Getting ready to graduate college and head into the real world can be tricky enough without all of the nuances of a New York City lifestyle. At this crucial point in your 20-something life, there are five people that ultimately hold the power to make or break your day, whether you realize it or not. Below are those five people, and tips on how to prevent them from dictating your mood.

1. Your roommate

This one may seem obvious. Living in the confinements of New York real estate can be harsh, so the last thing you need is to get home and walk on eggshells after waiting 12 too many minutes for the 6 train. Hair in the drain, dirty dishes in the sink, and crumbs on the couch could either be the least of your worries or the end of the world, depending on your relationship and tolerance level. The article illustrates real statistics that show that living with a terrible roommate can actually drag down your GPA and productiveness. Many articles like this suggest using roommate Web sites to pair up two strangers to share a room. Although it may seem like a good idea to live with your very best friend, the odds of you two making it out of there still friends (or alive) could be slim to none, even if you’ve never had a fight. The best route is to seek out someone in your network of friends that isn’t too close but isn’t a stranger. This will allow you two to feel comfortable in each other’s living space--and comfortable enough to hash out your issues honestly.

2. Your professor, boss, or other authority figure

You may think having to take a crowded E train every morning is punishment enough for something terrible you did in a past life--until you get to work while your boss is in a bad mood, or get to class to find out that everyone just failed Thursday’s test. The authority figures in our lives tend to have a large impact on the way we go about our day, since they can control the amount of homework we have to worry about until Sunday night, or the number of times we have to make a Starbucks run in a 5 hour shift. Always prepare yourself for the day ahead when it comes to your interactions with an authority. Study for your tests. Be five minutes early for work. Have high standards for yourself, make the best out of your situation and consider having a talk with the person who’s worrying you if it gets to be too much to handle.

3. Your food delivery guy(s)

Whether you’ve been running errands or running the Queensboro, the food delivery man always seems to be the shiny beacon of hope to end your hunger pains. Seamless is probably one of your favorite inventions of all time, and the Chinese place a few blocks down already knows your address and usual order. If you ever start to feel guilty about all of the money you spend on delivery, or all of the time you don’t spend cooking, remember you are absolutely not the only person relying on New York’s fantastic food delivery system (and there are meals that can be made rather quickly). According to MobilePaymentsToday.com, about 3.6 million Seamless and GrubHub users made over 90,000 orders per day last year. This wonderful human usually makes your day better rather than worse, so just make sure you tip your food delivery man that extra dollar every time, especially when it starts to downpour and all of your intentions of leaving your bed have flown out the window.

4. The person next to you on the subway

Some days we get lucky and get the old woman with the huge-eyed Pomeranian in her purse. And sometimes we get Al. Al is the middle-aged guy who just got off of his long and sweaty shift and is now finding the seat next to you a convenient place to nap. At the next stop, the family of 4 visiting from Texas in matching khakis slowly walks on to the train, and you just can’t help but think, “How do they actually manage to take up so much space?” There’s not much you can do about these people, besides getting up from your seat (even though the blisters from your flats are undoubtedly bleeding by now). Unfortunately, MyCrains’ recent Stats and the City survey indicated that tourism in NYC is growing faster in 2014 than ever. So next time, just get up before Al sits down, and tell that poor family how to get to the downtown train.

5. Your best friend

Because who else is going to understand that sometimes you get the old lady on the train and sometimes you get Al? And who else is going to let you complain about it all in bed while eating your hot noodles and pork dumplings? Having a best friend in the city who’s down to go to all of the specialty food shops in SoHo and have Brooklyn Bridge dates can make the experience of living in the city even better. Look for something new to do every single weekend on sites like NYCgo and TimeOut, and check out this article from Manhattan College.