If there’s one thing that can turn your daily life into a living hell, it’s cohabitation with an OCD roommate. Now, Paris Geller wasn’t exactly diagnosed with OCD or obsessive-compulsive disorder. But she was the perfect example of a crazy roommate, assuming prefect-like authority to enforce rules. When your roommate is a control freak, you may feel your boundaries encroached upon. You might also feel any move you make might be taken against you. Rory Gilmore and Paris were rivals turned frenemies in high school, which made things even more complicated when they went to college. Living with a roommate like her? Here’s how you can deal with an OCD roommate, based on Rory and Paris’s story.

1. Embrace the unexpected.

When you’re living with an OCD roommate, expect a lot of surprises each day. Like, for starters, them popping up and announcing themselves as your roommate. When Paris doesn’t get into Harvard, she shows up unexpectedly at Rory’s college dorm at Yale. She brings her life coach, who advises her to “complete her life journey” by enrolling in the same school. Paris’s life coach also tells her to take up crafts as keeping her hands busy minimizes her emotional outbursts. Rory and Paris living together definitely made their college lives super interesting.

“I can cope with the little annoyances, now. The old Paris would’ve been bothered by your penchant hover. It would’ve made her wanna wring your neck ’til your eyeballs popped out. But now, I accept it because I can’t control everything.”

2. Let her have her way.

The last thing you want to do when living with an OCD roommate is get in her way. When your roommate is a control freak, it’s best to just let her do what she wants to do.

Paris is so annoyed with their roommate Janet—who has a partial athletics scholarship—that she occasionally calls for “roommate meetings.” The huddles are meant for the roomies to “air their grievances” and to “resolve them.” Rory and Paris, along with their roommates Tanna and Janet, meet together in the living room for these pow-wows. But settling differences, it turns out, is not on the agenda!

Paris says to Janet: “Setting your alarm for 5:30 in the morning when no one else here shares the desire to put on nylon shorts and run in circles for an hour like a greyhound is selfish.”

Janet for sure thinks Paris is a crazy roommate. Paris even picks on Janet’s boyfriend, Andre, for his bulky physique.

When someone writes “DIE JERK” on their door, Paris calls for yet another roommate meeting. She concludes that they could identify the perpetrator by listing down their enemies’ names. Paris narrows down her list from 26 to five.

One afternoon, Rory’s grandfather, Richard, shows up at Yale and has lunch with them. He tells Rory and Paris about the time he and his friends tied up their roommate each day for a month and would toss him out the window.

Paris: “I’m writing that down.”

Related: Types Of Roommates In College

3. Deal with her quirky interests.

Living with a roommate means being around to witness each other’s highs and lows. Paris, being the OCD roommate that she is, had peculiar ways of channeling her emotions.

When Paris loses her lover—the elderly Yale professor Asher Fleming—to a heart attack, she’s wrought with grief. In his memory, she brings into their dorm a massive 18th-century printing press that Asher left her. Rory and Paris end up in a mini-argument because of the monstrosity.

Rory: “It’s on my book bag! I’m late for class and you put a printing press on my bookbag.”

Paris: “Well, sorry, it’s from my dead boyfriend, okay? I apologize if my grief is inconveniencing you. Maybe I’ll just put myself on an iceberg and float myself out to sea so that no one will have to deal with my suffering.”

Later on in the series, Paris eventually moves on and falls in love with Doyle, the editor of the Yale Daily News. For some reason, they endure a long-lasting relationship because Doyle can tolerate Paris’s hostility, type A personality, and explosive episodes. Some of their strange bonding activities include Krav Maga and partner yoga. Rory’s mom, Lorelai, must think Paris is quite the crazy roommate with an equally quirky boyfriend.

Paris to Rory, about Doyle: “You know, he calls me his girlfriend, now, with no visible shaking.”

Related: The Habits That Put You In The ‘Annoying Roommate’ Zone

4. Don’t take her competitiveness too seriously.

Time and time again, Rory finds herself facing Paris’s wrath whenever she naturally outshines her. Let’s not forget that Rory and Paris were each other’s biggest competition in high school. So whenever Paris is better than Rory at something, Rory just shrugs it off. But boy, Paris sure knows how to rub Rory’s weaknesses in her face. Thankfully, Rory exhibits amazing patience while living with a roommate like Paris.

Rory: “Paris, please don’t compare our reading speeds again. You’re fast, I’m slow, go enjoy your trophy.”

Paris: “I need the exact time of today’s sunset.”

Rory: “I’m in the middle of an article.”

Paris: “If you read faster, you wouldn’t be.”

Towards the end of their senior year, Paris knows she can count on Rory for their final push before graduating. She literally has like five whiteboards filled with charts and to-dos. She has one for academics, career ops, and job fairs. Paris even schedules weekly report-back sessions, revealing herself as such an OCD roommate. This is typical behavior when your roommate is a control freak.

Paris: “This is the game plan for what I call ‘Operation Finish Line.’ We only have five months left before we leave the warm and comforting bosom of this university and face the bitterly cold shoulder of the real world.”

Rory: “We?”

Paris: “You’re the green marker. Green was a random choice, not a subtle comment about how inexperienced you are with real-life matters. Then again, maybe it was.”

Related: Getting Along with a Roommate Made Easy

5. Give her your full support and attention, no matter what she may be going through.

Rory knows more than anyone that Paris is a real softie inside. Growing up with a “half-Viking” mom, no wonder Paris became such an OCD roommate. She’s abrasive but loses her tough exterior when she’s treated with kindness. Rory and Paris develop such a bond on the show that fans even linked the two of them romantically.

During the show, Paris and Doyle break up twice. The first time it happens, Paris sulks and blares music from a 1960s video where people dance. Despite looking obviously bothered by the noise, Rory just leaves Paris to do what she wants.

Paris: “Every one of these people is dead. It makes me sad.”

Rory: “That movie’s from the 60s. They’re not all dead.”

Paris: “Well, they’re old. Osteoporosis these days, if they shake it, they break it. That makes me sad.”

Paris is accepted to all the law and medical schools she applies for. Because she’s anxious about deciding whether to take up law or medicine, she snaps.

Paris: “What was that?”

Rory: “Hmm?”

Paris: “Your noticeable drop of enthusiasm? Is that an expression of the fact that you’re less impressed by my admission into the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine than my other acceptances?”

Related: Should I Become Roommates With My Friend?

Rory and Paris might not have a conventional friendship, but it’s one that pushes them both to excel in whatever they do. Sure, an OCD roommate might not be ideal for everyone, but in their case, it works because of their strong bond.

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