 
Making Up Is Hard To Do
Having spent a couple of days living together, the housemates are already discovering it's not a good idea to let petty arguments turn into major battles.
It's natural the housemates are going to disagree with one another.
After all, they were eight complete strangers until they moved in
together two days ago. However, Paul and Tracey are showing themselves
to be the most argumentative among the group.
In situations where the group has to work as a team, namely during
a task or compiling a shopping list, Tracey and Paul always end
up bickering. The other housemates are very aware these two have
fiery temperaments and make a concerted effort not to antagonise
them. While they are squabbling amongst themselves, the others simply
ignore them.
When the housemates were preparing for the flight navigation task,
Tracey struggled to learn her lines. Paul quickly lost his patience
with her and she immediately felt threatened. "Stop taking
such a tantrum," she yelled. "It's only a bl**dy task!"
Paul made light of the situation and said to the other housemates,
"Get her a saucer of milk, somebody!"
But both Paul and Tracey seem to get over their very disagreements
quickly.
Although they don't actually apologise to each other, once the
row has blown over, they put it behind them and act like nothing
has happened. Their behaviour suggests their relationship is more
like brother and sister than friends.
However, when Shaneen fell out with Tracey last night, after Tracey
put the lights on in the bedroom and woke Shaneen up, the two girls
felt the need to clear the air this morning. Both sensed that if
they didn't resolve the problem, it could create a bad atmosphere
and turn into something far more serious.
"You okay, now?" asked Tracey in a friendly way, as Shaneen
walked into the kitchen area. Sensing that Tracey was keen to make
up, Shaneen went straight over to Tracey, who was lying on the sofa,
and gave her a massive hug. "Don't say sorry," said Tracey.
"There's nothing to say sorry for."
Hasan is also argumentative but not in such an aggressive way as
Paul and Tracey. When he feels threatened by the others, he argues
his case but never sees the need to apologise. Tommy, on the other
hand, was very quick to apologise when he realised he had offended
Hasan.
While chatting, Tommy casually referred to Chinese people as "chinkies."
Hasan found this remark extremely offensive and pointed out that
it was racist. Tommy obviously hadn't meant to antagonise Hasan,
it was simply a careless remark and he immediately apologised.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offence to Chinese people,"
he said. "I didn't know [it] was racist."
Over the next seven days, minor disputes between the housemates
are bound to arise. But it's how they deal with them that will determine
whether or not they make a drama out of a crisis.
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