Usually, further examination reveals that all of the housemates have some sort of major deadline due that week, and are all of the equal conviction that their deadline is of higher priority than everyone else's.

Take-home message: no deadline is a good excuse. Especially if you had a week to work on it but only started within the last remaining 24 hours. The dishes aren't going to clean themselves no matter how long you leave them in the sink, nor will the residual bacteria gain sentience, realise the shame of their existence and mop up their home for you.

Additionally, roommate chicken probably isn't limited to shared house situations. I've noticed in a variety of situations, that when a shared item runs low, most people prefer to survive without it rather than replace the item, even if the act of replacement is straightforward.

The worst part is perhaps that the one who finally caves in and rectifies the situation is usually the most responsible person, i.e. not the one who was shirking their duty in the first place.

Human nature, I suppose.